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PowerBook 100 Series Still Rocks

- 2002.01.16

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 .

Well, here we are, nearly two years into the new millennium. G4 PowerBooks are a reality. Power Macs are nearing the 1 GHz speed range. OS X is shipping on all new Macs. This is truly an advanced time for the Macintosh.

However, in this new age, my most recent Mac is my recently acquired Power Macintosh 7100/80. I own a slew of pre-PPC Macs, from my circa 1991 Macintosh Classic to my PowerBook 540c. All of these are really great old computers and still do quite a lot, especially considering their age.

Which brings me to the point of this piece. I am writing this on a day off from work on my PowerBook 145B. One of my favorite things to do on my days off is to grab one of my three 'Books (PowerBook 100, 145B, and 540c), take it to a nice quiet spot, and compose articles using ClarisWorks 3.0.

While having fun doing just that with my venerable old 145B, I realized just how useful the 100 series PowerBooks still are, even in this G4 age. Of course, I'd love even a PowerPC PowerBook, and I plan on getting perhaps a 1400c or a 5300c (at least!) sometime later this year. Yes, I'd really love something like a Pismo, but somehow I doubt that great 'Book will fit into my budget.

Anyway, the PowerBook 100 models (including even the "lowly" 100) are fantastic portable writing/drawing/emailing machines - way better than a Palm Pilot or a Handspring Visor. There is a lot more memory available on a 100 series book, a lot more available storage capacity, and, even though the PowerBook 100 series screens are considered pretty small by today's standards and are black and white (except of course the battery gobbling 165c and 180c), they are still much bigger and brighter than any of those handheld devices.

Plus, with a PowerBook 1xx, you don't need a cradle or a dock to send and receive email, and the keyboard is onboard at all times (and the trackball is way better than any stylus)! It is even possible to do acceptably slow Web surfing on all 1xx models, except for the 100 itself.

That would be quite a challenge for even the best handheld. While some claim to be able to do it, viewing graphics on those tiny screens is out of the question, and any text would be incredibly difficult to read. No, a PowerBook 100 series model is still way ahead of the game in some respects.

Some have commented that the 100 series 'Books look dated or "techno angular." However, while they do look dated, it's not in a bad way. When I see a 100 series PowerBook in a used computer store or when I am out, my first thought is "early 90s," which was really an exciting time for the computing world. The Web was just beginning, PowerPC Macs were on the horizon, and, of course, in October 1991 the PowerBook itself was introduced with the release of the 100, 140 and 170. All of these share the case design of the rest of the 100 series (except the 190, which shares a case design with the 5300 series). Within that context, the design of the PowerBook 100 series is kind of cool.

Anyway, there are plenty of working examples of all of the PowerBook 100 series readily available, and for very little money. I'd highly recommend them for anyone who wants a portable computer that, while not super fast or ultra modern, still delivers basic computing ability with style, ease, and reliability.

A decade later, the PowerBook 100 series still rocks!

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.
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.
More in the My Turn index.

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Mac of the Day: 17" iMac G4/800 MHz, July 2002 - The iMac 'grows up' with a 17" 1440 x 900 display.
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November 8 in LEM history: 99: OS 9: I think I like it - 01: The simplified Mac life - Soured on Windows - Flea market Mac - 02: Little room for improvement in new 'Books - Combo drive upgrade for iceBooks - 04: Re-Porter - 05: Fix the old iMac or buy a Mac mini? - Apple's Copland project - 06: MacBook Core 2 - MacBook value equation - Cheap is as cheap does - 07: Problems with Classic mode in Tiger - The G4 Power Mac that won't run Leopard
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