Non-backlit Portable

[sokol]

Excuse the awful picture, but yay! Between this, and the Q700, I have the machines I lusted after in my childhood. Doesn't mean I won't buy more, of course...

These things have really, really nice keyboards. Almost better than the Extended II, IMO. I was not expecting it to be so awesome. I would've like a backlit model, but I'm not going to complain, especially given that everything seems to work correctly with a PB165 AC adapter the first time I plugged it in.

I am really tempted to indulge in my retro fetish before school starts, and get a working battery for this thing. But I'm pretty sure nobody sells guaranteed new batteries (I did search, and nada), and I'm very, very poor at solder work. Any suggestions? I'm thinking about buying one of the compatible replacement cells and offering a local tech some cash to save me the burns and broken gear. But if anyone has any other ideas, I'd be glad to hear them. These are really fun beasts!

 

[madmax_2069]

Very nice, I have always liked the portable Mac.

I do not know how hard it will be to find a good battery for it though (never needed to look for one).

i do hope you enjoy it ( i know i would).

 

[4seasonphoto]

You can do a no-solder battery pack:

(1) Find the largest 6V sealed lead acid battery that fits the battery compartment.

(2) Disassemble Portable so you can see the underside of the battery compartment. The gold-plated battery contacts are simply clipped into place and connected via slip-on terminals. Remove, wrap in some non-conducting material and tape somewhere inside the Portable so you can't lose them.

(3) Make battery extension cables to reach from SLA battery to those existing slip-on terminals. Might have to hunt around a little to find the appropriately sized terminals. If you can't solder, crimp them and insulate if need be.

(4) You probably will have extra space in the battery compartment. Fill it with whatever material you have on hand so nothing rattles around and causes damage: Closed cell foam, corrugated cardboard, block of wood, etc would all be workable.

Voila! New off-the-shelf battery pack that fits the stock Portable with no permanent modifications needed.

One thing tricky about the Portable is that there's a constant current draw, even when it's "off", so if you are going to leave it unplugged for a long time, remove the batteries or consider rigging up a small solar trickle charger or something.