Second Class Macs & Road Apples
PowerBook 150

Dan Knight - 1999.09.18
Second Class Macs are Apple's somewhat compromised hardware designs. For the most part, they're not really bad - simply designs that didn't meet their full potential. (On our rating scale, the more brown apples, the worse the hardware.)
For the most part, the PowerBook 150 is a very nice computer. It was the fourth and final model in Apple's economy series that started with the PB 140 in October 1991. The 140 ran a then-decent 16 MHz 68030, shipped with 2 MB of memory (expandable to 8), and had a 20 or 40 MB hard drive.
The second generation was the PowerBook 145, introduced in August 1992. It replaced the pedestrian 16 MHz CPU with a 25 MHz 68030. Apple also included SCSI disk mode (which lets the PowerBook act as an external hard drive for another Mac), dropped the 20 MB hard drive, and added an 80 MB hard drive option.
About a year later, in June 1993, Apple quietly replaced the 145 with the 145B, which was almost the same computer with a few cost-cutting internal changes.
The PowerBook 150 came out in July 1994 with some advantages over the earlier models - and one seemingly insignificant drawback.
The 150 ran at 33 MHz, twice the speed of the PB 140, had a 4-bit grayscale display (earlier models had been strictly 1-bit b&w), and shipped with a just reasonable 4 MB of memory, which could be expanded to a whopping 40 MB. Hard drive options were 80, 120, and 250 MB. The screen was 640 x 480, not 640 x 400 as in earlier PowerBooks, and it was one pound lighter than the models the preceded it.
The one little drawback, and the only reason the PB 150 merits the Road Apple label: Apple eliminated the ADB port.
Big deal, you may think, so you can't attach a mouse or external keyboard. If that was all the ADB port was good for, the 150 wouldn't be a Road Apple.
The problem is, that ADB port is sometimes used to power peripherals, such as the PowerPrint cable that let's a PowerBook in the field work with almost any parallel port printer in existence. And the impressive Farallon EtherMac and EtherWave adapters that managed to triple bandwidth on the printer port and let older PowerBooks work easily on ethernet networks.
This in no way impairs the core functioning of the PowerBook 150, which is an excellent computer in every respect but one. We considered ourselves fortunate to have purchased a brand new PB 150 in late 1995 for under US$950, a record low price for a PowerBook at that time or any other.
Of course, a lot of us didn't discover the missing ADB port until we
tried to use PowerPrint or EtherWave. By then, it was a bit late to
discover this was Apple's only PowerBook (before 1999) without ADB.
Details
- introduced July 1994 at $1,300; discontinued October 1995
- requires System 7.0.1 to 7.6.1
- 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 passive matrix
- 80 MB, 120 MB, or 250 MB IDE hard drive standard
- ADB port: none
- serial: 1 DIN-8 RS-422 port on back of computer
- SCSI: HDI30 connector on back of computer
- proprietary modem slot
- Size (HxWxD): 2.25" x 11.25" x 9.3"
- weight: 5.8 pounds
Other Resources
- The 10 worst Macs ever built, Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac, 2001.08.06
Join us on Facebook!, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Macintosh 512K 'Fat Mac', introduced 1984.09.10. The first Mac with enough memory for serious work.
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content
- Mac Pro on the Way Out or Changing with the Times?, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming, 2012.05.22. No other desktop Mac offers a wide range of expansion options, but is that enough reason for Apple to keep the behemoth powerhouse Mac Pro around?
- iPhone 3D: Stereo Photography and 3D Movies for the Rest of Us, Anne Onymus, The Rumor Mill, 2012.05.22. Until now, stereo photography and 3D movies required expensive dedicated equipment. With the iPhone 3D, Apple will make it available to the masses.
- iPad 2 'Feels Like an Upgrade' from New iPad, Samsung Tops Apple in Smartphone Market, and More, iOS News Review, 2012.05.21. Also Apple to maintain tablet dominance, working in portrait mode, Wozniak would like to see end of walled garden, and more.
- MacBook Airs Top Ultrabooks, Boost MacBook Performance, MacBook Pro Update in June?, and More, The 'Book Review, 2012.05.21. Also Retina displays available now but costly, USB 3 expected in next MacBook rev, hybrid drives an affordable alternative to SSDs, and more.
- Flashback Removal Update for OS X 10.5 Leopard, Dropbox Pick of the Cloud Litter, and More, Mac News Review, 2012.05.18. Also Kodak Hero supports wireless printing from anywhere, WinOnX lets you run Windows apps on Macs, and free Mac Malware Remover.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best iPod classic Deals
- Best Mac OS X 10.6, iLife, and iWork Deals
- Best iPad Deals
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals
- Best iBook G4 Deals
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals
- Best Mac Pro Deals
- Best 15" PowerBook G4 Deals
- Best 17" PowerBook G4 Deals
- More deals in our archive.
About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact
Follow
Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac
on Facebook
Low End Mac Reader Specials
Macsales for the Right Mac Memory. Easy to Use Online Guide for no Guesswork! Mac Pro up to 128GB, iMac up to 32GB. MacBook/MB Pro, & Mac mini up to 16GB. - Macsales.com
Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Macpokeronline.com will show you how to download and play Poker on a Mac natively on your Mac in just minutes.
Favorite Sites
MacSurfer
Cult of Mac
Shrine of Apple
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac Museum
Deal Brothers
DealMac
Mac2Sell
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ
Affiliates
Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay

