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Ten Years of Apple PowerBooks

Posted by timothy on from the just-getting-started dept.

ckd writes: "The PowerBook Zone has a short interview with Bruce Gee talking about the evolution of the PowerBook design since the first PowerBooks. (Bruce was the PowerBook Product Manager back then.) Hearken back to the days when 20MB was a good-sized drive in a portable machine! Yes, the PowerBook 100 was not the first 'portable Mac' -- but it was the first to bear the name PowerBook." And of all the (handful) of portables I've owned, I have to admit that I've had the fewest problems with and most affection for the PowerBooks (and now an iBook).

5 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Apple has always been a good notebook supplier... by wizbit · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...and when they've faltered, they've made up for it in spades with programs like an excellent trade-in opportunity for owners of the ill-fated 5300- and 190-series powerbooks, or defective power adaptors. I had one of these beasts fail on me and I've got to say, the Apple rep I talked to was just amazing. I got a free adaptor, I got about $500 off a new Wallstreet PB, and traded THAT in again for a new iBook.

    The iBooks are spectacular. They are thin, light, and the benefits provided by the PowerBook G4 (speed, screen size) pale in comparison to the fact that the iBook won't scorch your lap(!) - and besides, the speed hit is minimal even under OS X, especially now that 10.1 is out. For $1199, you get an extremely respectable G3 machine with all the bells and whistles appreciated by myself and other Apple fans that have kept us coming back again and again.

  2. Re:Just imagine where we would be now by Lars+T. · · Score: 2, Informative

    IBM didn't open the specs to their hardware either, they just made a blunder by making it with off-the-shelve parts and easily re-engineerable.

    --

    Lars T.

    To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

  3. Re:why the new powerbooks restored my faith in App by NDPTAL85 · · Score: 2, Informative

    You like 10.1? You used to use Red Hat? You sound like you like package management! Check out Fink at http://fink.sourceforge.net. Its a package manager for OS X and uses some debian tools like apt-get.

    --
    Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
  4. Re:Apple has always been a good notebook supplier. by u2zoo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Having just made the switch from a new iBook 500 (640mb of ram) to a G4 500 with 384 of ram . . I can tell you that the speed difference OS X is nothing short of amazing. (under 10.1 - build 5L14).

    While the iBook's screen is brighter . . the fact that it doesn't have dual monitor support was pretty depressing. (the powerbook's dual monitor shit is great . . effortless even - just plug in a monitor and go, no extra setup required.)

    And having used powerbook for about a week now . . I must say that that it is just as sturdy . . and doesn't seem to weigh anymore (my feel for it) than my iBook.

    The iBook is a wonderful machine . . don't get me wrong . . but the speed difference is VERY apparent.

  5. The PowerBook Revolution by Sandor+at+the+Zoo · · Score: 2, Informative
    Here's an often overlooked feature that Apple pioneered that every single laptop has now: palm rests.

    Remember how laptops had the keyboard flush with the front of the laptop, until the Powerbook was released?

    Everyone said "Duh! That makes so much sense!"-- it was a much better design to have a place to rest your hands while typing, but it took Apple to see it.

    That's the kind of engineering detail that keeps Apple ahead of the game. Let's hope they can keep it up!