See anything incorrect? Let Jeff know and it'll be fixed ASAP!
Since this model is discontiued configurations below may vary from yours.

• 120, 132, 150, 166, and 180 mhz PowerPC 604 Processors
  • Bus speed of 44mhz (132) to 60mhz (180)
  • CPU is on a daughtercard and is upgradable
  • Third party upgrades are currently available!
• 16mb RAM (minimum)
  • Memory cannot be interleaved for better performance
  • 4 DIMM slots, 168 pin
• 1-2gb 5400rpm hard disk (minimum)
• 4x/8x/12x CD-ROM Drive
• 512k Level-2 cache
• Built-in Ethernet
• VRAM-based graphics with 1mb VRAM (upgradable to 4mb)
• 3 PCI slots
• 4-5 Drive bays (depending on configuration)
• Low profile and minitower cases available.
• Extended Keyboard and Mouse
• $1200+ in bundled software

• Some interesting information has come in about incompatibilites between ATI video cards and PowerCenter machines.
  • A solution from Scott Sind?
    • Either switch to the onboard video (no need to remove the card), or in the Monitors & Sound control panel switch the sound output quality to 11.025 kHz. This will restore the "lost" or "crackling" sounds in games and will not interrupt a clickable system sound.
  • Dave Jensen from Arizona has a possible reason for people's problems:
    • The ATI video board is incompatible with the Powercenter. PCC is starting to recognize this. Problems caused are:
      1) Sound difficulties
      2) Formatting floppy disc problems
      The above problems go away when the board is removed.
  • Stephen Buchanan from Virginia seems to have a strange problem with his PowerCenter and its ATI video card:
    • The XClaim causes problems with the sound when it does a video fade--the sound "crackles" like it's being interrupted. I notice this when I try and play games, so it's a little annoying not to be able to hear the cool sound effects. I know it's the card, because it stops if I remove the card and run off of the onboard card, but what did I pay $450 for an accelerator card for if it does weird things? I called PCC when it first came and I noticed this, but they didn't help and told me to call ATI. Well, after a 45 minute, $10 phone call to ATI in Ontario, I'm no further along--they didn't know. Has anyone had a similar problem, and if so, what did you do about it?
• Ignacio T. Gutierrez fr om Laredo, Texas hasn't had a great experience with customer support, unfortunately...
  • I recently purchased 21 PowerCenter 120's. I am very impressed with the overall performance of these machines but I am somewhat displeased with the service Power has to offer. When I recieved these machines I had ordered them with 14" monitors from PowerComputing. Well, it turns out that they forgot to reset the jumpers before they shiped them. First they sent me some video adapters but that did not work. Finally they asked me to open each and every machine and reset the jumper myself. I said it would be okay since I was going to order another 46 computers from them but guess what, no credit at all.
• Many readers are commenting about those loud fans! LOTS of readers. Sensative ears or loud fans??
• Tom Bourke from Britain tells us this interesting tidbit:
  • The Power Centre 132 I have has a motherboard with 'PowerCurve' written on it...
    • hmm... - Jeff
• Quite a few readers have told me about problems with the Iomega Jaz and Zip drives. Usually they arrived DOA, but other readers have different problems:
  • Ben Levi from Colorado adds this tip for those with both Jaz and Zip Drives.
    • Iomega tech support spoke about the Jaz having "better termination" than the Zip, and so should be placed last on the chain.
  • Tony Ochoa asks this:
    • Has anyone in your readership mentioned prollums with the eject button for the internal zip drives? Mine will "unlatch" from the hinge at the back of the casing once in a while, forcing me to take it out and fix it, which gets old fast. As a matter of fact it's busted now, and I've been putting off working on it.
• Another hot topic is hard drive speed on these models...
  • Jeff Jones from just up the road in Newport Beach asks:
    • I love my machine except the drive does seem slow. Any ideas on speedup? It seems as though I read that it has a single channel SCSI and is not able to take advantage of the SCSI-2 drives. Thanks.
  • Robert Buck found a solution for the slow HD problem...
    • I've replaced the original 1gb Seagate with a *much* faster IBM drive. The machine just FLIES!
• Chris Harrington of Stamford, Connecticut gives us happy news about his PowerCenter 132:
  • I just want to say that I LOVE my PCenter 132. I got on the phone with the PCC folks and ordered the PCenter 120 with Zip/ 8Megs RAM/4 Megs VRAM/1 gig with Sony Trinitron 17sfII. A week later I found out that the model was going to be discontinued, so I called the PCC people and they upgraded me at no cost!
