Quicklinks: · Power Macs · 'Books · Early Macs · Week's Best Deals · Best Buys · OS Downloads

Why My 2400 Is Better than an iBook

Andrew W. Hill
2002.07.11

I sit on a 757 flying over the Rockies, typing on my beautiful PowerBook 2400c. It still has the stock 180 MHz processor, as well as a usable 80 MB RAM (RAM Doubled to 160 MB) and a 4 GB hard disk that is far less full than I ever anticipated.

Luckily, I've managed to get a seat in United's EconomyPlus section, giving me a much appreciated extra 4" of legroom. But it still has the small stock tables, the pull out kind. Luckily, the size of the 2400c lets me use it, even without pulling out the extension.

Nice little laptop.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the other two laptop users within sight. Both are large, clunky Windows 2000 Professional notebooks. The guy across from me is struggling through the eraser pointer on Excel, while the other's seems to have ran out of batteries after about three hours. I just turned my 2400c on - the biggest drawback is the one hour battery.

What I find amusing is that neither of the Windows laptops fit on the tray tables. The man a few rows in front of me had it angled on his lap in such a way that it tilted downwards, using the diagonal to get the extra precious inches. The guy across from me has an extra seat next to him. He's had his back tilted at about 45° to the left in order to type, but at least it isn't on his knee. He still had to extend the table though, and it shakes with every keystroke.

I would guess both laptops to have a 14" screen and a footprint roughly the same size as a piece of US Legal paper - perhaps an inch deeper. My 2400, on the other hand, has a 10" screen and has a footprint smaller than a piece of US Letter. There's just one thing that prevent me from being completely happy with my laptop, the RAM limit. Processor, hard disk, and battery upgrades are available (for a cost), but the maximum RAM is 80 MB for most people, 112 MB for people with spare cash, and 128 MB for people with spare cash and a soldering iron.

This means OS X will not run happily and certainly won't run well. So why don't I buy a new laptop?

As the reader has undoubtedly observed by now, the largest reason to select a particular laptop is size. I don't want my laptop to have a bigger footprint than my US Letter notebooks or weigh more than 5 pounds. Start crossing off laptops - the only qualifying Macs are the Duo series, the 2400, and the white iBook.

I need a PCMCIA port, mostly to keep up with new developments - I have five cards for my 2400. Only the 2400 has the size I want and PCMCIA. The Titanium, which I have considered, is 5.3 lbs. (close), but is 8.5" x 14", so I couldn't carry it on top of books. Under, naturally, is not an option.

I don't care about optical drives on my laptop; that's what my desktop is for. I do have a FireWire PCMCIA card so I can use my QueFire 8x CD-RW to read application CDs and burn the occasional client's disk.

It would be real nice to see Apple release a new sublaptop. I know Steve Jobs has said he would not release such a such a machine on the pretext that it was merely half a computer. I disagree, and if tomorrow they released a 12" iBook with a PCMCIA slot, I will buy it tomorrow.

Make it a half inch thinner, kill the optical drive, and I'd pay a few hundred dollars extra.

<This article is available in a printer friendly format.>

Andrew W. Hill (a.k.a. Aqua) has been using Macintosh computers since 1987 and maintains that the Mac SE is the perfect Macintosh, superior to all - including the Color Classic. He is on the verge of being evicted from the family home due to its infestation of Macs (last count: about 50). Andrew is attempting to pay his way through college at UC Santa Cruz with freelance Web design and Mac tech support.

Recent articles by Andrew W. Hill

• California vs. Kazaa, 01.22. Can a California court have jurisdiction over an Australian software company?
• Switching off Mac OS 9, 09.12. No more booting into OS 9 with 2003 Macs -- is it a bad thing?
• The different world of Hong Kong, 07.17. So many differences in Hong Kong -- only the PowerBook 2400c seemed to really fit in.
• Why my 2400 is better than an iBook, 07.11. The iBook is small, much faster, more affordable, and has far better battery life, but the 2400 is smaller and more expandable.
• More in the Aquatic Mac index.

Links for the Day

• Mac of the Day: Power Mac 4400, Nov. 1996 - Apple does cheap to compete with clones - and nobody is impressed.
• List of the Day: Leopard List Low End Mac's email list covering Mac OS X 10.5.
  
