A Year with WallStreet

NOTE: This Miscellaneous Ramblings column originally appeared on MacOpinion on May 7, 1999, just three days before Apple announced the "Lombard" PowerBook G3. It is republished here by permission of the author and MacOpinion.

A Year with the PowerBook G3 Series

It was just over a year ago (May 6, 1998) that Apple iCEO Steve Jobs wowed the troops by unveiling the coolest laptop most of us had ever seen - the PowerBook G3 Series "WallStreet." Approximately 200,000 of the G3 Series I and Series II have been sold, making this model one of the most successful PowerBooks ever. Lombard/101, which we may finally see as soon as Monday, has some big shoes to fill.

The G3 Series machines were not without some gremlins - the poorly engineered ribbon connector on the 13.3" displays, some heat sinks that worked loose, some shorted RF shielding, and a suspected batch of faulty capacitors in the power management circuit which resulted in some failures, and in a very few cases (I have heard of less than half a dozen reported or rumored, with possibly some overlap) causing the units to catch fire.

However, the vast majority of G3 Series users love their machines, which are as close to being a full-fledged desktop computer stuffed into a portable form factor as we have yet seen. These PowerBooks can truly serve most users as an "only" computer. Lombard promises to be even better, although with at least one and possibly two junior PowerBook siblings expected to arrive before the year is out, it's doubtful that it will sell 200,000 units.

Word on the street is that PowerBook G3 Series II inventory is nearly tapped out. Supplies of 266 MHz and 233 MHz units are running low, and 300 MHz units are essentially sold out. There is a bit of an adjustment to grasp here: Apple is obviously deadly serious about tightly managing its inventories, and bargains in "leftover" units when a new model rolls out that we are accustomed to may well be a thing of the past. The bottom line here is that if you want a G3 Series II, better grab one now if you can find it. Prices are unlikely to go much lower on the Series II machines even after Lombard debuts.

The low PowerBook inventories should all but guarantee that Apple will unveil Lombard at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, California.

Indeed, AppleInsider has posted an article predicting that Lombard/101, Mac OS 8.6, and 350, 400, and 450 MHz speed bumps of the blue & white Yosemite will all be introduced during Steve Jobs' WWDC keynote address on May 10th.

As is already common knowledge, Mac OS 8.6 will be a free upgrade for Mac OS 8.5 owners who wish to download a copy of the upgrade from Apple's FTP site.

There may also be some hints as to what we can expect in Mac OS 8.7 (Sonata), currently in early beta build.

AppleInsider predicts the following features in the new professional PowerBooks:

• Dual USB ports
• No FireWire (it may be an option)
• Processor clock speeds exceeding 400 MHz with 1 MB L2 caches
• A custom version of the ATI Rage 128 chip
• Likely a form factor with a strong WallStreet heritage
• No floppies, or ADB or Serial ports
• "Extremely aggressive" pricing - perhaps as low as $2,100 for the low-end units

Another intriguing possibility is that the eagerly awaited consumer PowerBook or "iBook" will be shown but not released at the WWDC, just as the iMac was last year at the WallStreet introduction. Actual shipping of the iBook is not expected before August, possibly once again following the iMac introduction timetable from last year.

PC Card to USB Adapter Issues

Lombard and all PowerBooks in the foreseeable future will support USB. However, it should soon be possible to hook up your G3 Series 'Book to USB peripherals through one of several CardBus PC Card to USB adapters.

MacAlly, a company that makes solid (in my experience) and relatively inexpensive Mac input devices and other peripherals should soon be releasing its PC Card (CardBus based) to USB adapter for PowerBooks (CardBus 32-bit compliant only).

The anticipated date of release is still listed as April 1999 on MacAlly's Website, but there has been no announcement as yet.

The MacAlly PC Card to USB Adapter will feature:

• Support for 32-bit CardBus I/F with Type II Slot
• Connects USB devices to your PowerBook
• Provides 2 USB Type A ports
• Fully compatible with LiS8 OHCI specifications
• Fully compliance with USB specifications
• Plug and Play/Hot Pluggable

System requirements are: Mac OS 8.1 or above.

The MacAlly Part Number is UH276 and the suggested list price will be $99.

Apple is apparently endorsing the MacAlly USB/CardBus adapter. An Apple Tech Info Library page notes:

You can use a PC Card USB adapter such as the MacAlly PCMCIA (32 bit) to USB adapter.... This article provides information about a non-Apple product. Apple Computer, Inc. is not responsible for its content. Please contact the vendor for additional information.

Many people, some of whom I hear from, are questioning the long delay in getting PC Card USB adapters onto the street. An explanation posted by ADS sheds some light on this issue.

ADS will support the Apple product line with our USB Port products as soon as we receive the final licensing agreement from Apple. This licensing agreement will allow us to legally distribute the USB extensions, which are the property of and copyrighted by Apple Computer Corp.

