Powerbook Duo 230 Advice

[coneypylon]

It's looking increasingly like I'm about to win an eBay auction for a Duo! Accordingly, I'm looking for some advice on how to get ready for it to arrive.

I saw this thread and so I've made an Amazon wishlist with the relevant capacitors mentioned in the thread for recapping. As well, I plan to get a db15 to VGA dongle so I can use the dock effectively (already have ADB kb&m).

How likely is it that an "estate sale" 230 will work? Am I doomed to leaky caps? What other things should I expect?

Cheers!

 

[Mighty Jabba]

Are leaky capacitors a big problem with Duos? I honestly don't know, but I hadn't really heard that, at least compared to things like the later compact Macs. I recently got a 230 myself from eBay, and it seems to work fine but has a dead hard disk so I haven't been able to use it just yet. I also have a 270c coming that apparently works fine as well.

 

[Byrd]

I'd say Duos are the most reliable 68K portables with minimal cap leakage, in my experience.  They are much simpler in design to other PowerBooks of the era and the plastic quality is decent.  Second would be 1x0 PowerBooks (provided the LCD is OK and the plastic hasn't snapped due to age), with PowerBook 100 (cap rot hell) and Portable (cap rot hell + odd design) very distant from this.

 

[Papichulo]

I have a duo 210 and except for the stupid pink blotch on the screen that keeps getting bigger from dead pixels, the inside board looks brand new. They kept the pram battery away from the motherboard and there are barely any capacitors. One of the most reliable laptops Apple had.