Macintosh Performa

The Macintosh Performa series is Apple Computer's consumer product family of Apple Macintosh personal computers sold through department stores and mass-market retailers from 1992 until 1997, when it was superseded by the Power Macintosh 5x00 series. The Performa series was not a new line of computers, but simply renamed models from Apple's regular line of computers—such as Quadra, Centris, LC, and Power Macintosh—sold by authorized Apple resellers. The initial series of models consisted of the Performa 200, based on the Macintosh Classic II, the Performa 400, based on the Macintosh LC II, and the Performa 600, based on the Macintosh IIvx.

With a strong education market share throughout the 1990s, Apple wanted to push its computers into the home, with the idea that a child would experience the same Macintosh computer both in the home and at school, and later grow to use Macintosh computers at work.

Before the existence of the Apple Store, Apple sold computers through authorized resellers, either brick and mortar or mail order. A typical reseller sold Macintosh computers to professionals, who purchased high-level applications and required performance and expansion capabilities. Consumers, however, purchased computers based on the best value, and weren't as concerned about expansion or performance. Apple wanted to sell their computers through department store chains (such as Sears), but this would conflict with existing authorized reseller agreements, in which a geographic area had only one reseller.

To prevent these conflicts, Apple split the Macintosh line into professional and consumer models. The professional line included the Classic, LC, Centris, Quadra, and Power Macintosh lines, and continued to be sold as-is (i.e., no consumer software bundles or limited features). The consumer line included computers similar to the professional line labeled "Performa".

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