Expected Date for Final Licensing Agreement from Apple: Any day now

The ADS USB Port for Notebooks (USBX-501) Card Bus PCMCIA will only work with Mac OS 8.6 and G3 Power Books - only G3 Power Books have support for the Card Bus 32 bit PCMCIA interface, according to ADS.

A further glitch for ADS is that:

"The Apple Computer Corp. agreement with will not allow us to distribute... USB extensions by e-mail. Therefore to receive the USB Extension diskette you must:

• Purchase a new USB Host device with Mac OS compatibility logo. The USB Extensions diskette will be inside the box. (Product will be available via our on- line store, mail order catalog vendors and web sites and on store shelves a few weeks after we receive the completed licensing agreement for Apple.)
• If you have already purchased an ADS USB Port card (PCI or Card Bus PCMCIA) you can order the diskette through our on-line store for $3.00. This cost will cover our royalty payment to Apple, cost of diskette and normal US Postal Service mailing. This will be a limited time offer as a service to customers who have bought product before the drivers became available.
• If you purchased one of the few packages that was incorrectly marked, send an e-mail to macdriver@adstech.com with your name, address, date of purchase and place of purchase (we know when and where these boxes were shipped) and we will mail you a diskette at no additional charge. This will be a limited time offer as a service to customers who have bought product before the drivers became available."

Mike McCoy, President, ADS Technologies, Inc., says that they apologize for any confusion, and that they will do all that they can to properly support their customers.

Of course, most PowerBook G3 Series computers have no floppy drives, and none will be available from Apple for Lombard (third-party peripherals, such as USB floppy drives by VST and Imation will work). A reader letter posted on the PowerBook Zone notes that ADS tech support assured him that their "sources" told ADS that all PowerBook G3s have floppy drives. Better get some new "sources." I am continually amazed by the Wintel-centric world's apparent inability to comprehend life without floppies.

However, in this case, Apple isn't helping. The ADS drivers will only be available on floppy because their licensing agreement with Apple prevents them from making the drivers available as an Internet download. Consequently, purchasers with no floppy drive will be obliged to copy the drivers from a machine with a floppy drive to their PowerBooks.

Incidentally, Apple recently discontinued manufacturing the PowerBook G3 Series expansion bay floppy disk drive. If you really want one of these units, better hurry. Reportedly, most stock is sold out. LA Computer Center is still listing them on their Website for $139.00.

Another PC Card to USB-port adapter reportedly waiting in the wings is from Hi-Val.

The Hi-Val card will sell for about $100 and reportedly be "hot-pluggable" with USB devices when running under Mac OS 8.6. With Mac OS 8.5.1, a restart will be necessary for the Mac to recognize the newly plugged-in USB device. This product is nowhere to be found on Hi-Val's Website so far.

For PowerBook owners interested in CardBus to USB connectivity, MacOSPlanet has posted a short article entitled "How To Add USB To Your PowerBook"

More on PowerBook Quality and Support Questions

Last week I published a letter from Road Warrior reader Matt Schultz, who related some disturbing stories about quality problems some of his customers have experienced with their PowerBook G3s, including one of the abovementioned rare incidents of a PowerBook catching fire.

I received this follow up note from Matt a couple of days ago:

Hi Charles,

Sorry I haven't been able to follow up - been traveling extensively on a new project.

I've reported a lot of bad news but in the interests of fairness, I have some good news to report. I received a phone call last week from Jill Byers, RN MS, President of Associated Home Health Care Professionals (an excellent client of ours), who tells me that Apple Support has agreed to refund her money in full for her PowerBook G3/233/14.1. She bought the unit in September based wholly on our recommendations. It caught fire two weeks ago and burned up.

Although she had to speak with four levels of representatives over the course of a week, she finally was able to escalate the incident to someone who could make an executive decision.

She was crying when she first called me last week after the flaming incident. While she still insists she will never have a computer in her house again, at least she feels relieved that her money will be refunded. She was not asked to sign an NDA. This takes some of the sting off the quality issues, at least as they relate directly to my customers.

I still think Apple's major worry at this point should be MTBF on PowerBooks; the excessive heat generated by these units will degrade component reliability in an accelerated fashion. Due to device life curves, it is reasonable to assume that the bulk of failures are yet to come... well outside the standard warranty window. I firmly believe we are at the rising edge of a quality epidemic.

I have left either email or voice mail for each individual whom I know with a PowerBook quality issue. So far, we have 6 NDA's, 3 "no thank you's", 5 no responses' and a full refund.

I'm still trying!

Matt

Transparent PowerBook 2400 Keyboard

Here's a funky little item for PowerBook 2400 owners that I first heard about on O'Grady's PowerPage - a transparent replacement keyboard from the YU Co. Ltd. in Japan.

