PowerBook - PowerPC-Based PowerBooks

PowerPC-Based PowerBooks

The PowerBook 5300, while highly anticipated as one of the first PowerPC-based PowerBooks (along with the PowerBook Duo 2300c, both released on the same day), had numerous problems. In its 5300ce incarnation with a TFT of 800x600 pixels, Apple offered a 117 MHz PPC, 32 MB of on-board RAM, and a hot-swappable drive bay. With all of these features, though, the 5300ce was quite ahead of other laptop models at the time. Multiple problems with reliability, stability and safety (by some, the model was referred as the "HindenBook" because the lithium ion batteries used actually burst into flame in Apple tests, necessitating a recall and downgrade to nickel metal hydride batteries) were present in the early 5300s. These drawbacks by far failed to meet the quality standard expected for the price. After Apple offered an Extended Repair Program, the series turned into a remarkably attractive machine, but never lost its bad reputation. The bad publicity of 5300 series added to the woes of "beleaguered Apple" during the mid 1990s.

Apple recovered from the 5300 debacle in 1996 and 1997 by introducing three new PowerBooks: the PowerBook 1400, intended to replace the 5300 as a general-purpose PowerBook; the PowerBook 2400, intended as a slim, sleek sub-notebook to replace the PowerBook Duo; and the luxury model PowerBook 3400. The PowerBook 1400 and 3400 were in fact the first PowerBooks ever to include an internal CD drive, and were introduced in a time when laptops rarely had one. Again, other laptop manufacturers quickly followed Apple's lead. Late in 1997, the PowerBook 3400 was adapted into the first PowerBook G3, codenamed the Kanga. This series was the last PowerBook model to employ a "real" keyboard with 1 cm high keys; all later models have flat keys.

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