Macintosh Quadra 840AV

Introduced: July 1993
Terminated: July 1994

Description

With a Motorola 68040 processor running at 40MHz and utilizing interleaved RAM, the Macintosh Quadra 840AV was the fastest of the Quadra line. Additionally, the Quadra 840AV utilized a 66Mhz Digital Signal Processor that speeded up the processing of audio and video information. It came with hard drives ranging from 230MB to 1GB, had a 2x CD-ROM drive and 1.44MB floppy drive.  The maximum RAM was 128KB.  There were three NuBus slots for expansion.

In keeping with the AV (audio-visual) part of its name, the Macintosh Quadra 840AV, had 16-bit stereo sound inputs and outputs.  It also had a graphics memory of between one and four megabytes. 

History

The Quadra 840 AV was the fastest Macintosh of the time.  It would also be the fastest Macintosh ever using the Motorola 68040 processor chip.  At $3,550, it was also relatively inexpensive for such a high-end machine. 

Specifications

Processor: Motorola 68040
Processor Speed: 40 MHz
Cache: 8 KB L1
System Bus: 40 MHz
Hard Drive: 230 MB - 1.0 GB
Media: 2x CD-ROM, 1.44 MB floppy
Weight and Dimensions (US): 25.3 lbs., 14” H x 7.7” W x 15.75” D
Weight and Dimensions (Metric): 11.5 kg, 35.6 cm H x 19.6 cm W x 40 cm D
Original Mac OS: System 7.1 (System Enabler 088 v1.0)
Maximum Mac OS: Mac OS 8.1
Firmware: Macintosh ROM
Model Number: --
Logicboard RAM: None
Maximum RAM: 128 MB
Type of RAM Slots: 4 - 72 pin SIMMs
Minimum RAM Speed: 60 ns
Interleaving Support: No
Graphics Card: None
Graphics Memory: 1 - 4 MB (four sockets)
Built-in Display: None
Display Connection: DB-15
Expansion Slots: 3 Nubus
Hard Drive Bus: SCSI
Backup Battery: 3.6 V Lithium
Max Watts: 200 W
Ethernet: AAUI-15
Modem: None
ADB: 1
Serial: 2
SCSI: 1 - DB-25
USB: None
FireWire: None
Audio In: stereo 16 bit
Audio Out: stereo 16 bit

Timeline

Introduced in July 1993, the Quadra 840AV was discontinued in July 1994.

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