It's no Optimus
Prime, but the PowerBook 1400 series
is a very customizable and transformable PowerBook.
These machines introduced a number of features to the PowerBook line
when they were released in October 1996. For starters, the 1400 was the
first PowerBook with an internal optical drive, a CD-ROM to be exact.
It is not built-in, but instead sits in a "sleep swappable" expansion
bay - another first for PowerBooks, because with all earlier ones you
had to shut the machine off before you could change out a drive in the
expansion bay, which most people didn't do, using the floppy drive
module most of the time. But there were some that used hard drive, Zip
drive, and other modules in the bay.
The PowerBook 1400
Another innovation - or should I say oddity, since these are the
only machines that use it - is "stackable" RAM. What this means is that
if you got more RAM for the 1400, which shipped with either a 12 MB or
16 MB module in a factory slot, you could get a module with a pass
through port on it for another module (or not). Using two 24 MB modules
plus the 16 MB factory one, you get the maximum 64 MB. Unfortunately,
64 MB is as high as it goes, an artificial limit that is hard coded
into the ROM.
The coolest transformable feature of this machine, which was sadly
only offered with this machine, was the BookCover. Every PowerBook 1400
that shipped had a gray cover, a clear cover, and six inserts. This let
you take the clear cover, put an insert in it, hook it all together,
and customize your PowerBook. Plus, if you didn't like the inserts that
came with the machine, included in the extras on the restore CD (which
has Mac OS 7.6.1 on it in my case) is a ClarisWorks template so you can
make your own BookCover insert. I haven't done it myself, but I have
seen some very original designs. There was also a very cool BookCover
insert that would give you a solar panel and plug in to the power jack,
so you could go literally forever with the 1400 if you wanted too.
Officially, you can run up to Mac OS 9.1 on a 1400, but since this
is a "NuBus" PowerBook (the last one, in fact, which makes it the last
PowerBook with a death chime), you can get Mac OS 9.2.2 running on
them.
NewerTech, Vimage, and Sonnet all made G3 upgrades for the 1400,
ranging in speed from 233 MHz to 466 MHz. Sonnet still sells its 466
MHz card (with a 1 MB cache) for $300.
I don't suggest you attempt an XPostFacto Mac
OS X install; you would just wind up with a major headache. Unless
you have more than 32 MB of RAM, stick with Mac OS 8.6 or lower. These
make great System 7.6.1 machines, so that's an idea if you have one you
don't know what to do with....
These machines also had an internal expansion slot, but the options
are limited. I have only ever seen the Apple branded video card (gives
you an external video port and more VRAM), a third party video card
with a VGA port, and a rare ethernet card giving the 1400 built-in
networking without chewing up a PCMCIA slot (it has two). The best
option would be the video card, because it's slightly more common, and
you can always add WiFi to these machines (more on that later).
You can also replace the hard drive with flash memory, such as using
a Compact Flash card in an IDE adapter (see Low End Mac's review of one from
Addonics). Benefits include increased battery life and no hard
drive noise.
My PowerBook 1400
What have I done to mine?
Well, when I bought it about a year ago, I actually bought it from
the original owner. It came with most of the contents of the original
box (sadly not the box itself). About the only things I see that are
missing would be the gray cover, and five of the six inserts. It is the
1400c (active matrix display - the 1400cs has a dual scan passive
matrix), 133 MHz with 16 MB or RAM, a 1.3 GB hard drive, and floppy
drive and 8x CD-ROM modules. It had been upgraded with an additional 16
MB of RAM, bringing the total to 32 MB. (I even have the documentation
for the RAM upgrade.)
I love this machine, both for it's wonderful keyboard and the fact
it is the same footprint as my Dual USB
iBook - just much thicker. I upgraded the hard drive from 1.3 GB to
a "huge" 3 GB, which is actually much slimmer than the stock one
(which appears to be custom made, because the newer hard drive does not
fit the bracket). I wiped the install of Mac OS 7.6.1 from the 1.3 GB
hard drive just because (including all personal documents, asked before
I did if they made a backup or they wanted any of the data, which is
usually #1 on my to do list when I get a new Mac to my collection). I
then installed Mac OS 8.5 and upgraded to 8.6. It was responsive, but
slower than what I am used to.
I used this for several months, including with a Lucent WaveLAN Gold
wireless card, and it actually made a fairly descent web browser and
IRC machine with an hour or so of battery life with the WiFi card. The
only problem I can see, aside from the one mentioned in the next
paragraph, is that the CD-ROM's faceplate broke off. This is a common
issue with these machines, and it doesn't bother me, as the drive is
still operable.
However, sometimes your toys can break, as this one did. The PRAM
started messing up really bad, and I ended up resetting it every time I
started it up, even if I had it plugged in. So I need a new PRAM
battery.
I already removed the 3 GB hard drive and put that in my
WallStreet Series II to get it
running Jaguar again (more on that later). Since I have the 1.3 GB
drive wiped, I plan on installing System 7.6.1 again to make it a very
fast machine.
Thanks to a fellow on the 68kmla, I acquired a 24 MB RAM module
for this machine, but it doesn't seem to want to work with the other 16
MB module I have under Mac OS 8.6, causing a whole big unbootable mess.
If I recall correctly, they worked together under System 7.6.1, so if I
get that running I'll have a whopping 56 MB of RAM.
I might also turn my 1400 in to a development platform for older Mac
programs - and even for my Newton MessagePad
2000. It will definitely be used as a Newton sync machine, unless
I get the serial ports running on my beige G3 or WallStreet under
OS X (another challenge).
I might even take up the challenge Tommy Thomas proposed a few weeks back and
develop a better classic Mac OS web browser - if I ever learn how to
program. Or I could just use it as a good writing machine, since it has
a great keyboard, but I think I am too used to the one on my Dual USB
iBook, as mushy as it may be.
I would defiantly recommend this machine (when do I not?). It has
that awesome keyboard everyone raves about, is quite expandable (save
for the RAM limit), and really customizable. Those exchangeable
BookCover inserts alone make it a great purchase. About the only thing
wrong with the design of the machine is it is missing feet....
Further Reading
