I think the lack of respect for the 190 comes from a few sources:
-The dissimilarity to the other 100 series machines
-The overall love for the 500 series
-The fact many feel the 5300 is a flawed machine due to quality issues
-The passive matrix displays
Personally, I like the 190 over the 5300. The price was more reasonable when it came out and it can easily be upgraded to a PPC machine. It didn't have the battery issues and while it did use the same brittle plastics, it did offer the trackpad with the clicking function (the 5300 did not--just read this in an old Mac book earlier tonight).
I've always toyed with the idea of getting a 190 to use with the children I tutor, as the trackpad would be more familiar to them than a trackball yet it would still be an 68K that could run my old programs reliably. The IDE drive is never a bad thing ever due to the price and scarcity of SCSI drives--this is why I like the 150 for tutoring over other models and why I'd want a 190. The 190cs would be preferable to any 190 or 150, since many of my children ask me where the color on the screen is! (Yes, it's passive matrix color, but at least the 190cs is far superior to the old 165c).
However, from a personal standpoint, I prefer the 180c to any old PowerBook. Everyone has their personal preference, and it's not that folks don't like the 190, it's more that many of us have become attached to a particular model for some reason. In my case, the 180c's display, trackball (still prefer them to trackpads), and overall design (not to mention the fact I always wanted one as a kid) make it my favorite pre-PPC laptop. Between trackballs, screens, nostalgia, features, and compatibility, a lot of folks seem to have some other Mac higher on their depth chart than the 190 (and also the 150). Interestingly, these were both low-end Macs in their day, and for some reason, these computers tend to get a little less love in the end--ever notice how we generally like the iMac G4 better than the eMac? (There are some exceptions with machines popular in schools due to nostalgia like Classics and LCs).
-The dissimilarity to the other 100 series machines
-The overall love for the 500 series
-The fact many feel the 5300 is a flawed machine due to quality issues
-The passive matrix displays
Personally, I like the 190 over the 5300. The price was more reasonable when it came out and it can easily be upgraded to a PPC machine. It didn't have the battery issues and while it did use the same brittle plastics, it did offer the trackpad with the clicking function (the 5300 did not--just read this in an old Mac book earlier tonight).
I've always toyed with the idea of getting a 190 to use with the children I tutor, as the trackpad would be more familiar to them than a trackball yet it would still be an 68K that could run my old programs reliably. The IDE drive is never a bad thing ever due to the price and scarcity of SCSI drives--this is why I like the 150 for tutoring over other models and why I'd want a 190. The 190cs would be preferable to any 190 or 150, since many of my children ask me where the color on the screen is! (Yes, it's passive matrix color, but at least the 190cs is far superior to the old 165c).
However, from a personal standpoint, I prefer the 180c to any old PowerBook. Everyone has their personal preference, and it's not that folks don't like the 190, it's more that many of us have become attached to a particular model for some reason. In my case, the 180c's display, trackball (still prefer them to trackpads), and overall design (not to mention the fact I always wanted one as a kid) make it my favorite pre-PPC laptop. Between trackballs, screens, nostalgia, features, and compatibility, a lot of folks seem to have some other Mac higher on their depth chart than the 190 (and also the 150). Interestingly, these were both low-end Macs in their day, and for some reason, these computers tend to get a little less love in the end--ever notice how we generally like the iMac G4 better than the eMac? (There are some exceptions with machines popular in schools due to nostalgia like Classics and LCs).