[Jacob]

So, this is the official poll. What Powerbook is your favourite..and why?! I have slimmed it down to the most...popular revisions. Share your ideas and reasons behind your desicion.

The Powerbook 1400C was remarkable for its time, offering massive HDD storage, color screen, cd rom, floppy or battery hot swappable drives.

The Powerbook G3 Pismo was the fastest mobile computer in its time. Sleek, expandable in everyway, and the only Powerbook with a 1MB L2 cache.

The Powerbook G4 Ti (any revision). Which was a landmark in design, with its widescreen and all Titanium body.

The Powerbook G4 Al (12"). One of the smallest, full featured laptops every made.

The Powerbook G4 (15" and 17"). Sucessor to the Powerbook G4 Ti. New Aluminum body and larger screen size.

[venom600]

None of the above. I think that the best was the most important; The Powerbook G3 Wallstreet. It came at a time when no one believed that Apple could deliver something that dynamic and along with the iMac changed the way everyone looked at the company.It was the first to have a 14" screen, the first to have a DVD drive, the first with cardbus slots (and the last with auto ejecting PC card slots), the first and only to have an 83MHz bus, the first to have a 3D accelerated video card and the first in what would become the design theme that was used in Macs for nearly a half decade.

It is the only example I can think of where a notebook was actually faster in a number of benchmarks then the equivalent desktop (PB 292/83 vs PM 300/66). It was also the last of the PBs with older ADB and serial connections, the last to have dedicated brightness and volume buttons, and the most importantly the last Apple computer to use the rainbow logo. It bridged the gap between modern Powerbooks and retro models quite nicely.

[Dakkon]

i COMPLETLY agree with venom the first thing i looked for is the wallstreet.. i still have fond memories of that laptop....

[threestain]

TiBook, cos it made me walk away from the PC world and love all that is mac

[fisherKing]

the 2400c , hands down.


same era as the 1400...but, originally made for japan only.
built (like a tank) by ibm,

smallest powerbook (until the 12"...)

10.4" screen, no internal floppy or cd.
but small, fast (for it's day), light.

carried it everywhere; and everywhere, people were blown away by it's size, styling, capability.


(the 12" alubook is impressive for the same reasons...but circa 2005!)

[tooki]

Yeah, that poll is missing a LOT of imporant models -- what about the groundbreaking original, the 170? That was an amazing machine for 1991, introducing the basic shape of laptops to come (until then, laptops had the keyboard by the front edge, not by the screen, no built-in pointing device, etc).

And yeah, the Wallstreet really showed what Apple can do. The 1400, on the other hand, was from the era when Apple was showing what NOT to do.

tooki

[Lateralus]

I agree that many great models are missing, but luckily the one I would have voted for anyways is there: The Pismo.

[d.fine]

A 15" AluPB cause it was my first Mac

[teknopimp]

did someone say 170? just got her tuesday:

[budster101]

How can you forget the Wallstreet?

[tracemhunter]

15" Al because i just got one and it switched me.

[Jacob]

The Pismo for me. Actuallu STILL like that better than my 15" Al

[MacNZ]

I can still remember the HUGE fuss about the Wallstreet, so I would have voted for it too. Since it wasn't there I voted for the Pismo. Although it externally looked like an update to the wallstreet/lombard line, under the hood it was a big upgrade. I think how long peoples' Pismos have lasted running the latest software is the biggest testament to it. Mine was still going strong until it up and died end of last year. My new 12" is a BIG advance in speed and portability but I could do everything this one does on the old Pismo.

[Eriamjh]

Pismo.

It was everything the wallstreet was, but better.

Firewire, USB, thinner, two bays for two batteries, up to 1GB RAM, AND upgradeable. You can still run Tiger on a Pismo.

It was the first Powerbook with ALL of today's interfaces in the most durable and elegant package ever seen. Sure the Ti was thin, but it was also flat.

Pismo.

[fisherKing]

i loved my pismo, but would never give up my alubook for it; it could barely run logic & reason (where i do most of my work).

my alubook flies with those programs...and everything else.
smaller, lighter, faster...

the pismo was great for it's time (as were most powerbooks...except for a few missteps...)

[olePigeon]

You forgot the G5 PowerBoo.. oh, wait.

[Don Pickett]

That's funny: I just got my old Pismo working today. The fact that it wasn't working is my fault: I spilled a full glass of water on it, shorted the keyboard, then got a G5 and forgot about it. But I just threw 10.4 on it, installed all the latest updates and Firefox and it's running like a champ.

Now just got to get a keyboard. . .

[MrForgetable]

i like the pismo.

[SEkker]

pismo for sure.

And to lump the 17 Al PB with the 15 is a misnomer -- came a year before the 15. Sort of the ultimate wide screen laptop, and no white spots!

