Were there more 68K Macs or PPC Macs made?
Just curious were there more Motorola 68000 series macs made then PPC? I know mac sales started slow. But Mac sales also slowed in the mid to late 1990s when the PPCs were shipping. 68K macs and PPC macs also sold for nearly the same number of years. There were also clones of 68K (maybe PPC?).
Total Sales Volume • Motorola 68000 Era (1983-1994): • Approximately 10-12 million units total across all models • Took until March 1987 (over 3 years) to sell 1 million Macintosh units • Slower initial adoption due to high prices and limited software • PowerPC Era (1994-2006): • Significantly higher sales volumes • iMac G3 alone sold 6 million units • iMac G4 sold 3.1 million units (with eMac) • Power Mac G5 sold over 500,000 units in less than a year • Quarterly sales of PowerPC models regularly exceeded 200,000-300,000 units That should help. Most Popular Models • Motorola Era: Macintosh Plus (longest production run), Macintosh SE, Macintosh Classic • PowerPC Era: iMac G3 (highest total sales), iMac G4, Power Mac G4/G5 Based on the available sales data, Apple computers using PowerPC CPUs were significantly more popular with consumers than those using Motorola 68000-series CPUs. The PowerPC era saw much higher sales volumes, faster growth, and broader market penetration. -andy
On Mar 16, 2025, at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Just curious were there more Motorola 68000 series macs made then PPC?
I know mac sales started slow. But Mac sales also slowed in the mid to late 1990s when the PPCs were shipping.
68K macs and PPC macs also sold for nearly the same number of years. There were also clones of 68K (maybe PPC?).
Definitely helpful! Looks like Powerbooks would put the numbers way over the top for PPC. Not quite what I expected given (in my head) Apple's challenges in the late 1990s. I suspect the dollar value might be a bit closer (68K Macs were often expensive, partially thanks to Motorola starting with the 68020); but that's analysis for another day. Thanks very much Andrew! On Tue, Mar 18, 2025 at 10:26 Andrew Diller <dillera@gmail.com> wrote:
Total Sales Volume • Motorola 68000 Era (1983-1994): • Approximately 10-12 million units total across all models • Took until March 1987 (over 3 years) to sell 1 million Macintosh units • Slower initial adoption due to high prices and limited software
• PowerPC Era (1994-2006): • Significantly higher sales volumes • iMac G3 alone sold 6 million units • iMac G4 sold 3.1 million units (with eMac) • Power Mac G5 sold over 500,000 units in less than a year • Quarterly sales of PowerPC models regularly exceeded 200,000-300,000 units
That should help.
Most Popular Models • Motorola Era: Macintosh Plus (longest production run), Macintosh SE, Macintosh Classic • PowerPC Era: iMac G3 (highest total sales), iMac G4, Power Mac G4/G5
Based on the available sales data, Apple computers using PowerPC CPUs were significantly more popular with consumers than those using Motorola 68000-series CPUs. The PowerPC era saw much higher sales volumes, faster growth, and broader market penetration.
-andy
On Mar 16, 2025, at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Just curious were there more Motorola 68000 series macs made then PPC?
I know mac sales started slow. But Mac sales also slowed in the mid to late 1990s when the PPCs were shipping.
68K macs and PPC macs also sold for nearly the same number of years. There were also clones of 68K (maybe PPC?).
I think 1994-1995 was a tipping point for personal computing in general. I don't have empirical evidence for this, just an educated guess. But with the advent of the World Wide Web & stable, useful GUI environments (yes, even Windows 95) personal computer usage started to become much more mainstream. It doesn't surprise me at all that computers built/sold during this period would far out-pace/out-sell prior models. On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 6:52 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Definitely helpful! Looks like Powerbooks would put the numbers way over the top for PPC. Not quite what I expected given (in my head) Apple's challenges in the late 1990s.
I suspect the dollar value might be a bit closer (68K Macs were often expensive, partially thanks to Motorola starting with the 68020); but that's analysis for another day.
Thanks very much Andrew!
