UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Don't believe what it says on the front of the computer, because that is really a Performa 636 CD. As of this publising, the original faceplate actually came loose because of the briddle plastic tabs that broke off when trying to access the drives in front. In any case, this computer is basically my go-to when it comes to 68k Macintosh stuff in color after the black and white compact macs.
Since owning my Mac SE, I wanted a machine that would fill in the gaps as far as 68k stuff that would otherwise won't run very well on a Mac SE or even a Power Mac. So naturally, the Performa 636 CD was my closest bet, especially for the sake of simplicity. Of course, there were corners I had to cut in order to get what I want. For instance, I was hoping for removable RAM in case it goes bad, but it's one of those machines where it's built into the computer. Plus, the drives can only be accessed via the front panel, which can only be removed by bending the plastic tabs which are briddle. And, as mentioned before, I already broke one on the original faceplate, hence the difference in the picture.
The back of the Performa
Regardless of those, everything else is just as I wanted in a 68K Mac, at least it's what I was able to get anyway. For instance, it has an IDE controller, which makes it cheap and easy to get a working drive for the computer, especially when compared to SCSI. I also like the fact that the entire motherboard itself can actually be pulled right out of the computer, as if it were a tray, making maintenance and upgrades very easy. Also, as you can see on the back side of the computer, I've got a couple of addons. The first of which is an Ethernet PDS card, and the latter is an A/V card which would allow me to connect devices like VCRs or even game consoles.
So ultimately, the Performa 636 CD is one of the very Macs that I wanted for 68K stuff aside from the Mac SE. I'm hoping that at some point in the future, I'll be able to find a better solution as far as playing games from that particular era. But for now, this Performa will do just fine.