Two new entry-level Power Macintoshes using the Peripheral Component Interconnect bus have shown up in Apple Computer Inc’s announcements schedule for the summer, MacWeek and PC Week report. The machines, driven buy the PowerPC 601, are code-named Catalyst and TNT and are expected to come with three PCI slots. The TNT is expected to use a 100MHz 601 and come standard with a 1Mb Level 2 static-RAM cache expandable to 4Mb, and to include custom chips to improve video and graphics performance, but not the PCI connector optimised for digital video, which appears to be being reserved for the machine code-named Nitro. TNT will support composite and S-video input, but users will have to add a PCI board to get video out; it is expected to have a 1Gb disk as standard, and 2Mb of video RAM to provide 24-bit colour on 17 monitors; with an additional 2Mb of video memory, it will offer 24-bit colour on 21 displays and is expected to use the Power Surge daughterboard architecture, making CPU up grades possible. Catalyst will come with 75MHz or 90MHz 601 and optional cache, at under $2,000 with 2Mb video RAM, expandable to 4Mb, 500Mb drive and the standard SCSI controller from current models rather than the Fast SCSI-2 set for the Tsunami, Nitro and TNT models.