On Tue, Mar 18, 2025 at 10:26 Andrew Diller <dillera@gmail.com> wrote:
Total Sales Volume • Motorola 68000 Era (1983-1994): • Approximately 10-12 million units total across all models • Took until March 1987 (over 3 years) to sell 1 million Macintosh units • Slower initial adoption due to high prices and limited software
• PowerPC Era (1994-2006): • Significantly higher sales volumes • iMac G3 alone sold 6 million units • iMac G4 sold 3.1 million units (with eMac) • Power Mac G5 sold over 500,000 units in less than a year • Quarterly sales of PowerPC models regularly exceeded 200,000-300,000 units
That should help.
Most Popular Models • Motorola Era: Macintosh Plus (longest production run), Macintosh SE, Macintosh Classic • PowerPC Era: iMac G3 (highest total sales), iMac G4, Power Mac G4/G5
Based on the available sales data, Apple computers using PowerPC CPUs were significantly more popular with consumers than those using Motorola 68000-series CPUs. The PowerPC era saw much higher sales volumes, faster growth, and broader market penetration.
-andy
On Mar 16, 2025, at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Just curious were there more Motorola 68000 series macs made then PPC?
I know mac sales started slow. But Mac sales also slowed in the mid to late 1990s when the PPCs were shipping.
68K macs and PPC macs also sold for nearly the same number of years. There were also clones of 68K (maybe PPC?).
-- - Benjamin Krein
I think you are correct in that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_computer_vendors People wanted to get on "the world wide web" and were willing to buy machines that they weren't willing to buy before. I made a lot of money in the early to 90s servicing these machines, I kind of miss that time. On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 7:25 AM Benjamin Krein via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I think 1994-1995 was a tipping point for personal computing in general. I don't have empirical evidence for this, just an educated guess. But with the advent of the World Wide Web & stable, useful GUI environments (yes, even Windows 95) personal computer usage started to become much more mainstream. It doesn't surprise me at all that computers built/sold during this period would far out-pace/out-sell prior models.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 6:52 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Definitely helpful! Looks like Powerbooks would put the numbers way over the top for PPC. Not quite what I expected given (in my head) Apple's challenges in the late 1990s.
I suspect the dollar value might be a bit closer (68K Macs were often expensive, partially thanks to Motorola starting with the 68020); but that's analysis for another day.
Thanks very much Andrew!
On Tue, Mar 18, 2025 at 10:26 Andrew Diller <dillera@gmail.com> wrote:
Total Sales Volume • Motorola 68000 Era (1983-1994): • Approximately 10-12 million units total across all models • Took until March 1987 (over 3 years) to sell 1 million Macintosh units • Slower initial adoption due to high prices and limited software
• PowerPC Era (1994-2006): • Significantly higher sales volumes • iMac G3 alone sold 6 million units • iMac G4 sold 3.1 million units (with eMac) • Power Mac G5 sold over 500,000 units in less than a year • Quarterly sales of PowerPC models regularly exceeded 200,000-300,000 units
That should help.
Most Popular Models • Motorola Era: Macintosh Plus (longest production run), Macintosh SE, Macintosh Classic • PowerPC Era: iMac G3 (highest total sales), iMac G4, Power Mac G4/G5
Based on the available sales data, Apple computers using PowerPC CPUs were significantly more popular with consumers than those using Motorola 68000-series CPUs. The PowerPC era saw much higher sales volumes, faster growth, and broader market penetration.
-andy
On Mar 16, 2025, at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Just curious were there more Motorola 68000 series macs made then PPC?
I know mac sales started slow. But Mac sales also slowed in the mid to late 1990s when the PPCs were shipping.
68K macs and PPC macs also sold for nearly the same number of years. There were also clones of 68K (maybe PPC?).
-- - Benjamin Krein
I would say that machines around that time became substantially easier to use & more affordable too. It’s when they really started becoming commodities rather than exclusively luxuries or toys. Benjamin Krein Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 19, 2025, at 7:44 AM, Christian Liendo <cliendo@gmail.com> wrote:
I think you are correct in that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_computer_vendors
People wanted to get on "the world wide web" and were willing to buy machines that they weren't willing to buy before.
I made a lot of money in the early to 90s servicing these machines, I kind of miss that time.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 7:25 AM Benjamin Krein via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I think 1994-1995 was a tipping point for personal computing in general. I don't have empirical evidence for this, just an educated guess. But with the advent of the World Wide Web & stable, useful GUI environments (yes, even Windows 95) personal computer usage started to become much more mainstream. It doesn't surprise me at all that computers built/sold during this period would far out-pace/out-sell prior models.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 6:52 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Definitely helpful! Looks like Powerbooks would put the numbers way over the top for PPC. Not quite what I expected given (in my head) Apple's challenges in the late 1990s.
