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!
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