the greatest vintage apple-collection

Mac OS and Windows

As compelling as the Apple platform and Mac OS were, the PC dominated my daily business. Many programs I relied on ran exclusively on Windows. Of course, software emulators like SoftPC existed early on, but these solutions were never truly satisfactory.

When Apple then offered the Power Macintosh 6100 with an Intel 486 processor card, I couldn't resist. The price was higher than simply running a Macintosh and a PC side by side. But this wasn't about cost-effectiveness; it was about order, design, and principle:

One Macintosh for everything.

And indeed, the system worked perfectly. A control panel—or even a user-defined keyboard shortcut—allowed seamless switching between Mac OS and Windows. The truly revolutionary aspect, however, was something else:

Copy & Paste worked across platforms.

Furthermore, a shared drive could be defined that both systems could access.

What sounds trivial today was spectacular back then—and remains unmatched in its comprehensiveness to this day. For my daily work, this solution was incredibly helpful and efficient.

I used the Power Macintosh 6100 with an Intel 486 for many years with great pleasure. Of course, I was aware that this was a standalone solution. Later, software emulators improved, and with the switch to Intel processors, a native solution became the obvious next step. But truly running Windows and Mac OS in parallel was only possible on this specific system.

Technically, the solution was as elegant as it was unusual: The Intel 486 card had its own RAM and even its own video output, which was connected to the same monitor. Presumably, this is precisely why this hybrid system functioned so stably and reliably.

In retrospect, the Power Macintosh 6100 with the Intel card was not just an oddity, but a visionary bridge between two worlds—and for me, one of the most useful Macs Apple has ever built.