Apple PowerBook 1400c - Released October 1996
Specifications
Computer
CPUPowerPC 603e @ 133 MHz
Memory32MB of RAM
Monitor
ModelBuilt-in
Size11.3in
TypeActive-matrix backlit LCD display
Resolution800 × 600 pixel
Scoring
Authenticity+20 (Post was written fully on the PowerBook, but transferred to my modern Mac. However, it also has images all created on the machine PLUS images taken on a floppy disk Sony Mavica which gains it an additional 15 points)
Reliability+15 (Has worked perfectly since I got it)
Hassaan’s Score20/25 (Pure, simple, intentional and memorable)
Age Multiplier×2.9 (29 years old, rounding down)
Final Score108 pts
Machine History
I got hold of this machine from a really cool estate-type sale down near Redwood City that featured a 30-40 year old collection of multiple-garages worth of old Apple gear. The incredible collection was all from one avid collector who had truly everything across the eras. He had passed away, leaving the collection to his brother. Everything was sold at incredibly low prices and this PowerBook was one of the first things that caught my eye because of the BookCover. I don't know too much on the history of owners, the drive was mostly empty of contents. The machine did seem to recieve battery servicing back in 2012, which shows that someone must have been trying to keep it alive at one point.
Machine Review
Honestly, incredible. I loved every part of this beautiful machine. The bookcover lid, the industrial modernist design, it's just a nostalgic, well-built machine that feels so nice to use. The setup may have been a pain, but it was totally worth it in the end. I have written more in the 24 hours after I got this machine working than I had in the last 3-4 months. It's just an absolute joy and makes me so happy to use.
The Design
This is such an interesting machine, and in a lot of ways, seems very antithetical to the Apple we know today, and in other ways, was very much them. This makes sense, this was a machine born during Steve Job's absence from Apple. A founder's DNA cannot be fully removed though.
Maybe some of the quirkiness that feels anti-Apple now were just artifacts of the time, things they had to do. Here are some examples of the very interesting parts of this machine:
- The PC Card slot is electronically/software controlled. This is very Apple DNA. The vast, vast majority of Windows laptops/PCs used purely mechanical PC card slots, meaning you could pull the card out at any time yourself. This was true from the beginning though- the Macintosh used an electronically controlled Floppy disk drive, while many/most PCs I believe just had manual ejects you could fire at any time.
This, in Apple style, was designed to protect the user from themselves to some degree. It allowed safe-removal of hardware. You had to consciouslly request an eject or drag the disk to the trash. The OS could spin down, exit and then safely eject. It's a really nice polish detail. I am always in awe of the early commitment and implementation of software-controlled everything by Apple.
It also feels so good to eject, so much so that I almost broke the mechanism by constantly ejecting and inserting the PC card.
What seems less Apple like, is the two modular 'accessory' slots/bays. I'm not sure what Apple called them, but in this laptops case, one of them has the battery, the other has a floppy disk drive. These are hot-swappable, you can push a button and the entire floppy module comes out. You could theoretically install 2 batteries, or 2 floppys, or whatever else they supported. I'm not sure how to feel about this- the element of choice and modularity seems out of character, very much a Sculley/Amelio-era decision. In other ways, it's very well designed in it's implementation.
The bookcover lid is INCREDIBLE. I love it so much, and it really feels like a breath of color/love/character in an era where everything was bland, beige or industrial. It is just the right touch that feels like a bridge to the colorful G3 line that transformed the design of computers entirely. It is also customizable, you can print and cut in your own designs.
Using the Machine
The built-in keyboard has become one of my absolute favorites to use. I enjoy it far more than my modern MacBooks keyboard, and more than any of the post 2000 Apple keyboards, which have always been mushy or lacking feel.
The PowerBook's keyboard is perfectly creamy with the right amount of travel- I sincerely enjoy typing on it. It makes me want to type on it, and I did. I wrote more in 24 hours of getting it working than I had written in the last 3-4 months. Multiple blog posts, memos etc. I'll be posting at least 2-3 from this machine.
I enjoyed using this machine so much it's going to be hard to move to the next one. I considered using this as my everyday typewriter. Part of it is because I've found a really good process with it and am able to get things transferred back and forth easily thanks to the CF card.
The setup of getting Word installed was arduous (see the German Surprise post), but that was more a reflection of the era than the machine itself. Once setup it's been a pleasure to use. Mac OS 8.6 is perfectly nostalgic, borderline beautiful in a brutalist way. As long as you don't try to multi-task too much, it holds up just fine. Interestingly, for single-app tasks OS 8.6 with cooperative multi-tasking feels faster than the very-early 2000s OSX machines we have that have more powerful PowerPC chips. This makes sense to me logically, while pre-emptive multi-tasking is better for modern OS workloads/multi-tasking/etc, it ultimately is switching resources around more often vs OS 8.6 focusing all its resources on the foreground application.
I was surprised to find that OS 8.6 has all the same screenshotting tools that modern macOS has!
One thing I will say is that using classic Mac OS made me feel dumb at times, as I couldn't figure out how to switch apps easily along with other 'easy' functions. Once figured out it felt 'intuitive', but it's interesting and goes to show why computers may have felt so much harder for newbies back then. Even with my knowledge of operating systems modern and old, even I had to look in the manual.
Reflection
I feel that the German Surprise post covers my reflection in using this machine well. Nonetheless, a few words:
My aim is always to gain perspective (and focus) when using these machines. The entire experience really did put in perspective how much we take granted for these days, but also how lovely simplicity can be. What a wonderful machine, and what a wonderful time period of computing.