I suspect the dollar value might be a bit closer (68K Macs were often expensive, partially thanks to Motorola starting with the 68020); but that's analysis for another day.
Thanks very much Andrew!
On Tue, Mar 18, 2025 at 10:26 Andrew Diller <dillera@gmail.com> wrote:
Total Sales Volume • Motorola 68000 Era (1983-1994): • Approximately 10-12 million units total across all models • Took until March 1987 (over 3 years) to sell 1 million Macintosh units • Slower initial adoption due to high prices and limited software
• PowerPC Era (1994-2006): • Significantly higher sales volumes • iMac G3 alone sold 6 million units • iMac G4 sold 3.1 million units (with eMac) • Power Mac G5 sold over 500,000 units in less than a year • Quarterly sales of PowerPC models regularly exceeded 200,000-300,000 units
That should help.
Most Popular Models • Motorola Era: Macintosh Plus (longest production run), Macintosh SE, Macintosh Classic • PowerPC Era: iMac G3 (highest total sales), iMac G4, Power Mac G4/G5
Based on the available sales data, Apple computers using PowerPC CPUs were significantly more popular with consumers than those using Motorola 68000-series CPUs. The PowerPC era saw much higher sales volumes, faster growth, and broader market penetration.
-andy
On Mar 16, 2025, at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Just curious were there more Motorola 68000 series macs made then PPC?
I know mac sales started slow. But Mac sales also slowed in the mid to late 1990s when the PPCs were shipping.
68K macs and PPC macs also sold for nearly the same number of years. There were also clones of 68K (maybe PPC?).
-- - Benjamin Krein
Totally agree - early/mid 1990s is when I noticed a lot of people who normally I didn't think were techies started having home PCs. I was just thinking of this chart: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/archive/articles/culture/tota... You can clearly see Mac market share peaking in 1993 or so then holding decent until 1998 when it starts dropping a lot. However, I hadn't considered that the whole market grew by leaps and bounds so that could still mean they're selling more Macs than before. P.S. Christian - I also miss that time for the same reason. I used to build and sell PCs as a teenager in the early 1990s - it was a lot of fun. Even towards the end of the decade, you could still do interesting and fun desktop support at a company and not do it 'by checklist' like is common today. On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 10:01 AM Benjamin Krein via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I would say that machines around that time became substantially easier to use & more affordable too. It’s when they really started becoming commodities rather than exclusively luxuries or toys.
Benjamin Krein Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 19, 2025, at 7:44 AM, Christian Liendo <cliendo@gmail.com> wrote:
I think you are correct in that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_computer_vendors
People wanted to get on "the world wide web" and were willing to buy machines that they weren't willing to buy before.
I made a lot of money in the early to 90s servicing these machines, I kind of miss that time.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 7:25 AM Benjamin Krein via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I think 1994-1995 was a tipping point for personal computing in general. I don't have empirical evidence for this, just an educated guess. But with the advent of the World Wide Web & stable, useful GUI environments (yes, even Windows 95) personal computer usage started to become much more mainstream. It doesn't surprise me at all that computers built/sold during this period would far out-pace/out-sell prior models.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 6:52 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Definitely helpful! Looks like Powerbooks would put the numbers way over the top for PPC. Not quite what I expected given (in my head) Apple's challenges in the late 1990s.
I suspect the dollar value might be a bit closer (68K Macs were often expensive, partially thanks to Motorola starting with the 68020); but that's analysis for another day.
Thanks very much Andrew!
On Tue, Mar 18, 2025 at 10:26 Andrew Diller <dillera@gmail.com> wrote:
Total Sales Volume • Motorola 68000 Era (1983-1994): • Approximately 10-12 million units total across all models • Took until March 1987 (over 3 years) to sell 1 million Macintosh units • Slower initial adoption due to high prices and limited software
• PowerPC Era (1994-2006): • Significantly higher sales volumes • iMac G3 alone sold 6 million units • iMac G4 sold 3.1 million units (with eMac) • Power Mac G5 sold over 500,000 units in less than a year • Quarterly sales of PowerPC models regularly exceeded 200,000-300,000 units
That should help.