But the 170 is probably THE most important Apple laptop ever -- those machines established the market for notebook computers, owning 40% of the market at one time (when Apple owned less than 10% of the rest of the market). I bet you could run word on it now, and it'd feel faster than word running on Tiger on this PB17.

[Jacob]

I miss the sleek curves of the Pismo, the sturdy feel. The design..everything looked curved and almost sexy. I liked that. Had nice rubber (if you can say 'grips') built into the shell of the body. I loved how I could get up to 8-10 hours of battery life. Loved the hot swappable drive bays. Loved how I could pop open my keyboard and replace my Hard Drive, Airport Card, Memory sticks, Daughtercard and Processor. Really amazing design. Still think it's Apples best design, since anyone with half a brain could upgrade it. And the 1MB cache...*sniff* still miss that, it was backside, but it was still awsome. If that had been one die cache...WOW. *smiles*
Well, enough of my little rant.

[andreas_g4]

Originally Posted by Jacob

I miss the sleek curves of the Pismo, the sturdy feel. The design..everything looked curved and almost sexy. I liked that. Had nice rubber (if you can say 'grips') built into the shell of the body. I loved how I could get up to 8-10 hours of battery life. Loved the hot swappable drive bays. Loved how I could pop open my keyboard and replace my Hard Drive, Airport Card, Memory sticks, Daughtercard and Processor. Really amazing design. Still think it's Apples best design, since anyone with half a brain could upgrade it. And the 1MB cache...*sniff* still miss that, it was backside, but it was still awsome. If that had been one die cache...WOW. *smiles*
Well, enough of my little rant.

– go Pismo!

[paul w]

Originally Posted by threestain

TiBook, cos it made me walk away from the PC world and love all that is mac

While TiBook owners hear it from both Pismo and AlBook owners, the Titanium Powerbook was the one that wowed the world and made Apple laptops really stand out. Not the best made, a bit form over function, and so on, but damn if I didn't get tons of oohs and ahhs over my TiBook back in the beginning. AND it coincided with the release of OS X. Man was that a fun transition.

And for all the haters, they're still the prettiest, slimmest.

[phuture]

I would've voted for the Wallstreet if it had been a choice. Although not the first G3 Powerbook, it definitely turned the laptop market upside down when it was released, as it looked and performed like nothing that had come before it.

I voted for the Pismo. Elegant, sophisticated design yet durable and engineered to be serviced and upgraded easily, the option to run two batteries for truly all-day mobile performance. I bought a new 15" PB last month, the only thing that really impresses me is the backlit keyboard.

[threestain]

The titanium is the laptop of the future, but way back when.

If only every laptop was that thin and sleek.

[SEkker]

I was at a booth this week at the MN State Fair, and there was a classic copy of the TiPB by Dell -- even the keyboard layout looked the same.

It was, of course, at least 50% thicker (and probably weighed twice as much), but Apple should certainly take the obvious compliment!

[discotronic]

Old thread but I am going to bump it.

The PowerBook 540c was left off. That has to be my favorite Powerbook of all time.

[Felix]

Having my Pismo since 10/2000 I never felt the urge to upgrade to any G4 notebook:
05/2002: 40 GByte HD and 512 additional MByte RAM
03/2004: Installed Toshiba DVD-ROM/CD-R(W)
06/2005: NewerTech Battery: runs now +5 hrs on one charge, and new PRAM-Battery
08/2005: Airport

Now, I am really happy with my Pismo. Absolutely reliable and very fine to work with, even with over 5 years of age. Maybe I will allow it a 100 GByte HD.

I fing it amazing how many people vote for the later G4s. Those notebooks were good-looking, but way behind the standards.

Felix

[sodamnregistered2]

Pismo G3 500MHz

No PC laptop could do what it could do for a long time.

The 1MB cache really gave that thing some power and "snappy."

I still see the Pismo in the occasional advertisement as a prop.

[christ]

TiPB - no contest.

Quick, rock solid, comfortable, small & light.

... only downside was cosmetic - flaking paint

[poocat]

Posting this from my pismo. Can't fight that power.

[Jean-Loup]

Pismo for it's flexibility! Ti for the looks and MBP for the speed. ;-)

[psk-ele]

I would have to say the 1GHz TiPB. That was an amazing machine. Of all the Apple laptops I have tried, that is the only one I would switch back to. Such solid performance, sleek looks, and killer looks. Sometimes I wonder why I ever sold it in the first place....

[SEkker]

Our group purchased too many TiPBs with hinge problems that I simply cannot vote that model as my favorite powerbook. And its Airport reception really sucks (something we need daily).

If we will be able to upgrade the MBP's CPU using the announced, socket-compatible newer Intel chips that will be released in the next 2 years, I will need to change my vote from the Pismo to the MBP [even tho mine has not arrived].

The main issue with the Pismo was its lack of meaningful CPU upgrades that did not cost nearly as much as the machine was worth.

