PowerBook 2400c

[tsundoku]

I have had a nagging desire to get one of these machines for at least a year, and I finally decided to make it happen. The auction got out of hand in the final minutes, but I stayed with it. After a few weeks, I have no regrets.

I picked up a 320MHz G3 upgrade card and an SSD+adapter for it while waiting for it to arrive, and one of the first things I did after delivery was install them.

Preparation:





Internal assembly with original 180MHz CPU and 4GB hard disk



mSATA-IDE adapter with SSD loaded



Internal assembly with BOOSTER 320 and SSD installed



After that I began looking for replacements for the infamous degraded rubber feet and bumpers. The seller had mostly removed the feet, and the display bezel bumpers had only just begun to get sticky, so I had an easy time getting all of the old stuff cleaned off. For the feet I went with some 10mm diameter rubber cabinet bumpers. I had to work to lodge these into the recessions on the case bottom and 9mm or 8mm would have been easier, but I had diffuculty finding smaller ones and I'm not unhappy with the result.



For the display bezel bumpers, I got some vinyl wire caps and cut the ends off. A perfect fit!



I should have a PRAM battery arriving soon, although I still need to arrange to have the main battery rebuilt. I will get moving on that once I manage to acquire some extras. Finally, here is the machine now (the two screw hole appliques behind the keyboard are staying off until I get the new PRAM battery installed):

 

[ScutBoy]

Was the G3 upgrade hard to locate and/or expensive?

 

[galgot]

Wow. Congrat. Beautiful.

 

[Sherry Haibara]

Such a beautiful machine! Great conquest!

 

[tsundoku]

Was the G3 upgrade hard to locate and/or expensive?

I paid ￥22,500 for mine on Yahoo Auctions (in the box with driver disk and all manuals). I rarely see them for sale standalone, although whole machines with G3 cards installed are not too uncommon. 240MHz cards are cheaper and perhaps more readily available, but the 320MHz card is much better and far from impossible to find. You may get lucky and find a 400MHz card, but I have only seen one for sale since I began looking, and they will be expensive. I do not think many people bought the 400MHz cards new due to cost and its relatively late appearance on the market, and some of the fan sites I have read say 320MHz is a better balance because of heat output, but I have not seen confirmation of that and it could just be speculation, or somebody who couldn't afford a 400MHz card consoling themselves. Speaking of heat, 2400 fan pages from the time period also consistently say that Newer Technology's 240MHz card runs hot and that the Interwave Booster cards are better (and the only ones to go over 240MHz as far as I know).

 

[J English Smith]

Love the Channelwood screenshot!

 

[Alex]

I have two of these beauties, one has GLOD and am currently investigating a solution. The Japanese model I have works fine but in terms of "PowerBook2400c Perfect Guide" do you still have it and could you scan some of the more interesting pages and post it. I am thinking of buying it, do scans and translate all the text.

 

[KnobsNSwitches]

Just posting in here to get notified of more 2400 info.