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PowerBook 1400cs/166

H

Happytodd

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 19, 2010
154
6
I need some feedback please,

I have the privilege of buying one of these PowerBooks for approximately $200AUD, what has appealed me to it is the fact it comes with the original Apple carry case and some of the booklets. The battery no longer works, and doesn't come with the OS discs to do a restore, but the PowerBook still boots up when connected to a power source.

Doing some quick research it seems as though these old PowerBooks hold much value anymore. What are people's opinions on these older devices?

Thanks!
 
MikeatOSX said:
The 1400c PowerBooks have active matrix displays - much better, cs only passive matrix.
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Very interesting to know, I honestly don't know much about the older devices, but they definitely do fascinate me. I have attached a photo of everything that comes included. What would one pay for something like this? Am I crazy for around $200? The PowerBook does have a number on the back written in permanent texter. No other obvious signs of damage though!
 

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The transparent PowerBook cover with the _complete_ set of BookCovers as pictured are _very_ hard to find.
Look on the hinge area on the outer case: if there are very thin cracks visible, the hinges fixation inside will break soon, beyond repair.
And when you ever look at a 1400c display, you won't like the 1400cs passive matrix display any longer. :)
I have four PowerBooks 1400c - two of them with accelerator cards
http://www.everymac.com/upgrade_cards/by_system/powerbook_1400.html
and two PowerBooks 1400cs, which I bought cheaply because of the included accessories.
 
It really depends on the market around you. I bought a couple in the UK, one CS, one C and a G3 updated model from Germany. All came with the coloured BookCovers and two came with bags, booklets, CD drives and restore media. The German model even came with some extra third party software thrown in plus a SCSI adapter. I think I paid €34 for the German laptop after a contested auction and it was far more expensive than the other two. I would only consider the equivalent of A$200 locally if the laptop were pristine with original packaging - purely as a collector's item rather than something to tinker with but as said, these may be harder to come by closer to you.

MikeatOSX has some good advice. The plastics used in this model were far too fragile and very prone to cracking around the hinges - usually a sign of too tight hinges and ditto on the CS screens. They weren't the best in their class and I would definitely pay extra for the TFT screen if given a choice. The CD drive is unreliable but is cheap to replace with bare Teac drives. RAM takes the form of proprietary modules that can be stacked up to 64MB. These are hard to find and not cheap when you do. On the positive side, the keyboard is rated by many as Apple's best in a notebook.
 
weckart said:
It really depends on the market around you. I bought a couple in the UK, one CS, one C and a G3 updated model from Germany. All came with the coloured BookCovers and two came with bags, booklets, CD drives and restore media. The German model even came with some extra third party software thrown in plus a SCSI adapter. I think I paid €34 for the German laptop after a contested auction and it was far more expensive than the other two. I would only consider the equivalent of A$200 locally if the laptop were pristine with original packaging - purely as a collector's item rather than something to tinker with but as said, these may be harder to come by closer to you.

MikeatOSX has some good advice. The plastics used in this model were far too fragile and very prone to cracking around the hinges - usually a sign of too tight hinges and ditto on the CS screens. They weren't the best in their class and I would definitely pay extra for the TFT screen if given a choice. The CD drive is unreliable but is cheap to replace with bare Teac drives. RAM takes the form of proprietary modules that can be stacked up to 64MB. These are hard to find and not cheap when you do. On the positive side, the keyboard is rated by many as Apple's best in a notebook.
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Thanks again for your feedback, I know I paid to much for it, but I bought it anyway. To be honest it wasn't something I was actively looking for, but given the opportunity as I have not seen one on a online marketplace. More so to play around with. I do hope I find better quality computers in the near future! :)
 
Received my PowerBook today, also bought and received an iPod Mini on the same day as well. The PowerBook has been great fun, and was excited the moment I opened up the box. I'm now hooked and constantly looking at other vintage products by Apple online! :D
 

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MacTech68 said:
Bitten by the bug. Congratulations !

:)
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Indeed, as soon as I plugged in the power you could hear the nostalgic chime as the PowerBook booted up.
I do see you are from Perth. Do you find it difficult finding the older items around the place in Australia? Where do you look?
 
Mostly eBay, but I tend to look for local pickup only, since prices will generally be low. You have to be patient and I have automatic searches with email notifications for specific rare items.

But I was lucky enough to get a truck-load from my old workplace donkey's years ago. :)
 
Congrats!!! Brings a lot of great old memories back. This is the first computer that I started with. Great machine.
 
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