The JunkMan

The Budget Road Warrior

It all started last June. As I was foreseeing that a large part of my summer would be spent on the road, it came to mind that a laptop would be a good thing. The bad thing is - I can't buy a new TiBook! Those who can afford to buy one of the most recent Apple offerings - iBook, or TiBook - should run to the store: They are by far the best and fastest laptops on today's market. My own budget amounting to very little more than a bunch of gathered strings, two rubber bands and some lint, I had to look at other possibilities. I want a PowerBook, I can't afford a new PowerBook - so, what kind of used PowerBook can I afford that would do most of what I need, perhaps even some of what I want?

It's always best to start by defining your needs: I would use the PowerBook to write, do a bit of database management, and perhaps the occasional, last minute web design and HTML coding. To be able to run my current productivity software - FileMaker 5, Office 98, some Internet access and email - at least a PowerPC processor was needed. I could always save some money by going to the 68030 or -040 based laptops, but that would mean giving up important applications, and that would make my life even more complicated.

Because some work would be done in transit - with all the shaking and rattling this may imply - a good, sharp display was needed. The last thing I want is a headache from trying to read fuzzy characters. Color would be nice, but would boost the price: It would probably mean going back to a 68XXX CPU. I'd rather have greyscale and PPC if it comes to such a trade-off.

A problem that often pops up with the older laptops is the kind of battery they use: The Powerbook 100 used a lead-acid battery, many 68XXX PB used Nickel-Cadmium (NICAD) batteries, all by now either dead or replacements of unknown quality. Later models use longer life Nickel Metal Hydride (NIMH) batteries, probably still fit enough to hold a charge for more than five minutes. Only the newest PowerBooks/iBooks use Lithium-Ion (LiIon) batteries, if we omit those originally included with the 190/5300 and since then recalled by Apple.

A new battery costs money. I wanted my Powerbook to have a working battery. That meant NIMH.

Expandability was important as well: Forget about Firewire and USB, but how about Maximum RAM? Hard Drive? PC Cards? Drive bays? My list of needs grew:

Since I am hunting for bargains in these areas as well, I want as much flexibility as possible. Older PowerBooks use custom RAM cards for memory, but some are interchangeable between models.
I needed to be able to upgrade RAM to at least 32MB, a reasonable minimum for MacOS/Open Transport/QuickTime and a few friends to play together in joy and harmony.
Laptop hard drives can be expensive to upgrade: An ATA/IDE bus would be best, IDE drives being a lot cheaper that SCSI.
Unless I could find built-in Ethernet and modem on the PowerBook, a PC Card slot for the appropriate networking solutions was essential. Even if Ethernet was built-in, I was not too hot at the AAUI connectors used by Apple on some models, and would much prefer a card with a 10-BaseT / RJ-45 connection that having to use - meaning to buy - an AAUI-to-RJ45 adopter.
Finally, with Apple throwing out the 3.5" disk readers, most people are opting instead for ZIPs or CDs. My PowerBook needed an expandable drive bay, to allow the upgrade, or a built-in CD reader. Since older Macs means slower CD readers. I'd much rather spend the money on a CD drive later than be stuck with a built-in 2X or a 4X.

I had the scent of my prey. In short: PPC Based; ATA/IDE bus; seasonably expandable RAM to 32MB minimum; sharp display, color optional; using a NIHM Battery; PC-Card and drive bay -OR- onboard Ethernet and Modem; drive expansion bay. Whew!

Using Apple's Spec Database, I removed all SCSI-based, non-PPC and G3/G4 PowerBook models and quickly obtained a short list:

The 2300 and 5300-series, both based on the 603e processor, running at about the same speed, and having an acceptable storage capacity (500MB+).
Macintosh PowerBook Duo 2300c/100: 750MB to 1.1GB hard drive, SCSI & IDE bus, 9.5" color active matrix LCD
Macintosh PowerBook 5300/100: 500MB GB IDE hard drive, 9.5" passive-matrix LCD
Macintosh PowerBook 5300cs/100: 500- to 750 GB IDE hard drive, 10.4" dual-scan color LCD
Macintosh PowerBook 5300c/100: 500 to 750 GB IDE hard drive, 10.4" active matrix LCD
Macintosh PowerBook 5300ce/117: 1.1GB IDE hard drive, 10.4" active matrix LCD

These specs are for stock models: On the used market, one can get lucky and find a Mac that has already received a memory, hard drive and other upgrade.

The 2300 Duo looked nice at first with its dual bus and larger drive, but the only expansion comes through the use of its dock - otherwise, it only has a modem onboard. I don't feel like carrying both the dock AND the powerbook with me everywhere I go. Out goes the Duo...

