PowerBook 150

The 33 MHz PowerBook 150 replaced the 25 MHz PowerBook 145b in July 1994. It offered faster performance at a lower price and was the final model in the 140/145/145b/150 line of economical PowerBooks.

PowerBook 100 SeriesThe 150 was also the lightest of the line, and its battery was rated at 2.5 hours, about 30 minutes longer than previous models. Finally, the 150 sports a 640 x 480 display, the same size number of pixels as a standard monitor in those days.

Using the same memory modules as the PowerBook Duos, the PB 150 was far more expandable (to 40 MB!) than other PowerBooks in the 100-180 series. The 150 was the first PowerBook to use an IDE hard drive instead of the more costly SCSI drives found in previous PowerBooks.

As another cost-saving measure, Apple used a pretty poor LCD – and also left out the ADB port. The 150 was the only PowerBook without an ADB port, making it impossible to use with a mouse or external keyboard. This helps earns it the Compromised Mac designation.

Details

  • Code name: Jedi
  • introduced 1994.07.18 at US$1,300; discontinued 1995.10.14
  • requires System 7.1.1 (with PowerBook 150 Enabler) to 7.6.1, supports Mac OS 8.1 with Born Again
  • CPU: 33 MHz 68030
  • FPU: none
  • ROM: 1 MB
  • RAM: 4 MB, expandable to 40 MB using a single Duo RAM card
  • display: 9.5″ 4-bit 640 x 400 79 ppi passive matrix
  • 80 MB, 120 MB, or 250 MB IDE hard drive standard
  • ADB port: none
  • serial ports: 1 DIN-8 RS-422 port on back of computer
  • SCSI ports: HDI30 connector on back of computer
  • Hard drive: 120 or 250 MB IDE hard drive (this was the first PowerBook to use an IDE hard drive rather than a SCSI drive.)
  • proprietary modem slot
  • Gestalt ID: 115
  • Size (HxWxD): 2.25″ x 11.25″ x 9.3″
  • Weight: 5.8 pounds
  • power supply: APS-17adp – 17W, 2A

Accelerators & Upgrades

Online Resources

Cautions

  • The PowerBook 150 does not support SCSI Disk Mode.
  • One source notes that PB 150s with 120 MB hard drives are sometimes troublesome on LocalTalk networks. He notes this can not only slow down the LocalTalk network, but even cause other machines to crash.
  • The 100-series and 500-series PowerBooks do not provide SCSI termination power, depending on external SCSI devices to provide it. For more details, see SCSI Termination Power.
  • The internal hard drive must be formatted with Internal HD Format, never with a third-party utility. Installing a third-party drive will make it impossible to boot from the internal drive; the only solution is to perform a low level format with Internal HD Format. (Be sure to backup first!)
  • Serial port limited to 57.6 kbps; throughput using a 56k modem may be limited. See 56k modem page.
  • Apple has discontinued support and parts orders for this model. You may be able to find dealers with parts inventory either locally or on our parts and service list.

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