Editing Power Macintosh (section)

=== RISC exploration (1988–1990) ===
The first Power Macintosh models were released in March 1994, but the development of Power Macintosh technology dates back to mid-1988.

[[Jean-Louis Gassée]], president of Apple's product division, started the "Jaguar" project to create a computer that would be the fastest desktop computer on the market, capable of voice commands.<ref name=pmbook>{{cite book
| url = https://archive.org/details/mac_The_PowerPC_Macintosh_Book_1994
| title = The PowerPC Macintosh Book – The Inside Story on the New RISC-Based Macintosh
| chapter = 1 – How We Got Here From There
| pages = [https://archive.org/details/mac_The_PowerPC_Macintosh_Book_1994/page/n20 1]–29
| date = August 1994
| isbn = 0-201-62650-0
| first = Stephan
| last = Somogyi
| publisher = [[Addison-Wesley]]
}}</ref> This was originally envisioned to be a new computer line altogether, not a Macintosh, and the Jaguar team was initially kept independent of the Macintosh team. This separation included operating system development, with the newly conceived "[[Apple Pink|Pink]]" operating system considered for the new computer. Jaguar was also not intended to be a high-volume, mainstream system. Gassée's preference, as it was with the upcoming [[Macintosh IIfx]], was to create a product that would compete in the high-end workstation market, previously not an area of strength for Apple. The decision to use [[Reduced instruction set computer|RISC architecture]] was representative of a shift in the computer industry in 1987 and 1988, where RISC-based systems from [[Sun Microsystems]], [[Hewlett-Packard]], and [[IBM]] were significantly outpacing the performance offered by systems based on [[Motorola]]'s [[Motorola 68020|68020]] and [[Motorola 68030|68030]] processors and [[Intel]]'s [[i386|80386]] and [[i486|80486]] [[Central processing unit|CPUs]].<ref>{{cite magazine
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ADoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT43
| title = RISC – A fringe technology or the next rage in microcomputing?
| magazine = InfoWorld
| date = November 28, 1988
| pages = 41–46
| volume = 10
| issue = 48
| first = Martin
| last = Marshall
| access-date = December 19, 2020
| archive-date = May 10, 2021
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210510142931/https://books.google.com/books?id=ADoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT43
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Initially, Apple invested considerable time and effort in an attempt to create their own RISC CPU in a project code-named "Aquarius",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thechipletter.substack.com/p/the-first-apple-silicon-the-aquarius-7cb|title=The First 'Apple Silicon' : The Aquarius Processor Project|access-date=January 8, 2024|publisher=[[Substack]]|date=May 28, 2023}}</ref> even to the point where a [[Cray-1]] supercomputer was purchased to assist with designing the chip. The company lacked the financial and manufacturing resources to produce a working product and the project was cancelled in 1989.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lowendmac.com/2006/growing-apple-with-the-macintosh-the-sculley-years/|title=Growing Apple with the Macintosh: The Sculley Years|author=Tom Hormby|date=February 22, 2006|publisher=lowendmac|access-date=January 20, 2018|archive-date=March 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325231124/http://lowendmac.com/orchard/06/john-sculley-years-apple.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

By early 1990, Apple was in contact with a number of RISC vendors to find a suitable hardware partner. The team that had created the IIfx independently started experimenting with creating a new Macintosh product that would combine a [[Motorola 68030]] processor with an [[AMD Am29000]] (29k) RISC chip. Apple had already released a product built on the 29k, the Macintosh Display Card 8•24 GC, a so-called "[[Macintosh Toolbox]] accelerator" [[NuBus]] card that provides significantly faster drawing routines than those included on the Macintosh ROM.<ref>{{cite web
| title = Macintosh Display Card 8•24 GC
| date = March 14, 1990
| url = http://lowendmac.com/1990/macintosh-display-card-8-24gc/
| publisher = lowendmac
| access-date = January 20, 2018
| archive-date = January 18, 2018
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180118034713/http://lowendmac.com/1990/macintosh-display-card-8-24gc/
| url-status = live
}}</ref> The team's experiments resulted in a 68020 emulator implemented in RISC, but the 29k project was dropped in mid-1990 due to financial infeasibility.

Apple evaluated CPU architectures including [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]], [[SPARC]], [[Intel i860|i860]], and [[ARM architecture|ARM]]{{mdash}}of which the last would, much later, be used across many Apple product families. Negotiations with Sun included the condition that Sun would use the Macintosh interface for its [[SPARC]] workstation computers in exchange for Apple using Sun's SPARC processors in Macintosh workstations; the deal was canceled due to Apple's concern that Sun could not produce enough processors. Negotiations with MIPS to use the [[R4000]] processor also included the condition that the Macintosh interface would be available as an alternative to the [[Advanced Computing Environment]]. This deal was canceled due to [[Microsoft]] being a major partner in the ACE Consortium, as well as concerns about manufacturing capability.  The Intel i860 was eliminated from consideration due to its high complexity. Apple did not consider IBM's [[POWER1]] processor as an option, believing that IBM would not be willing to license it to third parties.

[[File:Motorola XC88110RS50G CPU overhead view.jpg|thumb|Motorola 88110 RISC CPU]]
In mid-1990, Apple chose the [[MC88110|Motorola 88110]], an as-yet unfinished chip that combined the 88100 CPU and 88200 FPU into a single package.{{r|pmbook|p=7}} For the rest of the year, Apple's engineers developed a 68k emulator that would work with this future chip.  This project became known as "RLC", short form "RISC LC", a play on the name of Apple's upcoming [[Macintosh LC]] computer. By January 1991, the engineering team had produced a prototype of a Macintosh LC with its 68020 CPU being swapped out for an 88100 and a 68020 emulator. This prototype was able to use an unmodified [[Macintosh Toolbox]] ROM and could boot into [[System 7]].  A few months later, a second prototype was created, utilizing a [[Macintosh IIsi]] case with the now-completed Motorola 88100 chip.{{r|pmbook|pp=10-11}}

Jaguar wasn't initially intended to be a high-volume mainstream system. Instead, mass-market RISC systems would follow sometime later. After Gassée left Apple in early 1990, the goal of the Jaguar project was refocused to be a mainstream Macintosh system instead of a new platform. The Jaguar project was folded into the Macintosh team in early 1991.{{r|pmbook|p=10}} While the Jaguar project itself never came to fruition, and Taligent never resulted in a functional operating system, many of the elements originally developed by the Jaguar hardware and software teams were brought to market in mid-1993 with the [[Macintosh Quadra 660AV|Centris 660AV]] and [[Macintosh Quadra 840AV|Quadra 840AV]], including the [[Apple Adjustable Keyboard]], [[Apple AudioVision 14 Display]], [[GeoPort]], and [[PlainTalk]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.storiesofapple.net/tempest-cyclone-the-first-audio-video-macs.html|title=Tempest & Cyclone: the first Audio Video Macs|date=July 29, 2013|website=storiesofapple.net|access-date=January 20, 2018|archive-date=January 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121072041/http://www.storiesofapple.net/tempest-cyclone-the-first-audio-video-macs.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The new case designs introduced with the [[Macintosh Quadra 610|Centris 610]] and [[Macintosh Quadra 800|Quadra 800]] had also originated in the Jaguar team.