I am therefore left with my choice of one of the 5300 flavors. You may remember this model as the Incredible Flammable PowerBook: Some caught fire because of faulty Sony-made Lithium-Ion battery in the original release, and Apple had to issue a recall. Subsequent to this, reports of problems with the casing and some internal parts (logic boards, power connectors etc.) of the 5300 series incited Apple to implement a 7-year free Repair Extension Program (REA), and over the last few years the company has offered rebates and discounts for those who would trade them in for new models. Quoting Apple: "A Repair Extension Program (REA) is a mechanism Apple uses to correct known quality issues that may be exhibited during or after the warranty period. This is not a recall. Rather, Apple is committing that the company (or its representatives) will repair these specific products to correct these specific, known issues." See POWERBOOK REA FAQ.

5300 that have been processed through the extended repair program can be identified by the letters "AA" tagged to their serial number (first phase), and a time stamp inside the battery bay (second phase). It may only have the AA-letters if it was sent for the first kind of repairs, but not the second.

Keeping all this in mind, there are probably fewer of them still around than there once was.

Not to say that the 5300 are bad laptops. Author Charles W Moore has devoted many MacOpinion columns promoting the merits of the PB5300. Here's the latest: COMPARING THE NEW IBOOK TO THE POWERBOOK 5300, 1400, 2400, AND PISMO, 15/05/2001. And POWERBOOK 5300 EXPOSE.

In the end, the decision was made for me: After a shopping spree on various auction sites and newsgroups (where average price for a 5300 was $375, less about $100 for the greyscale model) I plucked a 5300/100 (greyscale), with battery (but no power adapter) for $100US from local newsgroup "For Sale" listing.

On the same newsgroup, I found someone who had traded in his PowerBook with the Apple discount program mentioned above, and was selling out all his 5300 accessories: a 32MB RAM card, a Focus MV16-EN video/10Base-T Ethernet card, a Global Village Passport Platinum Pro Fax/Modem/10Base-T Ethernet PC-card and a power adapter, the lot for $80.

The Focus card is nice, albeit no longer supported by the manufacturer: It replaces the standard 512K video card in the PDS slot to give full 16-bits color on a monitor up to 17" in size (it has 1MB VRAM on board). Various web sites resell these cards between $25 and $80US. Installing this card demands dismantling most of the PowerBook and is not for the novice, but I had to do open heart surgery to install the memory card as well. It went smoothly until I noticed that one of the screws at the bottom of the laptop was missing, its plastic anchor inside the case broken. AS IS, right?

I put everything back together like a good boy, restarted my engine, held my breath - heard the nice bell, and all was well.

I proceeded to update the operating system from the pre-installed System 7.5.3

I wanted MacOS 8.5. Since there was no CD drive on this model, I connected it to the SCSI bus of my desktop computer (see this LowEnd Mac article for more info on SCSI mode) and installed the new OS.

To make sure the installer would create the right kind of System for the PowerBook - and not for my G3 - I cheated it into believing I was running from a PowerBook through a small utility called Machid. Another, called Wish I Were, would probably have worked as well. Both Control Panels change the Gestalt ID number reported by your Mac - an identification code that informs installers and other applications about the model of your Mac. Checking with the Apple System Profiler, my Mac was reported as a PowerBook 5300, albeit with a G3 processor.

I installed 8.5, and restarted. Only to hear the... CHIMES OF DEATH

The Chimes Of Death is the utterly strange sound produced by a Mac in serious hardware failure, usually accompanied by a black screen that features the icon of what looks like a most definitely dead Mac, and some cryptic error code. If you've never encountered the dreaded Chimes of death, bless your stars and try to keep it that way. Chimes Of Death usually mean hardware failure. Something serious. If the hard drive crashes, if some components of your System Folder have somehow gone astray, other messages will appear; other symptoms will point to the source of the problem. But the Chimes Of Death - they scare me, every time.

OK, no panic - it's time to undo what has been done.

I created a startup disk with the 8.5 Disk Tools disk image - a minimized System Folder, Disk First Aid, and Drive SetUp Lite. I restarted from the floppy by holding Shift-Option-Command-Delete (mnemonic: SOCD, pronounced SOCKED) at startup, and the PowerBook started up. No problem. I ran Disk First Aid on the hard drive. No problem. I ran Drive Setup, upgraded the drivers, restarted from the floppy: it all worked fine.

I restarted from the hard drive... CHIMES OF DEATH.

