The 280c screen is not a typical colour LCD (and is therefore unlike, e.g., the one on the 540c or the 2300c). In fact, it behaves as well in an outdoor setting as a greyscale LCD — and you can turn it into one if you like by fiddling with the Monitors setting. 280c is a fast 68k machine rather than a slow PPC machine. It is also one of the rare 68k PowerBooks to take a lot of memory (either 36MB or 40MB, I forget). So the 280c has a lot going for it.

Its real failing/limitation is the fact that it must rely on an unobtainium 2.5" scsi drive. For that reason, the 2300c could have the edge.