Thread
My top Pick's (To Collect) - 68K Macintosh Powerbook's
Basically Passive Matrix LCD's are total crap, here are my Pick's
With the Macintosh Portable, If you can, choose the one that is back lit.
Where did you find that table? Handy!
they left out the [165 B&W Passive]
I'm going to flat out disagree with you about eliminating all passive LCDs.
The Bookends of the 100 series belong in ANY comprehensive collection of PowerBooks.
PowerBook 100 - SCSI Disk Mode, 8MB Ram, 16 MHZ 68000 and the Design Progenitor the SubnoteBook species.
PowerBook 150 - Last hurrah of the 100 series and the most expandable, currently supportable/useful 100 series PowerBook ever made.
IMHO, of course. :beige:
The Bookends of the 100 series belong in ANY comprehensive collection of PowerBooks.
PowerBook 100 - SCSI Disk Mode, 8MB Ram, 16 MHZ 68000 and the Design Progenitor the SubnoteBook species.
PowerBook 150 - Last hurrah of the 100 series and the most expandable, currently supportable/useful 100 series PowerBook ever made.
IMHO, of course. :beige:
same on both, but also the 190 being the last of the 68k macs it should be included too.
I personally am partial to the 160 and 180 just because the 160 was my first powerbook and than I upgraded to a 180, later I got a 165. Now I have a 180 again and will soon have a 165. and prefer to collect PBs since they're all-in-one and don't take up much space(small storage footprint is a bonus with the wife) |)
I personally am partial to the 160 and 180 just because the 160 was my first powerbook and than I upgraded to a 180, later I got a 165. Now I have a 180 again and will soon have a 165. and prefer to collect PBs since they're all-in-one and don't take up much space(small storage footprint is a bonus with the wife) |)
My 68k PB collection is getting closer to finished but I think the 100 is still my favorite. Sure, there's a ton of tradeoffs but the size is really great. With the PB100 and the PB2400c as my favorite 'Books, I'm surprised I don't have more Duos.
i think i would like a Powerbook 100, does anyone want to sell me one?
AHA!!!!! Suddenly he's not so sure about dismissing all Passive Matrix PBs! [}
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< . . . mumbles about them all having cute little legs with FEETS!!!!!!!!!!!! [
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] ]'>< . . . mumbles about them all having cute little legs with FEETS!!!!!!!!!!!! [
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Passive matrix used to irritate me to no end, but several days of setting up a 190 for my sister and the accompanying ZIP 100 disk shuffling of files back and forth has gotten me well acclimated to the blurry little beasts.
Why does everyone for get the 165? They remember the 165c, but never the 165.
I wouldn't be so quick to say that...while it wasn't a true 1xx series, the 190 beats it in just about every single way. Choice of mono or colour FSTN in stock form, upgradable to a TFT from a 5300, doesn't require an adaptor made of pure unobtanium to upgrade the RAM, ADB port, the ability to add external video, 'LC040 chip, *and* and 2 PCMCIA slots! And the last ever 68k PowerBook.
I have a 100 with a dead battery (that apparently expanded, permanently wedging it in there,) and a bit of pixel rot right in the center of the screen.
I love it when the batteries expand and wedge them selves in there,
Also love it when you open up a 100x Powerbook and all of the standoff's are brittle and break or are already broke
And when you grab the lid to open it up, and you her snap snap and the hinges bust right out of the plastic in the screen,
My favorite is when you think you have a powerbook that is all set, good harddrive and etc,(complete) set it up on the shelf,
couple weeks later power it up and the hd just goes clunk clunk clunk.
Also love it when you open up a 100x Powerbook and all of the standoff's are brittle and break or are already broke
And when you grab the lid to open it up, and you her snap snap and the hinges bust right out of the plastic in the screen,
My favorite is when you think you have a powerbook that is all set, good harddrive and etc,(complete) set it up on the shelf,
couple weeks later power it up and the hd just goes clunk clunk clunk.
Not a chance, the 190 was not PowerBook Gray, was not 68030 architecture, had T-REX/IDE/PCMCIA on board and that, by definition, made it the improved BlackBird-> 5300 series progenitor, not a 100 series 'Book.
