The PowerBook 1400 and Quanta

3lectr1cPPC

Well-known member
Most of us know at this point that the PowerBook 1400 was based off of a generic laptop design by Quanta. While the 1400 was heavily modified by Apple, what I was curious about was what generic laptop the 1400 was based on.

If you don't know, Quanta is what's known as an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer). What a laptop ODM typically does is come up with a generic laptop design, then sells it to smaller companies without their own manufacturing capacity. The smaller company (or distributor) then puts their own branding on it (or in many cases asks for modifications from the ODM and gets a custom production run done) and then they sell it as their own laptop. This was exceptionally common back in the 1990s, and the vast majority of 90s laptops are based on an ODM design.

So - what I wanted to know was what possible generic Quanta design the 1400 was based on, mainly out of curiosity, but also to see what elements Apple modified, and which came straight from the Quanta design.

I'll probably never be sure of this, but I think I found the laptop it's based on - what Quanta likely called the MQX or MQ6P. I currently only know of one brand that sold this laptop - WinBook, who sold it as the XP5 Pro.

Here is a photo of the XP5 Pro:
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At first glance, it doesn't look that similar. Really the only similarity is that the battery bay and the modular bay are both in the front of the laptop. But once you look closer - you'll see it.

First - the size of the laptop. The 1400 was sold with 11.3" displays. The XP5 Pro did admittedly have a 12.1" option, but 11.3" displays were also available. I'd need to have the two side by side to truly compare, but alas I do not own an XP5 Pro.

Next - the overall layout. The PCMCIA slots and hard drive are in the exact same location on both laptops (along with the aforementioned modular bays)

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IMG_0045.jpeg
The XP5 Pro drive modules. The shape of the modules themselves differs somewhat, but they both use the same dual-port design. Note how the CD-ROM's connector is on the far back, and the floppy drive's connector is instead further back, where the larger part of the drive ends.


None of those are smoking guns though. Luckily, I have the smoking gun. Batteries. Take a look at this:
IMG_0044.jpegIMG_0042.jpeg

These are basically the same, down to the little black dots on each of the terminals. The modular bay and battery bay on the bottom also use the exact same latch deisgn on both laptops. I'll bet you could take the guts from an XP5 Pro battery and swap them directly into a PowerBook 1400 battery and vice-versa.

Another WinBook, the FX is also showing up here on the battery advertisement and also on the drive modules. The FX is another Quanta design, but it's different from the XP5 Pro and much less like the 1400. However, it uses the same modular bay drives as the XP5 Pro. The FX's main battery is different from the XP5 Pro's main battery, but the FX's modular bay can accept an XP5 Pro battery as a secondary battery.
Notably, the FX also shares the same slide-to-remove bezel design above the keyboard that the 1400 has. Perhaps Apple took ideas from multiple Quanta designs for the 1400? Who knows.

Anyways - these are all my findings. I'm just publishing them here for other people to pick through and analyze :)
 

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