  • A few of the reasons I got the 120 (that "turned into" a 132) was that I knew that I could get daughtercards in the future. I got my RAM from Chip Merchant (a 64 Meg DIMM for $350 US) and life is good. I do a lot of Web and CD design, and the 604 chip really makes Photoshop fly! I only have one problem with Totoro (the name of the computer) It seems to make an annoying high pitched hum. Does anyone know how to get rid of it??
• Joshua Burgin of Plainsboro, New Jersey also seems very happy about his PowerCenter:
  • I've got two PowerCenter machines: a 150 at work, and a 132 at home, and I definitely love them both. The machine at work has 128mb of ram (two 64mb DIMMS) and it just flys along, except for the hard disk, which is slow, at least compared to the Sparc.20 sitting on my desk.
  • I'm definitely happy with my Power Computing machines and would buy another at any time. In fact, I made one of the first 1000 :> reservations for a PowerBase system for my parents (time to get them off that IIsi).
  • I'm even more happy that other companies are getting into the fray and everyone is dropping their prices like crazy. Competition is good.
• Duncan Vinson from the great state of Tennesee had a rather poor experience getting his PowerCenter 120 system:
  • I adore my new PowerCenter 132, but my experience with Power Computing's customer service has been very negative. I originally ordered a PowerCenter 120, and they discontinued that model right after I ordered it. They never notified me of this, and it took a while before they finally got around to sending me a PowerCenter 132. When I called to see what was the matter, the customer service representatives just did not seem to know what was going on. I thought they were reading from a script. It was always something like, "I don't know where it is in production right now, but if you call back tomorrow I can tell you." I heard that line more than once.What is worse, when the computer finally arrived, it had a smaller level 2 cache than the one I ordered (512K vs. 1MB), though they billed me for the larger cache, of course. Several voice mail messages left with my salesman and the sales manager, as well as a letter containing copies of the invoice with the discrepancy marked, have brought me no responses other than a form letter and a price list. I don't get the feeling that they really care that they overcharged me by $80. I am continuing in my efforts to resolve the situation, but my experience has convinced me that Power Computing needs to work on its customer service before it is a viable choice for Mac users. I have told my friends to steer clear and buy from Apple, despite the higher cost and less flexible hardware.
• Mike Allen of Baltimore, MD says this about his PowerCenter 132:
  • The docs for this machine are just plain awful! Much required information for a new user is missing or wrong. Two examples:
    1. I never could find the serial numbers for the Now Up-To-Date/Contact package or the Now utilities. I finally called PowerComputing and they gave me the serial numbers over the phone.
    2. The instructions for making a HDT Primer Startup Disk are wrong. The files needed are not installed on the HD nor in the distribution CD. I finally discovered that the Disk Tools image under Disk Images:System 7.5.3L has HDT Primer Lite on it. This, in reality, is the "Startup Disk."
  • It was a nice touch to include "Macintosh System 7.5 for Dummies" but given that it only covers through 7.5.1 it is of limited usefulness.
  • Now don't get me wrong. I am very pleased with my PowerCenter132. I got it with 32megs of ram, 2 megs of video ram (might as well use that 64bit data bus) and a, 2 gig HD. I have found both customer support and tech support to be very helpful. Yeah, I've had to wait on the line, but they are 800 numbers and their waiting music isn't some tasteless crud.
  • The only problems I've had are that I can't get the HDT Extension to work (It never seems to poll the scsi bus and therefore can't tell when I've inserted a cart in my EZ135) and some strangenesses with my Gravis MouseStick II.
  • Truly if I had to find a major fault with Power Computing it would be documentation. I though Apple's stuff was lacking, but they shine next to Power Computing. The machine itself is wonderful!
    • Wow, thanks Mike! - Jeff
• Kittisak Yokthongwattana of Berkeley, CA says this about his PowerCenter 150:
• Well, I have been using the PowerCenter 150 for 2 weeks now. It has been doing a great job, no problem at all. I added more VRAM to 2 MB, and RAM to 48 MB. Everything seems to be fast, except the hard drive. I'm not satisfied with the transfer rate of this machine's hard drive. Even though my 1 GB Seagate hard disk is a SCSI2, it can operate at the maximum speed of only 5 MB/s due to the single channel SCSI controller of the PowerCenter. Overall, I'm happy with it though. :)