To make a long story short: I repeated the above over and over again, with minute variations, installing, formatting, reinstalling, starting up - without success. The sun was long gone when, on the edge of insanity and feeling rather depressed, I decided to scour the web for some clues. I found a small footnote, somewhere, mentioning that the PowerBooks 5300 cannot run with MacOS 8.5 until a motherboards upgrade has been done. Remembering those extended repair programs, I had a look: The serial number of my PowerBook had the "AA" added, but there was no sign of a time stamp in the battery bay.

The startup crashes could also be due to the hack I used to make the OS installer believe that I was running from a PowerBook 5300, or any number number of other things... Whatever the cause, out of frustration I gave up on 8.5, installing Mac OS 8.0 and the 8.1 update instead. It worked: Success, at last!

It's 3:00AM, and my cats are giving me funny looks. I crawl into bed and, with unusual speed, blissfully fall asleep.

POST MORTEM: Disk Tool emergency startup disks contain a special version of MacOS. Very bare bones, it lacks many resources integrated in the normal version of the System files. Upon reflection, this may explain why the PowerBook booted up from the disk, but not from the drive, both running version 8.5 of the System. Troubleshooting this problem would have been a lot easier if the Disk Tool emergency startup disks had crashed at startup as well!

WHAT AND HOW MUCH

Total cost of this project: $180 (plus time).

I've a network enabled, fax and modem ready PPC PowerBook that I can connect to a 17" screen in 16 bits (thousands) color. It has a crisp 256-greys screen on the road, and because a greyscale display is less demanding on the processor, it's noticeably faster than its other 5300 cousins. The used battery holds about three hour's worth of charge, and a new battery could probably do much better.

It has 40MB of a maximum 64MB of RAM. At 6 pounds, it's lighter than many newer models: For instance, a PowerBook G3 1st generation weighs 7.5 lbs.

The original (1995) list price was $2200 US. Everymac.com lists a used price of $200-$350 US, in range with my own findings.

I will probably have to send it in for the motherboard upgrade. As it is, MacOS 8.1 does the job, and is far less RAM hungry than 8.5, while only lacking a few of its features. Or, if I manage to save enough money, I may hang on to it and wait to see if Apple relaunches the discount program in the future, then trade-in to get a rebate on the newest PowerBook model.

Until then, it's fast enough to handle Filemaker or Microsoft Office, and since I usually write using Tex-Edit Plus, processor power isn't even an issue. I have loaded the hard drive with every kind of text and PDF books I could find, and included a few games to occupy myself while waiting for my transportation to arrive. Thanks to Project Guttenberg, I can catch up with the classics! While 500MB is not much by contemporary standards, it can hold a LOT of text files, on top of a good selection of applications.

I've yet to find a CD reader for the 5300, though I am told that VST used to make them. There was also some ZIP drives available in the past. It may be even possible to play Video CDs (VCDs) on a 603PPC, but that will have to wait - and how VCDs will look on a greyscale screen is an even greater unknown.

It's not a TiBook, of course - but neither is the price. If you are willing to make some concessions, it provides mobility at a very affordable price. Am I satisfied at the outcome? You bet! I named the 5300 ALEXANDRIA. And it even runs SimCity 1.1!

MORE INFO:

DAVE'S POWERBOOK 5300 PAGE

Pat St. Arnaud

AFTERTHOUGHTS

For those who may be interested, I have some leftover part from this PowerBook adventure: A PB 160 in need of an Interconnect board and a good battery, perhaps other problems, with a 230MB SCSI hard drive, a 10MB RAM Card and a modem; a PowerBook 145B in need of a good battery, had some issues with the motherboard's power connector but works when plugged in. Both have their power adapters. As well, both are for sale "as is", or in parts. Just let me know.

CALL TO ARMS: AT WAR WITH POPUPS

On an unrelated note: I went to one of my favorite Mac sites last weekend, MacFixIt, only to have one of those stealthy popup ads slide behind my main browser window. Now, I understand that MacFixIt - or their owners, TechTracker - need advertising money to offer us the great, free contents we have come to expect. And advertising money in the tech industry is currently as dry as it gets. But I would NOT expect to see forced to endure these annoying java-based windows outside of the pornographic or free-web-hosting realm. I can ignore banners, I can filter SPAM, but I MUST manually deal with the pestering things. That type of advertising is the most intrusive or all, and in my opinion it severely taints the reputation of those webmasters who allow their use to continue.

For those who may agree, feedback can be sent to Techtracker here: http://www.techtracker.com/feedback

Or email their PR/Communications Manager, Hallie Janssen hjanssen@techtracker.com

Yes, I do feel better. Thanks for asking.