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Good Powerbooks?

H

habibrobert

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Dec 18, 2012
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Hey everyone,

I was wondering if any of the powerbooks run on 68k processors? If so, which of these models are considered to be the "best of the best"? I'm new to powerbooks and just wanted to get more of a feel for what they are like and which models are the best.
 
All PowerBooks with a three-digit number are 68k-based. The best is the PowerBook 540c, but those are hard to find, especially in good condition. (there was an even better 550c also, but Japan-only and impossible to get hold of)

Stay away from the 190(cs), as those had a very cheap and badly designed housing and tend to fall apart as soon as you touch them... ;)
 
Pretty much what Timo said there. The older PowerBooks (100, 170, 180 at least) use a very rare kind of 2.5 inch SCSI hard disk. If one of those fails, good luck finding a new one! The original design also had a pretty horrible hinge design. I've described the problem and a solution to it in my post here. Most of the original PowerBooks had design faults and limitations, and for the most part the plastics haven't help up well after 20+ years. I own a 100, a 150 and a 190 myself, and they are probably prime examples of well kept machines. My 190 works perfectly, the casing has only one small crack in it and is otherwise brand new looking. The battery contacts had corroded away after a battery leak but the logic board wasn't damaged. I'll probably post more on the restoration of that machine soon. My 150 has been restored to full working order and while the case has some minor damage, it again looks like a brand new machine. My 100 had one of those 2.5 inch SCSI disks in it and I believe it's dead so I gave up on trying to restore it any further. Even these Macs that are widely considered to be utter crap can be great in a collection if they are kept well.
 
Yes, what Timo and Mac said...

I find that if the early 3 digit PowerBooks are well cared for, they survive just fine. If someone beat on them, then hinges do break, etc.

I have two PowerBook 170s. One works great, and the other has suffered internal damage from a leaking battery pack. The great thing about these early PowerBooks (at least I think so) is that, with the adapter cable, one can attach an external SCSI disk drive - either another hard drive, or a Zip removable (100MB or 250 MB) disk drive, or even both. I especially like the sharp active matrix, albeit B&W display on the PB 170.

smp
 
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I'm actually one of the weirdos who really likes the Portable, mostly because of its bizarre form factor and Apple really took some risks (and, admittedly, lost in some respects) with the design. If you want to actually use one, it's kind of a pain, and induces hernias, but it displays well and it's a nice collector piece.

Otherwise, I second the Blackbirds (5x0 series). I'd also put a vote in for the Duos, but only if you can easily source a Dock.

@smp, I do exactly that, but with a much more capable 1400 with a G3. That's actually a very decent system, even potentially useable by current standards.
 
ClassicHasClass said:
@smp, I do exactly that, but with a much more capable 1400 with a G3. That's actually a very decent system, even potentially useable by current standards.
Click to expand...

Yeah!

My G3 favorite is the Graphite iBook. I have a couple of them. With both USB and Firewire interfaces, many peripheral options.

smp
 
My 190 works perfectly, the casing has only one small crack in it and is otherwise brand new looking.
Click to expand...
The funny thing is, the best-looking Powerbook in my collection is a 190cs as well. But I had to spend lots of work making sure that the case doesn't break any further. One screw hole was already completely broken apart (the other two partly broken), which I fixed by making a new one out of molten plastics. The 3-screw "sandwitch" design, as I call it, is simply the worst of any Powerbooks. Whenever you open the display lid, all the force is pulling the 3 screws and the flimsy plastic around can't withstand that. The bottom part of my 190's housing has a time stamp of 1999. Apple had to produce spare parts that long because of the badly designed housing.

As for the 170: Had many of them, but only kept one in my collection. It was fine a year ago, but now its hard disk has died as well. Also, every 170 I've seen so far had a bad LCD screen. Due to poor sealing back then, the borders are getting dark after a couple of minutes. The 540 (without "c") has the same issue. The one I had was so bad that after an hour, the screen was almost completely black with only a small circle left in the middle that was still recognizable. A common problem with b/w TFT screens it seems.

My favorite one is the 1400, though that's PPC already. :D
 
The G3 Wallstreets are easy to work on and outside of bad hinge design reliable. My only 68K laptop is a 170 in mint condition and I have it mostly because its a TFT mono 68k.

While I love old 68k and PPC desktop macs and have stacks of them, their laptop line is a piece of junk in terms of design and reliability which is probably why I collect Thinkpads instead.
 
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