My Mac Portables *together* [7 pics]

[WardC]

I thought I would take some photos of both of my portables together. I have a M5120 and an M5126 (backlit). You can see them running side-by-side off the rebuilt batteries displaying the classic "hello" logo. Enjoy!!!

 

[max¥¥]

Sweet macs, how much did they cost you?

 

[WardC]

Sweet macs, how much did they cost you?

I believe I paid $299 for the M5120 and $399 for the M5126. I got them both on eBay.

 

[max¥¥]

I wish I had a working classic mac, I have a mac plus but it dosen't work

 

[Archon Gold]

You should get a picture of them running beside your Mac Pro, that would be a pretty interesting picture.

 

[WardC]

Both units are clean and run perfectly. I have System 6.0.4 running on the M5120 (non-backlit) with MacPaint installed. I have System 7.0 running on the M5126 (backlit) with ClarisWorks installed. That's how I drew the "hello" logos for both of them. They are fun units to play with and functional to a bit. They can draw, crunch numbers, word process, and print. They can't operate on the internet unless you tried running a 68k version of old Netscape on the System 7 and connected using an external modem. Neither one has ethernet and neither will support the modern AirPort WiFi. They aren't very efficient machines for internet use. I just collect these older Macs and they are in my collection. I take them out for display every once in awhile and I have taken them to my Mac Usergroup meetings. They get a kick out of these older Mac Portables running perfectly. There is a company called NiCd lady that will recondition the batteries and install new gel lead acid cells in the batteries if you pay them and pay for shipping. That's how I got one of my batteries reconditioned. The other one came to me reconditioned.

I had a scare the other night, I plugged my M5120 in to power with the battery installed and got NOTHING. I assumed the battery was 100% depleted. I left it connected for 2 days and last night I heard this noise. The Portable had turned itself on!!! I let it charge overnight and we are a-ok now, the battery is holding a good charge. I have learned you never store the machines with the battery in the bay, you ALWAYS take the battery out when you are done messing with the unit. THe battery can drain if it's in the bay and stored for a significant amount of time. Then you have ZERO power and can not even start the machine. I learned the hard way.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Not to hijack your thread or anything (nice machines, by the way!)

Here's a picture of my "first of breed" machines lined up:

Portable (first battery powered self-contained Mac, first 68k "portable".)
5300ce (first PowerPC portable Mac.)
MacBook Pro (first Intel portable Mac.)

I could have put a 100 or 170 in there, too, but the Portable covers the 68k line to me. Sadly, while the Portable worked when that picture was taken, it is nonfunctional now. Dead battery.

I need to get myself a Core Duo iMac so I'll have one of each of the "first of breed" desktop Macs, too...

 

[dmr727]

They can't operate on the internet unless you tried running a 68k version of old Netscape on the System 7 and connected using an external modem.

I never run a browser on my 68K Macs, but I'll do Telnet and FTP. You could always get an SCSI->Ethernet adapter, but my preferred method for internet connectivity is to use IPNetRouter to bridge TCP/IP over Appletalk. I use a Quadra 700 for this, and it works great. Obviously Appletalk isn't exactly fast, but neither are any of the Macs, and for text it's fine. I used to play old Infocom games via Telnet on my Mac Plus, but I think the lawyers made the server disappear some time ago. Good times, though!

I could have put a 100 or 170 in there, too, but the Portable covers the 68k line to me.

I would have put the 170 in there. The Portable was impressive, but the 1xx series Powerbooks changed everything. Kind of like how the smartphone market really took off after the iPhone - the Powerbook 100/140/170 release forced the entire laptop market to another level. I'm a little biased because the 170 is one of my favorite Macs 🙂p), but I really believe that - other than the Apple II and the original Macintosh - the first trio of Powerbooks were the most groundbreaking computers ever released by Apple.

 

[gkarris]

I believe I paid $299 for the M5120 and $399 for the M5126. I got them both on eBay.

WOW - too rich for my blood... 🙁

Where I used to work, I remember shipping them away for recycling when we got the "new" 170's... 😱

 

[Theclamshell]

Mine does not work. I have plugged it in and it shows lines in the screen. I have heard that the original charger is too weak to power it properly. If i bought the powerbook 100 series charger do you think it would work?

 

[WardC]

Mine does not work. I have plugged it in and it shows lines in the screen. I have heard that the original charger is too weak to power it properly. If i bought the powerbook 100 series charger do you think it would work?

THe battery has to have juice in it to startup the computer. My last episode I had my M5120 portable hooked up to power for 3 days with a dead battery. THen it magically came on!!! The battery slowly charged and it was able to boot...THank God my battery is not completely dead!

 

[mtbdudex]

Hey Ward, thx for posting the picts, great memories!