The PowerBook 190: Still a Great Little Laptop

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.

OWC: NewerTech miniStack FireWire/USB 2.0 HD & Hub Up to 1.0TB of Performance Storage + FW/USB2 Powered Hubs - convenient & sleek 6.5" x 6.5" x 1.5" Featured: 500GB $169.99; 750GB $209.99; 1.0TB $339.99

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

MacPro Memory 667Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $90 / 4GB $134 / 8GB $264. Click to Maximize your Macs...

My Turn is Low End Mac's column for reader-submitted articles. It's your turn to share your thoughts on all things Mac (or iPhone, iPod, etc.) and write for the Mac web. Email your submission to Dan Knight .

- 2005.12.01

Despite its faults, the PowerBook 190 is a good little machine. I've only had mine since April of this year, but I've fallen in love with it.

The keyboard is starting to show its age, and the battery needs to be reconditioned, but it's still a great machine. As a travel machine, it's wonderful, due to a small footprint and being fairly lightweight (6 lb.). It's pretty heavy compared to current iBooks and PowerBooks, but it's lighter than most new Windows notebooks.

I did have to replace the logic board on mine. That's a common occurrence on older notebooks, and the power connector woes that plagued the PowerBook 190 and 5300 (the PowerPC version of this 'Book) are still popping up.

PowerBook 190 Also, the 9.5" 640 x 480 screen is pretty small, especially compared with the 17" CRT on my PC desktop, but the little grayscale display is comfortable to read.

I really can't say much about this little machine except for how good it's been. The keyboard, as much as it's showing its age, is still better than any of my PCs have, both desktop and notebook. Also, despite some serious abuse, it's held up pretty well.

I'm having trouble describing this little machine, for it almost defies description. Sure, the specifications are there, but numbers can't describe the emotional experience of being a Mac owner. So instead of pointing out little things I like about this little laptop, I'm going to share some true stories about my carrying the little 'Book out into the big, bad Windoze world.

What Is It?

I was out on a church trip to the local waterfalls, and I was sitting on a hill overlooking the falls, watching the Junior High bunch playing in the water and writing, when I noticed a crowd starting to gather around me - to be more precise, around the little 'Book. Someone even asked what version of Windows it ran.

The moral here is that even the little 190 is a beacon shining out over the stormy seas of Windows, calling out to the masses and offering them a way of escape to a warm, cozy home.

Scoffer Changes Tune

I had the 190 with me at the BPA National Leadership Conference in Anaheim earlier this year, along with Ben and Rod, my fellow conspirators in Macinations.

Rod, who was at that time an avid Windoze user, was poking fun at the little 190. I mean, it's a 10-year-old laptop - of course it's not going to be impressive. Fortunately, he was also poking fun at Ben's new PowerBook G4, until he saw the multimedia capabilities of OS X.

But this article is about the 190. Well, I told Rod that if he thought Macs were so miserable, why doesn't he try it out. Within 10 minutes, I had him wanting to replace his dull Dell with a Mac.

Moral: The 190 is still much better than a new Windows machine. Enough said.

I know that my stories are just the typical, biased Mac fanatic spiel that everyone has, but it's still not a bad machine.

My Impressions

The 190 is a solid, inexpensive way to start out with a Mac. The fact that it's a 68K machine limits its capabilities somewhat, but it's still a solid contender, along with the Duo and 5xx series PowerBooks.

And the ability to upgrade to a 5300 logic board is always nice, not that I ever would....

PowerBook 1400 Unfortunately, my days of carrying the little 190 are over. She's getting old, and I'm requiring more and more power for my daily use, in addition to needing a battery replacement that is more expensive than it would be to buy a nice used 1400.

She will always hold a dear spot on my bookshelf, but the nostalgic days of running System 7.5.3 and doing more than just typing are waning fast.

Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.

Recent My Turn articles

Upgrading a Digital Audio G4 to work better in Leopard, 06.02. In its original configuration, the dual 533 MHz Power Mac G4 was slow with Mac OS X 10.5, but add the right upgrades, and it runs Leopard quite nicely.
My 4 favorite PowerBooks, 05.28. The PowerBook 150 has a big screen for a vintage PowerBook, the 165c has color, the 100 is diminutive, and Lombard has USB and a great keyboard.
Upgraded Quadra a great server for vintage Mac networking, 05.21. The compact Quadra 610 runs quietly, and with a PowerPC upgrade, it rockets past regular 68040 Macs.
More in the My Turn index.

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Mac Pro overclocking, Windependence with Darwine, Blu-ray for Macs, and more, Mac News Review, 07.04. Also more on running Leopard on non-Apple hardware, Ubuntu on a Mac mini, the first autofocus webcam with Zeiss optics for Macs, and more.
Wouldn't life be great with an iSlate?, John Hatchett, Recycled Computing, 07.04. PDAs and smartphones are too small for some tasks, full-fledged Tablet PCs are overkill, and ebook readers are too limited. Apple has the tech to own this niche.
Mac of the Day: Blue & White Power Mac G3, Jan. 1999 - The most colorful Power Mac introduced an innovative 'drawbridge' enclosure.
List of the Day: SuperMacs is for those using Umax SuperMac clones.
July 6 in LEM history: 00: 3 user accelerators - 01: SCSI and FireWire Disk Mode - Stick with the Mac - Computers for college - 05: Optimizing OS X performance - Return of the bumper snicker - 06: Can consumer MacBook replace 2 PowerBooks and a ThinkPad? - Vintage Macs with System 6 run circles around 3 GHz Windows PC - Run Windows apps without Windows
The Macintosh Portable started a notebook revolution, Carl Nygren, Classic Macs in the Intel Age, 07.03. Before Apple introduced the Mac Portable, notebook computers were text-based and ran MS-DOS. Ever since, graphical interfaces have been the norm for laptops.
More links in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

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, PowerBook, MacBook, 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.