It was introduced as the replacement for the Quadra 610, and was the least-expensive computer in the Macintosh lineup with prices starting at $1,199 USD.

[2] While Apple's transition to PowerPC CPUs had already begun with the introduction of the Power Macintosh a few months prior, the 630 was built around the older Motorola 68040 and 68LC040 chips.

Two reasons were cited for this: One, the older chips were less expensive; and two, PowerPC-native education software was almost non-existent at the time.

It was discontinued with no direct replacement; the 630's form factor was retained with the Power Macintosh 6200 introduced a few months earlier, but with an entry price of $2,300 it cost nearly twice as much.

[2] The choice to use DRAM instead of VRAM saves money due to its commonality, but results in lower performance and increased chance of flickering.

[2] The Performa 630 was sold with several slightly different model numbers, depending on included hardware and software features.