Most Popular Models • Motorola Era: Macintosh Plus (longest production run), Macintosh SE, Macintosh Classic • PowerPC Era: iMac G3 (highest total sales), iMac G4, Power Mac G4/G5
Based on the available sales data, Apple computers using PowerPC CPUs were significantly more popular with consumers than those using Motorola 68000-series CPUs. The PowerPC era saw much higher sales volumes, faster growth, and broader market penetration.
-andy
On Mar 16, 2025, at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Just curious were there more Motorola 68000 series macs made then PPC?
I know mac sales started slow. But Mac sales also slowed in the mid to late 1990s when the PPCs were shipping.
68K macs and PPC macs also sold for nearly the same number of years. There were also clones of 68K (maybe PPC?).
-- - Benjamin Krein
If folks are interested, I did a good walk through one of the laptops from the transition time for Apple when they shifted from OS9 to OSX. Powerbook G3 266: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Sv-c0zTCg On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 11:09 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Totally agree - early/mid 1990s is when I noticed a lot of people who normally I didn't think were techies started having home PCs.
I was just thinking of this chart:
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/archive/articles/culture/tota...
You can clearly see Mac market share peaking in 1993 or so then holding decent until 1998 when it starts dropping a lot. However, I hadn't considered that the whole market grew by leaps and bounds so that could still mean they're selling more Macs than before.
P.S. Christian - I also miss that time for the same reason. I used to build and sell PCs as a teenager in the early 1990s - it was a lot of fun. Even towards the end of the decade, you could still do interesting and fun desktop support at a company and not do it 'by checklist' like is common today.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 10:01 AM Benjamin Krein via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I would say that machines around that time became substantially easier to use & more affordable too. It’s when they really started becoming commodities rather than exclusively luxuries or toys.
Benjamin Krein Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 19, 2025, at 7:44 AM, Christian Liendo <cliendo@gmail.com> wrote:
I think you are correct in that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_computer_vendors
People wanted to get on "the world wide web" and were willing to buy machines that they weren't willing to buy before.
I made a lot of money in the early to 90s servicing these machines, I kind of miss that time.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 7:25 AM Benjamin Krein via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I think 1994-1995 was a tipping point for personal computing in
general. I
don't have empirical evidence for this, just an educated guess. But with the advent of the World Wide Web & stable, useful GUI environments (yes, even Windows 95) personal computer usage started to become much more mainstream. It doesn't surprise me at all that computers built/sold during this period would far out-pace/out-sell prior models.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 6:52 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Definitely helpful! Looks like Powerbooks would put the numbers way over the top for PPC. Not quite what I expected given (in my head) Apple's challenges in the late 1990s.
I suspect the dollar value might be a bit closer (68K Macs were often expensive, partially thanks to Motorola starting with the 68020); but that's analysis for another day.
Thanks very much Andrew!
On Tue, Mar 18, 2025 at 10:26 Andrew Diller <dillera@gmail.com> wrote:
Total Sales Volume • Motorola 68000 Era (1983-1994): • Approximately 10-12 million units total across all models • Took until March 1987 (over 3 years) to sell 1 million Macintosh units • Slower initial adoption due to high prices and limited software
• PowerPC Era (1994-2006): • Significantly higher sales volumes • iMac G3 alone sold 6 million units • iMac G4 sold 3.1 million units (with eMac) • Power Mac G5 sold over 500,000 units in less than a year • Quarterly sales of PowerPC models regularly exceeded 200,000-300,000 units
That should help.
Most Popular Models • Motorola Era: Macintosh Plus (longest production run), Macintosh SE, Macintosh Classic • PowerPC Era: iMac G3 (highest total sales), iMac G4, Power Mac G4/G5
Based on the available sales data, Apple computers using PowerPC CPUs were significantly more popular with consumers than those using Motorola 68000-series CPUs. The PowerPC era saw much higher sales volumes, faster growth, and broader market penetration.
-andy
> On Mar 16, 2025, at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: > > Just curious were there more Motorola 68000 series macs made then PPC? > > I know mac sales started slow. But Mac sales also slowed in the mid to > late 1990s when the PPCs were shipping. > > 68K macs and PPC macs also sold for nearly the same number of years. > There were also clones of 68K (maybe PPC?).
