PowerBook 500 series
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| PowerBook 500 series | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Apple Computer |
| Type | Portable computer |
| Pointing device | Built-in Trackpad |
| Introduced | 16 May 1994 |
The PowerBook 500 series (codenamed Blackbird) was a range of Apple Macintosh PowerBook portable computers first introduced by Apple Computer with the 520 model on 16 May 1994. The 500 series was the first computer to use a trackpad instead of a trackball as a built-in pointing device.
It was the first series of PowerBooks, compared to previous PowerBook models, to include a Motorola 68LC040 CPU, be upgradable to the PowerPC architecture, use 9.5" Dual Scan passive color/B&W displays, use a CPU on a daughtercard (with the PowerPC and 68040 upgrades), have an expansion bay, PC Card capability, two battery bays (and a ten minute sleep/clock battery), full size keyboard with F1-F12 function keys, be able to sleep while connected to an external monitor and have a battery contact cover included on the actual batteries. It included a single serial port which could be to connect to a serial printer or a network via Apple's LocalTalk. It also included an AAUI port for connecting to non-LocalTalk networks.
The 500 series of PowerBooks included the ability to use two batteries at the same time, allowing for 4 hours of battery life from two installed charged batteries. One battery could be replaced and a PCMCIA module could be used in that slot instead. There were three versions; RevA, RevB and RevC. The RevC is the most useful as it can take 16bit WiFi cards, allowing the possibility to get a Powerbook 5xx connected online or in the home network using a technology that was developed after the Powerbook 5xx's were discontinued by Apple. The different revisions of the PCMCIA module were released by Apple to accommodate the developing PCMCIA standard. The modules can be difficult to find and the RevC module due to the fact that it can take 16bit WiFi cards can be in some demand on auction sites.The 500 series also introduced a full-sized keyboard with 12 function keys, and used a 640x480 resolution display.
In total, almost 600,000 PowerBook 500 series units were produced, compared to only 300,000 PowerBook 5300 units.
Model comparisons. Although the 500 "Blackbird" prototypes were indeed black, only one of the five production models was. That was the 550c, sold mainly in Japan. The 550c differed from four grey models in a few other key respects as well, including a larger active-matix color screen, a combined Roman/Kanji keyboard, and a full 68040 processor. The other models were all charcoal grey, came with a variety of displays (active/passive matrix; color/greyscale), and used the 68LC040 processor (a low-cost variant without math co-processor).
[edit] Models
| 520 | 520c | 540 | 540c | 550c | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Part # | M3981LL | M3984LL | ? | M2809LL/B | ? |
| Processor | 68LC040 | 68LC040 | 68LC040 | 68LC040 | 68040 |
| CPU Speed | 25 MHz | 25 MHz | 33 MHz | 33 MHz | 33 MHz |
| Built-in RAM (MiB) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Maximum RAM (MiB) | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 |
| Hard drive (MB) | 160 or 240 | 160, 240, or 320 | 240-320 | 240-320, later 500 | 750 |
| Display | 9.5" B&W, Dual scan passive | 9.5" Color, Dual scan passive | 9.5" B+W, Active Matrix | 9.5" Color, Active Matrix | 10.4" Color, Active Matrix |
| Resolution/Color | 640x480x16 | 640x480x256 | 640x480x64* | 640x400x32K* | 640x400x32K |
| * 64 grays, though can be set to 256 grays. | |||||
| * K 32,000 colors at 640x400, or 256 colors at regular 640x480 | |||||
