Editing Power Macintosh 8500 (section)

{{Short description|Personal computer by Apple Computer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2013}}
{{Multiple issues|{{more citations needed|date=September 2017}}
{{Primary sources|date=May 2023}}}}
{{Infobox information appliance
| Name = Power Macintosh 8500
| family = [[Power Macintosh]]
| developer = [[Apple Inc.|Apple Computer]]
| Image = Power Macintosh 8500 - front.jpg
| caption = The Power Macintosh 8500/180
| release date = {{start date|1995|08|08}}
| MSRP = {{USD|3999|1995}}
| processor = [[PowerPC 600#PowerPC 604|PowerPC 604]], 120–150 MHz<br />[[PowerPC 600#PowerPC 604e|PowerPC 604e]], 180 or 200 MHz
| OS = [[System 7|7.5.2]] - [[Mac OS 9|Mac OS 9.1]]
| RAM = 16 [[megabyte|MB]], expandable to 512&nbsp;MB (Apple), 1024&nbsp;MB (actual),
| RAMtype = 70 ns 168-pin FPM or EDO [[DIMM]]
| discontinued = {{end date|1997|02|17}}
| predecessor = [[Power Macintosh 8100]]
| successor = [[Power Macintosh 8600]]
| aka = Power Macintosh 8515 and WGS 8550
}}

The '''Power Macintosh 8500''' is a [[personal computer]] designed, manufactured and sold by [[Apple Inc.|Apple Computer]] from August 1995 to February 1997. Billed as a high-end graphics computer, the Power Macintosh 8500 was initially released with a 120&nbsp;MHz [[PowerPC 600#PowerPC 604|PowerPC 604]], and unlike earlier Power Macintosh machines, the CPU was mounted on an upgradeable [[daughtercard]]. Though slower than the 132&nbsp;MHz [[Power Macintosh 9500]], the first-generation 8500 featured several audio and video ([[S-Video]] and [[composite video]]) in/out ports not found in the 9500. In fact, the 8500 incorporated near-broadcast quality (640×480) A/V input and output and was the first personal computer to do so, but no hard drive manufactured in 1997 could sustain the 18 MB/s data rate required to capture video at that resolution. Later, special [[Av drive|"AV" hard drives]] were made available that could delay [[thermal recalibration]] until after a write operation had completed. With special care to minimize [[fragmentation (computing)|fragmentation]], these drives were able to keep up with the 8500's video circuitry.

The 8500 was introduced alongside the [[Power Macintosh 7200]] and [[Power Macintosh 7500|7500]] at the 1995 MacWorld Expo in Boston.<ref name=infoworld19950807>{{cite magazine
| url = https://archive.org/stream/Infoworld-1995-08-07#page/n89/mode/2up
| title = Apple's PCI risk 
| magazine = InfoWorld Magazine
| pages = 1, 80
| date = August 7, 1995
| first = Anita
| last = Epler
}}</ref>  Apple referred to these machines collectively as the "Power Surge" line, communicating that these machines offered a significant speed improvement over its predecessors.  Infoworld Magazine's review of the 8500 showed a performance improvement in their "business applications suite" from 10 minutes with the 8100/100, to 7:37 for the 8500/120.<ref name=infoworld19950807 />  They also noted that the 8500 run an average of 24 to 44 percent faster than a similarly clocked [[P5 (microarchitecture)|Intel Pentium]] chip, with the performance nearly double on graphics and publishing tasks.

The 8500's CPU was updated twice during its production run. It originally shipped with a 120&nbsp;MHz [[PowerPC 600#PowerPC 604|PowerPC 604]], later with the same chip running at 150&nbsp;MHz, and finally with a [[PowerPC 600#PowerPC 604e|PowerPC 604e]] running at 180&nbsp;MHz. It was succeeded by the [[Power Macintosh 8600]] in February 1997.