-- - Benjamin Krein
-- Dave Shevett shevett@pobox.com
Fun video and interesting! On Wed, Mar 19, 2025, 11:24 AM Dave Shevett <shevett@pobox.com> wrote:
If folks are interested, I did a good walk through one of the laptops from the transition time for Apple when they shifted from OS9 to OSX.
Powerbook G3 266: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Sv-c0zTCg
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 11:09 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Totally agree - early/mid 1990s is when I noticed a lot of people who normally I didn't think were techies started having home PCs.
I was just thinking of this chart:
https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/archive/articles/culture/tota...
You can clearly see Mac market share peaking in 1993 or so then holding decent until 1998 when it starts dropping a lot. However, I hadn't considered that the whole market grew by leaps and bounds so that could still mean they're selling more Macs than before.
P.S. Christian - I also miss that time for the same reason. I used to build and sell PCs as a teenager in the early 1990s - it was a lot of fun. Even towards the end of the decade, you could still do interesting and fun desktop support at a company and not do it 'by checklist' like is common today.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 10:01 AM Benjamin Krein via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I would say that machines around that time became substantially easier to use & more affordable too. It’s when they really started becoming commodities rather than exclusively luxuries or toys.
Benjamin Krein Sent from my iPhone
On Mar 19, 2025, at 7:44 AM, Christian Liendo <cliendo@gmail.com> wrote:
I think you are correct in that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_share_of_personal_computer_vendors
People wanted to get on "the world wide web" and were willing to buy machines that they weren't willing to buy before.
I made a lot of money in the early to 90s servicing these machines, I kind of miss that time.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 7:25 AM Benjamin Krein via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I think 1994-1995 was a tipping point for personal computing in
general. I
don't have empirical evidence for this, just an educated guess. But with the advent of the World Wide Web & stable, useful GUI environments (yes, even Windows 95) personal computer usage started to become much more mainstream. It doesn't surprise me at all that computers built/sold during this period would far out-pace/out-sell prior models.
On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 6:52 AM John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Definitely helpful! Looks like Powerbooks would put the numbers way over the top for PPC. Not quite what I expected given (in my head) Apple's challenges in the late 1990s.
I suspect the dollar value might be a bit closer (68K Macs were often expensive, partially thanks to Motorola starting with the 68020); but that's analysis for another day.
Thanks very much Andrew!
> On Tue, Mar 18, 2025 at 10:26 Andrew Diller <dillera@gmail.com> wrote:
> Total Sales Volume > • Motorola 68000 Era (1983-1994): > • Approximately 10-12 million units total across all models > • Took until March 1987 (over 3 years) to sell 1 million Macintosh > units > • Slower initial adoption due to high prices and limited software > > • PowerPC Era (1994-2006): > • Significantly higher sales volumes > • iMac G3 alone sold 6 million units > • iMac G4 sold 3.1 million units (with eMac) > • Power Mac G5 sold over 500,000 units in less than a year > • Quarterly sales of PowerPC models regularly exceeded > 200,000-300,000 units > > > That should help. > > Most Popular Models > • Motorola Era: Macintosh Plus (longest production run), Macintosh SE, > Macintosh Classic > • PowerPC Era: iMac G3 (highest total sales), iMac G4, Power Mac G4/G5 > > > Based on the available sales data, Apple computers using PowerPC CPUs were > significantly more popular with consumers than those using Motorola > 68000-series CPUs. The PowerPC era saw much higher sales volumes, faster > growth, and broader market penetration. > > > -andy > > >> On Mar 16, 2025, at 8:47 AM, John Heritage via vcf-midatlantic < > vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote: >> >> Just curious were there more Motorola 68000 series macs made then PPC? >> >> I know mac sales started slow. But Mac sales also slowed in the mid to >> late 1990s when the PPCs were shipping. >> >> 68K macs and PPC macs also sold for nearly the same number of years. >> There were also clones of 68K (maybe PPC?). > >
-- - Benjamin Krein
-- Dave Shevett shevett@pobox.com
participants (6)
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Andrew Diller -
Benjamin Krein -
Christian Liendo -
Dave Shevett -
Dmitry _ -
John Heritage