PowerBook Duo 2300c/100

[tyrannis]

After allowing at least five of these to slip past me on eBay over the last few years, I finally picked up a Duo 2300c in good condition. It's physically near mint, the screen and trackpad are perfect, and the hard drive seems alright. As an added bonus it has 28 MB RAM and the faster 19.2 Kbps modem upgrade.

Here's a quick breakfast table shot - the beginning and end of the PowerPC sub-notebook era - Duo 2300c & 12" G4 1.5 GHz:

 

[wardsenatorfe92]

Not bad! I wouldn't mind getting ahold of a Duo someday .

 

[Quadraman]

Nice. There's a Powerbook 2300 and Duo Dock on my want list. Funny, it seems no matter things I buy from the want list, it always seems to get longer instead of shorter. :?:

 

[tyrannis]

For great justice.

 

[aftermac]

I've owned three Duo's... 270c, 280c, and 2300c (which I still have). All of them were great computers. They were my main laptops when I owned them, I kept trading up for the next best model from about 1997 to 2000 until I bought my Pismo. Unfortunately, I only have a Duo Dock I, so there are rub marks on the top of the laptop. I didn't really care about it at the time and the Duo Dock I was much cheaper than the II when I bought it.

Interesting note about my 2300c is that it has a trackball instead of a trackpad. It was like this when I purchased it, so I'm not sure of the history, whether the wristrest or trackpad broke and the wristrest with a trackball from an older Duo was cheaper... maybe a previous owner just preferred the trackball and swapped it out. Who knows...

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Does the 2300c have the same size screen as your 68k models?

The 2300c came with a 9.5" display, while the 68k color models came with an 8.5" display. If your "2300c" has a smaller display, then it was probably a 270c or 280c that was upgraded. Apple offered a motherboard swap to a 2300c as an official upgrade for every 68k Duo. Yes, you could upgrade your Duo 210 to a PowerPC, complete with original passive grayscale display. With this upgrade, you kept all original parts, except the motherboard. The 2300c motherboard had connectors for both SCSI and IDE (the 'shipping' 2300c systems came with an IDE drive, while the 68k models came with SCSI drives,) as well as display connectors for both passive and active matrix displays. (Again, the shipping 2300c only came with an active display.)

Of course, it is also possible that someone bought a 2300c, but liked the trackball better (or their trackpad broke,) so they replaced the top case with one from an older Duo, including the trackball.

 

[aftermac]

It's been a while since I've had the Duo out... I'll have to take a look at the screen size. I no longer have the 270c or 280c, but I seem to remember it having a larger screen. Plus, didn't the 270c and 280c have the model name printed on the screen bezel underneath the screen, and on the 2300c it was on the "top case" above the keyboard? Mine has neither. Also, I seem to remember the sticker on the bottom saying 2300c. I'll double check that also, but I'm pretty sure that years ago I ruled out that it was an upgraded Duo.

EDIT: A picture of it with the wristrest off is in my avatar... I had to repair the battery terminals, but it's not a very good picture to judge by.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Interesting note about my 2300c is that it has a trackball instead of a trackpad. It was like this when I purchased it, so I'm not sure of the history, whether the wristrest or trackpad broke and the wristrest with a trackball from an older Duo was cheaper... maybe a previous owner just preferred the trackball and swapped it out. Who knows...

Most likely an upgraded previous model. Apple never really wanted to release the PowerDuo, but they'd promised all Duo owners a PPC upgrade path. I've got a lot of Duo parts, some of the, presumably, upgrade decks have something funny about them. IIRC it was the missing nameplate or some such.

One of my favorite PowerDuos has the same TrackBall UPGRADE, pointing devices were/are meant to be spherically correct!

The 2300c's Active Matrix is a full 640 x 480, whereas all the others, AFAIK, were 640 x 400. The PowerDuo set at 16 bit Color will letterbox its display at 640 x 400 . . .

. . . coincidentally, at that resolution and pixel depth, the image perfectly fills the bezel opening of the PB100! }

That's where I keep one of my 2300c LCDs. I originally intended to do a "reverse digital picture frame" hack using the first, and best, of the 100 series PBs by converting it from B&W into a 16 bit SlideShow/Display, but that toybox has been sitting untouched for a very long time . . .

. . . I'm still ruminating re: the possibilities . . . )

 

[Mars478]

Nice lappie.

Calm before the storm...

 

[aftermac]

Mine is definitely a 2300c, not an upgraded model. The screen size measures 9.5" and the sticker on the bottom of the case reads, "Macintosh PowerBook Duo 2300 Series".

 

[netfreak]

I like the 2300's. I used one back in high school for a bit. Even dragged it with me backpacking in Mexico.

 

[beachycove]

Someone has obviously popped the top plastics from the earlier series on it, either because the 2300c's plastics were bad, the trackpad broken, or because the whole PowerBook trackball idea is just an excellent one. I certainly like the trackball much better than the early (500, 2300, 190, 5300) trackpads. It is an accurate device and the clickers are well designed.

 

[jruschme]

Apple never really wanted to release the PowerDuo, but they'd promised all Duo owners a PPC upgrade path. I've got a lot of Duo parts, some of the, presumably, upgrade decks have something funny about them. IIRC it was the missing nameplate or some such.

Do you have spare 2300 upgrade decks? I'm thinking of pulling out the old 280c... maybe it's time for an upgrade?

John

 

[H3NRY]

I like the trackball better, too. Apple was inconsistent in where they silk screened the model number. 210s-270s usually had it on the bottom of the LCD panel, 280s & 2300s had it above the keyboard. The 2300 upgrade kit included a new 2300 series label for the bottom. Pictured here:

270c upgraded to 2300c, 2300c with top cover & trackball from 230, and 280c.

http://web.me.com/henryspragens/stuff/Photos.html#1

 

[Bunsen]

A very nice score there tyrannis. The last and best of the Duos - upgraded with the superior pointing technology!

 

[aftermac]

I like the trackball better, too. Apple was inconsistent in where they silk screened the model number. 210s-270s usually had it on the bottom of the LCD panel, 280s & 2300s had it above the keyboard. The 2300 upgrade kit included a new 2300 series label for the bottom. Pictured here:270c upgraded to 2300c, 2300c with top cover & trackball from 230, and 280c.

http://web.me.com/henryspragens/stuff/Photos.html#1

Interesting, and good to know! Either way mine has a 9.5" screen which was unique to the 2300c. That is the first 280c I've seen with the model printed on the top cover.

 

[olygeek]

Interested in a PowerBook Duo 2300c with Duo Dock? Check out seattle.craigslist.org under computers.