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Classic Macs in the Intel Age
My 4 Favorite PowerBooks
- 2008.05.28 - Tip Jar
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 .
Last time I talked about my Quadra server.
Now it's time to talk about the portables, or at least some of them - the best ; ) (This article would be way too long if I went over them all, so I chose to talk about my four favorites instead)
These are all PowerBooks (no Mac Portable in my collection - yet!) using 680x0 processors, with the exception of one, which uses a PowerPC chip.
PowerBook 150
I just can't love my PowerBook 150 enough, as you know from my other articles. It has a very big screen compared to the other 'Books, and System 7.1 runs along just fine with this 'Book.
Although it lacks an ADB port, it still has a LocalTalk port, which is all I need to get it on the Internet with my Vintage Mac Network. iCab is a great web browser, and Eudora works well as a mail client.
In conclusion, it's a great value.
PowerBook 165c

The first PowerBook with a color LCD, this 'Book feels a little more modern than the others. It has a 33 MHz 68030 chip and 4 MB of RAM (mine's been upgraded to 8 MB).
It's great for playing those old Mac games in color. My machine runs System 7.1, although it supports Mac OS 7.6 - or even Mac OS 8 if you use Born Again (something I might try when I get some more RAM).
A cheap way to have a notebook Mac that feels younger than it actually is.
PowerBook 100
Grandma of the MacBook Air (the Duo series is its mom)!
These machines are very thin and easily slip into your backpack. The base 2 MB of RAM isn't much, but it works. (System 6.08L is highly recommended with 2 MB.)
Just like the Air, it lacks some ports and needs an external floppy drive. Still, the keyboard is great, and that makes it a great word processor.
Lombard
There's just one more thing . . . Lombard.
Although not really a Vintage Mac, I consider this the missing link between new and old. It has USB, but the SCSI port and Mac OS 8 make it classic.
It has one of the best keyboards in PowerBook history, and the big 14.1" display makes it a nice DVD player.
Once again, it's not really a vintage Mac,* but more of a missing link. Great value if you can't afford a Pismo and think the WallStreet is a little too old.
Although I have some other PowerBooks (160, 1400, 145b), I find these to be my absolute favorites.
I am looking for a good Macintosh Portable, and when I get one, I'll be sure to share my story here.
Oh, and there's one more thing (again!). Remember the guy who gave me the Classic II and the 100s? Well, I've emailed him, and he's going to give me some other Macs too!
Next time, I'll talk about Compact Macs.
* Editor's note: At Low End Mac, we apply the term vintage to Macs designed around the 680x0 family of CPUs. We use the classic label for any Mac that can run the Classic Mac OS without using an emulator. dk
Go to the index of articles by Carl Nygren.
Share your perspective on the Mac by emailing with "My Turn" as your subject.
Recent My Turn articles
- Using Low End Macs for Internet Radio, 08.18. When the local public radio station moved classical music to HD radio, it was time to find another way to listen. An old iMac with iTunes solved the problem.
- 'That's Not a Computer', 07.30. Salvaging a broken PowerBook by turning it into a desktop computer.
- 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.
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- More in the My Turn index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: iMac G5 (iSight), Oct. 2005 -Apple built an iSight webcam into the last version of the G5 iMac.
- Group of the Day: Tiger List is for anyone using Mac OS X 10.4.
- November 20 in LEM history: 85: Windows 1.0 - 00: Mac dreams - 01: Stop the upgrade insanity - Good people, good software, good business - The digital lifestyle: Text - 06: To AppleCare or not? - One year with my 'free' Mac mini - 07: Why you want to avoid integrated graphics - Problem with Leopard on a MDD
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Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Apple #4 in Reliability, Apple Tablet a Gadget for All?, HP's i7 Notebook Outdoes Mac Rivals, and More, The 'Book Review, 11.20. Also Flash 10.1 improves video on Hackintosh netbooks, thin-and-light notebooks impress, Windows XP finally on the way out, and more.
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- Soft Touch Keyboards, Wireless Mouse Options, Loving SeaMonkey 2, and More, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.18. Also the future of browsing with PowerPC Macs and the multiple mouse input bug introduced with OS X 10.5.8.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
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- Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
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- More deals in our archive.
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