Anonymous Freak
Well-known member
Just picked up a PowerBook 180c to go with my grayscale 180. Chassis is in generally good condition - someone had done a hinge repair in the past that left a couple exposed screws visible on the exterior top lid, but they are very small and well done.
Only 4 MB RAM, and came with System 7.5.5 loaded on it (EEK!) But at least it had Connectix RAM Doubler. I suppose that makes 7.5.5 on 4 MB physical RAM "bearable".
I hadn't realized how much smaller the color display was than the grayscale. (Looking it up, it's 8.4" vs 10.1" diagonal!)
Got it for $30 off Craigslist, came with the laptop, power brick, an era-appropriate laptop bag, and that's it. The battery had been tossed long ago, but he had taken the sliding cover off the battery to at least cover the battery slot. Strangely, the computer thinks there is a fully charged battery inserted. Owner said he has purchased it brand new in 1993-1994. Looks like he used it consistently until at least early 2009! The "Recent Documents" in the Apple Menu lists a selection of files with dates in their names, including one 1/20/09, and a few in late 08. But it also appears his documents were stored on an external drive, as it can't find the files, and there is SyQuest magneto-optical drive software installed. (Along with Asante EN/SC drivers.)
Also, very strangely, the hard drive has a .SpotlightV100 file on the root! I'm guessing somebody had connected it either via Ethernet or SCSI to a modern Mac to copy the files off it. (Very likely sometime in 2009.)
The only major problem is that the display exhibits "ghosting". I don't recall ever seeing this on an active-matrix LCD before - usually I see it on passive matrix, and adjusting the contrast will fix it. No contrast adjustment here, though!
Only 4 MB RAM, and came with System 7.5.5 loaded on it (EEK!) But at least it had Connectix RAM Doubler. I suppose that makes 7.5.5 on 4 MB physical RAM "bearable".
I hadn't realized how much smaller the color display was than the grayscale. (Looking it up, it's 8.4" vs 10.1" diagonal!)
Got it for $30 off Craigslist, came with the laptop, power brick, an era-appropriate laptop bag, and that's it. The battery had been tossed long ago, but he had taken the sliding cover off the battery to at least cover the battery slot. Strangely, the computer thinks there is a fully charged battery inserted. Owner said he has purchased it brand new in 1993-1994. Looks like he used it consistently until at least early 2009! The "Recent Documents" in the Apple Menu lists a selection of files with dates in their names, including one 1/20/09, and a few in late 08. But it also appears his documents were stored on an external drive, as it can't find the files, and there is SyQuest magneto-optical drive software installed. (Along with Asante EN/SC drivers.)
Also, very strangely, the hard drive has a .SpotlightV100 file on the root! I'm guessing somebody had connected it either via Ethernet or SCSI to a modern Mac to copy the files off it. (Very likely sometime in 2009.)
The only major problem is that the display exhibits "ghosting". I don't recall ever seeing this on an active-matrix LCD before - usually I see it on passive matrix, and adjusting the contrast will fix it. No contrast adjustment here, though!
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