• October 11 in LEM history: 99: Kihei revisited - 00: Bring back beige - AT&T proposes extortion - 01: Mimio for the Mac - 02: Of docks and roadblocks - Reasons not to switch - PowerBook G3 repair - 04: Virtual PC 7 puts Windows on your Mac - Modem Magic - 05: Why we oppose any iPod tax - Trash shortcuts - 06: 30 days of old school computing - Firefox and Safari chipping away at Microsoft

Recent Content on Low End Mac

• TruePower Battery Can Run WallStreet PowerBook Past the 5 Hour Mark, Tommy Thomas, Welcome to Macintosh, 10.10. If you have a rugged old PowerBook but its battery is losing capacity, TruePower can give you plenty of time in the field.
• nVidia Inside Next MacBook?, Time for a Mac Netbook, Asus Launched MacBook Air Killer, and More, The 'Book Review, 10.10. Also photo reveals more about MacBook Pro, comparing 16:9 and 16:10 displays, Apple settles suit over faulty iBook and PowerBook adapters, bargain 'Books from $150 to $2,699, and more.
• 30% of iPhone 3G Buyers Switched Carriers, EU Battery Rule May Force iPhone Redesign, and More, iNews Review, 10.10. Also iPhone 3G greatest consumer electronics device ever, track presidential polls on your iPhone, Talking English Dictionary, waterproof armbands, several new iPhone apps, and more.
• Economic Crunch May Slow Mac Sales, a Recycled Cube, ToCA Race Driver 3 for Mac, and More, Mac News Review, 10.10. Also don't buy RAM from Apple, customize your Mac's appearance, MacTribe expanding into print, My Apple Space social networking, and more.
• Best Mac Pro Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 10.10. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,799; new, $1,949 after rebate; 2.8 4-core, $2,099 shipped; 8-core, $2,599 shipped; 3.0 $3,399 shipped; 3.2, $4,099 shipped.
• Best PowerBook G3 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 10.10. Used 14" WallStreet G3/266 MHz, $90; Lombard G3/400 MHz, $150; Pismo G3/400 MHz, $300; 500 MHz, $350.
• Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 10.10. Refurb 500 GB Time Capsule, $249; new, $294; refurb 1 TB, $419; new, $462; AirPort Extreme Card, $39; Base Station, $159; Express, $60.
• Modding Your Old Mac to Make It More Useful, Phil Herlihy, The Usefulness Equation, 10.09. If your old Mac is too slow, too noisy, too plain looking, or has too little room for expansion, you might want to mod it.
• What Would an $800 MacBook Mean for the Mac mini?, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 10.09. If Apple does release an $800 entry-level MacBook next week, the $600 Mac mini is going to look very overpriced.
• Best iMac G4 Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 10.09. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $269; 800 Combo, $300; 1 GHz, $390; 17" 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $400; 20", $529.
• Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 10.09. Used 1.83 GHz Core Duo, $995; 2.16, $1,125; new, 2.2, $1,400 after rebate; refurb 2.4, $1,699; 2.5, $1,999; 2.6, $2,299; rebates on new.
• Best Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' Deals, Low End Mac Deals, 10.09. DVD upgrade from 10.3, $75; upgrade bundle with 10.3, $118; full version, $129; family pack, $200; 10-user Server, $350; unlimited, $400.
• The Power of Older Macs, Why Vista Only Sees 3 GB of RAM, Wangwriter Supplies, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 10.08. Also the end of an era as MIT HyperArchive shuts down and another suggestion for profiling Windows computers.
• Migrating My Law Office from Windows to Macintosh, Andrew J Fishkin, Best Tools for the Job, 10.08. By switching to Leopard Server, everyone in the office will be able to move to a Mac - but which ones will best meet their needs?
• Low End Mac Needs Help Moving to Joomla, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 10.08. We've settled on Joomla as the content management system that should work very well for Low End Mac, but we're running stuck with templates.
• Will Apple's iPhone/App Store Tornado Blow Away the Competition?, Tim Nash, Taking Back the Market, 10.08. The iPod, iTunes, and the iTunes Store paved the way for the success of the iPhone and the App Store - and nobody can match that.
• More links in our archive.

---

<back to Aquatic Mac index>

---

Support LEM

Affiliates

The Apple Store
.mac
iTunes Store
Club Mac
MacMall
MacResQ
ExperCom
eBay
Amazon.com
PayPal
PCMall
PC Zone
Crucial Memory

Our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For detailed price quotes and advertising information, please contactat BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Aquatic Mac begun December 28, 2001. All Tech Reflections articles ©2001-2003 by Andrew W. Hill. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.