The 150 is, unarguably, the far bookend of the 100 series, but not the 68k series, as you pointed out. YMMV
Passive screens are just plain terrible.
I feel sorry for anyone that had to use one every day,
detracts from the whole computer using experience.
I feel sorry for anyone that had to use one every day,
detracts from the whole computer using experience.
Forgive me for being a little naive, but are the passive screens similar to how E-Ink functions? If so, I agree on them being 'the suck'.
no, e-ink is clear and readable. passive matrix is fuzzy...
And you can break e-ink displays just as easily, rendering them inop. Dont ask how i know this...
I remember messing with a 150 for a while and HATED it. I was so happy when I found a 180.
I can remember lusting after a 540c when they were new, but all those zeros in the price kept me from buying, even though by then I was a working man. In retrospect, however, I now appreciate the 68030 PowerBooks more than the 040s for their energy saving features. Any 68LC040-based PowerBook was obviously faster, but the 040 chip had much more primitive power savings features than the 030, and the combination of the two (speed and lack of granular power management) sucks down so much more power in an 040 than an 030 (with energy saving features properly set) that the difference is startling.
With a RAM disk, Write Now or Nisus Compact, a minimal system installation, decent RAM, and a good battery, one of these 030 PowerBooks can be kept going for a working day (allowing for periodic, short system sleeps when idle, and esp. with the newer NiMh cells available). Then you pop in a spare battery and go just as long again. The 040 'books, though much more powerful, could not match that specific kind of performance, which was so suitable for lengthy spells of word crunching and the like (which is mostly how they were used back then). 3 hrs or so was tops for an 040, especially with later System software that demanded running it from the HD, so that in that sense, you got half the performance.
My absolute favourite, accordingly, is the 270c. Fabulous screen, compact, interesting technologically, lots of RAM expansion available, and running everything on a 33MHz 68030 with 68882: the 270c is 68k PowerBook bliss. Mine can run Nisus Writer 5 from a RAM disk like greased lightning, and that's with the processor set at half speed.
With a RAM disk, Write Now or Nisus Compact, a minimal system installation, decent RAM, and a good battery, one of these 030 PowerBooks can be kept going for a working day (allowing for periodic, short system sleeps when idle, and esp. with the newer NiMh cells available). Then you pop in a spare battery and go just as long again. The 040 'books, though much more powerful, could not match that specific kind of performance, which was so suitable for lengthy spells of word crunching and the like (which is mostly how they were used back then). 3 hrs or so was tops for an 040, especially with later System software that demanded running it from the HD, so that in that sense, you got half the performance.
My absolute favourite, accordingly, is the 270c. Fabulous screen, compact, interesting technologically, lots of RAM expansion available, and running everything on a 33MHz 68030 with 68882: the 270c is 68k PowerBook bliss. Mine can run Nisus Writer 5 from a RAM disk like greased lightning, and that's with the processor set at half speed.
From today's perspective it may seem so, but back then, LCDs suffered badly by comparison of quality from one direction AND price from the other direction. It's easy to say "no compromises" in hindsight and for collecting. These things cost real money at much higher prices then, than the machines of today that are bought with badly inflated currency at those lower price points.
Back then any screen at all was a Godsend, so we weren't all that picky. The PB100 was a revelation, especially booting running from its battery backed RAMdisk, the TrackBall was better than it's less sleek sibs and size and weight . . . fuggedaboudit!
I lusted after the Duo 250's Active Matrix GS LCD, but the 230 was fine for anything but doing billing at the pool club in bright sunshine. It sufficed, especially with 20 & 17" CRTs docked on either end of the commute.
They did it right with the portable!
Started out fresh with a proper screen!
Started out fresh with a proper screen!
The only 68k laptop I have is a 170, and I have about 4 guts from 170's just to get 1 that is 100% working and not cracked or missing plastics (which is why I don't bother with the other 68K models). The only other Apple laptops I have are Wallstreets, and even there the dualscan screen sucks (only have 1 with DS).