This keyboard apparently comes in clear, red, green and blue. It features slightly larger keys (by about a 1 mm) than the stock 2400 KB, which some people find a bit cramped. The YU keyboard also has an extra command key and the Caps Lock and Control keys are switched.

The 2400 keyboard is so nice (other than the small size) that I would be cautious about replacing it unless the replacement was similarly engineered.

Unintentional G3 PowerBook Torture Test

Those G3 Series PowerBooks are tough! The PowerBook Source has posted a reader essay from John Forward, who relates a tale of how he dropped his WallStreet down an airport shuttle's boarding stairs onto a concrete sidewalk. (Memo: don't carry your PowerBook in a cheap carrying case). The 'Book suffered some cosmetic damage, but woke up and ran flawlessly. Check it out here:

Low-End PowerBook Corner

MacMall has some refurbished WallStreet 250s with 13.3" displays for $1,579. As has been reported here before, there are some issues with the 13.3" display, but these machines should have been reworked with that in mind. Caveat emptor.

L.A. Computer Center has similar refurbished G3/233 MHz machines with 13.3" displays for $1,399. Note that these latter would be the Series I "MainStreet" 233s with no Level 2 cache - still decently speedy, but much slower than the Series II 233s that have a 512k L2 cache (MacBench Processor 445 vs. 764).

L.A. Computer Center also has your choice of a refurbished PowerBook 5300CS (100 MHz, 8/500, 10.4" passive) or a used 5300C (100 MHz,16/750, 10.4" TFT) for $599.

Small Dog Electronics has some PowerBook 2400Cs (180 MHz, 48/1.4 GB, floppy) for $1,449. Buy one of these, install a Newer Technology or Vimage G3 upgrade card, and you have a nice, powerful little Mac subnotebook, but it makes no sense to do it for the G3 speed alone at that price. You can buy a real G3 Series 'Book for the same money or less.

Small Dog also has a PowerBook 3400c (180 MHz 16/1.3 GB/CD) for 1099.00, which represents a lot of PowerBook for the money.

MacResQ is offering refurbished PowerBook 180c units (14/160, 14.4 modem, case) for $399. With the internal modem (fast enough for email and casual surfing) and 14 MB of RAM (the maximum this 'Book supports, and not as limited as it sounds, since the latest system that supports the 180c's 33 MHz '030 chip is OS 7.6.1, which has modest RAM demands compared with OS 8.X) this makes a more than decent road warrior unit.

MacResQ also has some refurbished PowerBook 520s with internal 19.2 kbps modems for $399, and these babies will support Mac OS 8.1 and up to 36 MB of RAM.

Speaking of upgradeable PowerBooks, Infinity Micro is offering refurb. PowerBook 1400CS units (117 MHz, 12/750) for $795. At this point, upgrading begins to make some economic sense. You can get a G3 upgrade card for the 1400 from Newer Technology for $265, which would give you a pretty fast computer with a decently large display and a lovely keyboard for $1,060. Note that these 1400s have no CD-ROM and a small hard drive, but either or both can be added later if you like the package.

Infinity Micro also has a bunch of used low-end PowerBooks advertised on their Website at very decent prices:

• PowerBook 520C, 12/240, 14.4 fax modem, $249
• PowerBook 540 (this model has a very nice active matrix grayscale screen), 12/240, 14.4 fax modem, $249
• PowerBook 540C, (active matrix color) 12/240 14.4 fax modem, $349
• PowerBook 540C, 12/320, 19.2 fax modem, $449
• PowerBook 180, 33 MHz, / 8 MB / 120 MB/14.4 fax modem, $229
• PowerBook 190, 66 MHz, 8/500, $299
• PowerBook Duo 230, 8/120, $299

Preowned Electronics Ltd. has a "like-new" PowerBook Duo 280c with the following specification for $349.

• 33/66 MHz Motorola 68LC040 Processor
• 12 MB RAM
• 120 MB hard drive
• 8.4" active-matrix color display
• external 1.44 MB floppy drive w/ adapter
• internal 14.4k dodem
• includes ClarisWorks software

and a PowerBook 5300c. 100 MHz, 32 MB, 10.4" Active-Matrix Color Display, also "like new" for $749!

Psst: Wanna Buy a Mac Really Cheap?

This isn't a PowerBook item, but I couldn't resist including it. Preowned Electronics is selling used Macintosh Classics for the giveaway price of $19. If you know someone who could use a cheap computer for word processing and email, they can't do better than this! My old Mac Plus is slightly less powerful than a Classic and has only 2.5 MB of RAM, but it handles Eudora Light and Word 5.1 (or earlier), ClarisWorks 3, and other contemporary software fine.

• 8 MHz Motorola 68000 Processor
• 4 MB RAM
• 40 MB Hard Drive