PowerBook 150!!!

[Scott Baret]

I picked up a PowerBook 150 in excellent condition for $10. It works perfectly and seems to even have a working battery. The drive is empty but I'll be booting it up later tonight to see if it's got anything good under the hood (in terms of RAM and hard drive space).

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Hey, nice find. Post a pic.

 

[LCGuy]

Not bad. I hope for your sake the RAM has been upgraded - even though they use Duo RAM (which if you can find a Duo, is easy enough to find), they require a special right angle adaptor that is unique to the PB150, that was only installed if the RAM was upgraded. Other than that, great find

 

[Scott Baret]

It's got 8MB RAM but the hard drive, which is a 250MB, has problems. It will "freeze up" when in use (I've tried twice to install 7.6 on it--yes, I finally have a use for the 7.6 CD that has been laying around since the day I picked it up a few years ago).

I read the 150 actually uses IDE, so I'm guessing a suitable replacement won't be hard to find (I think I actually have a 4GB IDE laptop hard drive on hand). Aside from this hard drive issue, it's a great machine--the keyboard and trackball are in pristine condition!

I plan on installing ClarisWorks 3 and using it for writing since I'm fond of the original 100 series keyboards.

 

[LCGuy]

Good to hear that its got a RAM upgrade - the main thing like I said, is that it has the right angle adaptor, which allows you to use Duo RAM. That 4GB hard drive *should* work - I once installed a 1GB drive from a PowerBook 190 into one with no trouble. As you said, yeah they use standard notebook IDE drives.

 

[Temetka]

Nice score!

The PB150's are cool machines. I hope your 4GB drive will work for you.

 

[beachycove]

What do you think of the screen? I have read much derision being poured on the PB150 screen, but this, I suspect, is based on the specs:year of manufacture ratio rather than what it actually looks and works like.

My PB150 has a very usable screen, and one that has certainly held up better over the years than the passive matrix screens you find these days in the PB160s, 145s and the like.

 

[Mars478]

What do you think of the screen? I have read much derision being poured on the PB150 screen, but this, I suspect, is based on the specs:year of manufacture ratio rather than what it actually looks and works like.
My PB150 has a very usable screen, and one that has certainly held up better over the years than the passive matrix screens you find these days in the PB160s, 145s and the like.

My PowerBook 150 (when it worked) had a screen that varied, it was nice at times but at others there was intense screen effects.

 

[Scott Baret]

What do you think of the screen? I have read much derision being poured on the PB150 screen, but this, I suspect, is based on the specs:year of manufacture ratio rather than what it actually looks and works like.
My PB150 has a very usable screen, and one that has certainly held up better over the years than the passive matrix screens you find these days in the PB160s, 145s and the like.

The screen seems better than the 140s/145s I've seen in the fact that it doesn't need as much adjusting. I've had to adjust 140s and 145s even when starting them up. It does have ghosting with windows, but I think that's common on passive matrix displays. (Using a white desktop pattern instead of a grey one helps too--mine will be set as such as soon as I get the new hard drive in there).

The most interesting part about this display is that it has a bluish tint to it. The border around the screen is blue and when looking at the display from across the room it almost looks light blue (it doesn't look this way up close--it looks as black and white as any other passive matrix).

Yes, the passive matrix was a dying breed by the time the 150 hit the end of its life (1995). However, I think it's actually more usable than the earlier passive matrix displays--I like this display much better than that of the 140/145/145B/160 since there isn't as much adjustment that needs to take place.

Just for the record, my 150 was manufactured during the 33rd week of 1995, making it one of the last ones to roll off the line.

One question about 150s--did they come with floppy drive doors like the other 100 series PowerBooks? Mine doesn't have one and the eject hole is in a different place than it is on my 180c (which has a door) or on the 170 I parted out last spring (which also has a door).

 

[LCGuy]

Yep, all PowerBook floppy drives have doors. The reason as to why the eject hole is in a different place on yours is that the PowerBook 150 uses a manual inject floppy drive, same as what the newer PowerBooks used, whereas the rest of the 1xx series used auto-inject floppy drives.

 

[Scott Baret]

As it turns out, the hard drive was not the problem. The System 7.6 CD was. That is why I kept getting random freezes.

I got the PowerBook 150 Enabler from Apple's website, loaded it up with System 7.1, and now have it running MacWrite Pro and Battle Chess.

The battery is good for three minutes before it conks out. I think I will definitely be replacing it over the holidays.

 

[Bunsen]

Note that if you're ever tempted to replace that hard drive with a Compact Flash card, it's not as easy as it should be.