We'll have to see how the MBPs really perform to know for sure. But keeping the high quality form factor of the AlPBs (I wanted mine to be anodyzed blue, tho) and using all these new, forward-looking technologies (faster bus, Yonah, LCD backlit screen -- if that's confirmed, faster card slot, maybe upgradable CPU socket) may compete with the Pismo's 5+ years of lifespan running the latest OS upgrades. It also sounds a lot LIKE the Pismo -- which used the same form factor as the previous Lombard, but the guts were revised with a new motherboard, faster bus, new interface (firewire instead of SCSI)]

[mdc]

Due to the fact that the only Powerbooks I have owned have been AlBooks, 12" 15" and now 17", I have to say that the new 17" Powerbook is by far my favorite.

I love the fact that it is not too big to carry around in a backpack everyday and yet the screen size and resolution is still so big.

[Charles Bouldin]

Originally Posted by psk-ele

I would have to say the 1GHz TiPB. That was an amazing machine. Of all the Apple laptops I have tried, that is the only one I would switch back to. Such solid performance, sleek looks, and killer looks. Sometimes I wonder why I ever sold it in the first place....

Yep. That's what I'm typing on. Amazing machine. Miles ahead of anything else available at the time and still the most beautiful laptop I have ever seen. The new "amazingly thin" Macbook Pro is the same thickness at the Tibook.

I don't think I'll ever sell it....and my wife still uses the older 400 mhz Tibook, which continues to be a real workhorse.

[yoesh]

the powerbook 100 deserves some kudos as being the first, best, thin & light -- and doing it 16 yrs ago to boot.

1st generation powerbooks had the keyboard forward with room for palm rests and an integrated trackball. The 140 and 170 were okay -- but I think the 100 and 180 were perhaps the best ones for their day.

but of the more modern 'books, my favs are: 2400c, pismo & the ice-book

[paul w]

Originally Posted by psk-ele

I would have to say the 1GHz TiPB. That was an amazing machine. Of all the Apple laptops I have tried, that is the only one I would switch back to. Such solid performance, sleek looks, and killer looks. Sometimes I wonder why I ever sold it in the first place....

It also shipped with the bloody wonder 10.2, Jaguar. It basically was the most gorgeous combination of hardware and OS released to date. 1 ghz was nothing to sneeze at either.

[JoshuaZ]

As much as I love my 12in Pbook, I still like the cool features of the Pismo. Quite the fun computer, and the form factor is so nice.

[Simon]

The PowerBook Duo was awesome. It was a very cool thing to work with in the day.

The Pismo was a good book in its day. But it was definitely too bulky.

The Al PowerBooks are great, but the G4 is rather outdated and battery time could be better. I think the MBP might be a real winner.

I find it much easier to say what was the worst of all PowerBooks. It would certainly have to be the 5300. No other PowerBook behaved so inconsistently and so unreliably. I got rid of mine after about three months and I hated every single one I saw.

[dn15]

There have been a lot of great PowerBooks over the years but my favorite to date is the 12" PowerBook. As the poll said, it's one of the smallest *full-featured* laptops out there. (DVD burner, full complement of I/O and networking. Very lightweight and portable but with a completely usable/readable display.) It has the best of a PowerBook but in a package even smaller than an iBook.

[Ian_Bullock]

If anyone wants to join in on a "pismo vs new powerbooks" debate, try the "to all those with shiny new powerbooks" thread that I just set up. I'm trying to have a debate on the way apple's going with their new laptops. (I voted for the pismo)

[Dr.Michael]

I also voted for the Pismo (without any hesitation).

After I bought the 12 inch Alubook I thought maybe this one will make it to the best Apple Powerbook ever. But after 2.5 years with the Alubook I still think the Pismo was the best because of the extension bays and the sexy looks. It was simply cool and gave the most freedom and flexibility to the users.

[qnxde]

Can I ask, What's so good about the PB 170? What about the 160 or 165c or the 150 or the 145 or the 145b or the original, Sony manufactured 100?

[yoesh]

Can I ask, What's so good about the PB 170? What about the 160 or 165c or the 150 or the 145 or the 145b or the original, Sony manufactured 100?

well, the 100, 140, and 170 were the first powerbooks period, and their design improvements over the PC offerings really changed the way people thought of laptop computers (which may or may not be worth anything, depending on your perspective).

the 100 was cool b/c of its size (smallest powerbook until the 2400c, i think). the floppy (modern day CD) was external. so it was a true 1-spindle machine. the early trackball sucked, but the Sony design was great (much like many of the early apple/frog designs). It was slow, but for the day, it was okay (think 4 MB mac plus that sat on your lap).

the 170 was the first true desktop-type power (approx Mac IIci equivalent) in a laptop (albeit at 7+ lbs). however this type of design really didn't reach its peak until the 180/180c -- with their active matrix screens.

FWIW