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Prior to the release of the PowerBook line, Apple had attempted to build a portable computer in the form of the Macintosh Portable. Its electronics were similar to those of a Macintosh SE, but with the CPU clocked twice as fast, a superb active-matrix LCD instead of a CRT, and a very heavy sealed lead-acid battery, which provided it with up to 10 hours of use. Despite being a nice computer to use, it was usually called a "luggable" due to its size and weight. It did not sell well, and Apple was looking to do better the second time around.
In October 1991 the first three PowerBooks were released: the low-end PowerBook 100, the more powerful PowerBook 140, and the high end PowerBook 170. The machines caused a stir in the industry with their compact dark grey cases, use of a trackball, and the clever arrangement of the keyboard which left room for resting one's wrists on the case. PC portable computers at the time tended to have the keyboard forward towards the user, with empty space behind it, so this was a surprising innovation. While the PowerBook 140 and 170 were original designs, the PowerBook 100 had an interesting pedegree: Apple had actually sent the schematics of the Mac Portable to Sony, who then figured out how to make it small. This is why the PowerBook 100's design does not match those of the rest of the series. The PowerBook 100 did not sell well initially, so Apple dropped the price substantially, and the remaining stock sold briskly.
In 1992 Apple released a hybrid portable/desktop computer, the PowerBook Duo. This was a very thin and lightweight laptop with a minimum of features, which could be insterted into a docking station to provide the system with extra memory, storage space, connectors , and could be connected to a monitor. The model did not sell as well as expected, although several companies have since picked up the design style.
The first series of PowerBooks were hugely successful and captured 40% of all laptop sales for a time, a fact that Apple seemed to do little to capitalize on. Instead the original team eventually were lured away to work at CompaqCompaq Computer Corporation was founded in February 1982 by Rod Canion, Jim Harris and Bill Murto, three senior managers from semiconductor manufacturer Texas Instruments. Each invested $1,000 to form the company. Their first venture capital came from Ben, setting back the effort to introduce updated versions for some time. For several years, new PowerBook and PowerBook Duo computers were introduced which featured incremental improvements, including color screens, but by mid-decade, most other companies had copied the majority of the PowerBook's features, and Apple was unable to regain their lead.
The 100-series PowerBooks were updated many times. The 165c was the first PowerBook with a color screen, later followed by the 180c. The 180 (which had a superb-for-the-time grayscale display) was hugely popular. The last true member of the 100-series was the PowerBook 150, targeted at value-minded consumers and students, in 1994. (The PowerBook 190, released in 1995, bears no resemblance to the rest of the PowerBook 100 series, and is in fact simply a Motorola 68LC040The 68LC040 is a l ow c ost version of the Motorola 68040 microprocessor with no FPU. This makes it less expensive and draw less power. Although the CPU now fits into a feature chart more like the Motorola 68020, it continues to include the 040's caches a-based version of the 5300.)
Apple's PowerBook product line, in fact, declined during this time period. 1994 saw the introduction of the PowerBook 500 series, codename Blackbird. Faster and newer, the PowerBook 500 series continued the product line and held it on until the disastrous PowerBook 5300.
The PowerBook 5300 had numerous problems. While it was the highly anticipated, first PowerPC-based PowerBook, the 5300 was arguably Apple's worst product of the 1995-1996 time period where the company teetered on the brink of death. The 5300 was not competitive with other laptop models at the time. Many models shipped dead on arrival, and a few 5300's used at Apple actually burst into flames due to problems with then-new Lithium Ion batteriesLithium ion batteries (or Li-ion have become very common and dropped in price recently. They provide one of the best energy-per-weight ratios of rechargeable batteries at present. They have succeeded nickel metal hydride and nickel-cadmium batteries in co (earning the 5300 the nickname "Hindenbook", after the Hindenburg disasterOn May 6, 1937, at 19:25 the German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was utterly destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock with its mooring mast at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. Of the 97 people on board, 13 passengers and 22 crew). While no consumer 5300's suffered this fate, Apple was forced to recall the entire product line and delay its availability while they downgraded to proven Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. Apple's much-publicized PowerBook 5300 product placement in the film Mission Impossible turned to disaster when the PowerBooks were still off store shelves when the movie premiered in theaters.
Apple recovered from the 5300 debacle in 1996 and 1997 by introducing three new PowerBooks: the 1400, intended to replace the 5300 as a general-purpose PowerBook; the 2400, intended as a slim, sleek sub-notebook to replace the PowerBook Duo; and the luxury model PowerBook 3400. The PowerBook 3400 was adapted into the first PowerBook G3, codenamed the Kanga, late in 1997.
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