Certainly one of Apple’s hottest collection of transportable computer systems celebrates its thirtieth anniversary this month. It was once an leading edge software in some many ways in which nonetheless cling up nowadays.
It had 16-bit sound. It had a trackpad — now a staple of just about each notebook computer. It had an ethernet port to allow high-speed connectivity. It even had famous person endorsements in its TV advertisements. It was once a phenomenon. A pricey phenomenon. However one none the fewer.
On the high-end it was once priced at about $4,500. Thirty years later, the ones costs would equate to $9,483. It wasn’t an inexpensive pc, however consistent with Cult of Mac, it was once a “triumph on each stage” and “full of leading edge options.”
We are speaking in regards to the PowerBook 500 collection, first introduced on Would possibly 16, 1994, with the PowerBook 540c, a laptop pc deemed by way of many as the most productive pc to be had on the time, with an abruptly excessive call for that ended in shortages post-launch.
Whilst the PowerBook 540c was once wildly dear in 1994, and its specifications faded in comparison to fashionable laptops, the 540c type was once a pioneering piece of generation that opened the door for inventions that may come within the many years to observe.
It prepared the ground for nowadays’s MacBooks by way of debuting many industry-first and PowerBook-first options.
Cutting edge specifications and contours of Apple’s PowerBook 540c in 1994
Within the pc {industry}, the PowerBook 540c was once the primary to characteristic audio system with 16-bit stereo sound, a trackpad, an Ethernet port by way of AAUI, and “clever” NiMH batteries with on-board circuitry to observe the battery’s well being.
And for the PowerBook line particularly, the 540c was once the primary type to be supplied with a 33MHz Motorola 68LC040 CPU, which Cult of Mac says made it “impressively speedy,” with speeds “80% quicker than the speediest earlier PowerBook” in benchmark exams.
Whilst its rapid 68LC040 CPU and four – 36 MB of RAM facilitated superb efficiency, the 540c’s shining characteristic was once its 16-bit transportable show, every other global first, consistent with Cult of Mac.
Apple claimed on the time that it “might be the best display screen to ever grace a laptop pc,” with its 640 x 400 answer and the active-matrix show in a position to turn 1000’s of colours immediately, that was once most definitely a spot-on declare.
The 540c was once additionally the primary PowerBook to debut a full-size keyboard with serve as keys, two battery bays, and its CPU on a daughtercard, which allowed for PowerPC and 68040 upgrades. Inside of, it packed a whopping 160 – 750 MB of cupboard space and ran on Mac OS 7.1.1 out of the field.
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In spite of being virtually 30, the 540c nonetheless has devoted enthusiasts nowadays.
3 years in the past, @CraigLearmont posted his PowerBook 540c on r/Antique Apple, which continues to be practical and working Mac OS 8.1 with a Giant Sur desktop.
Redditor @MrFahrenheit_451 commented that additionally they had one, and it was once “actually excellent for 68k-specific apps and video games.”
By the point the road was once discontinued, virtually 600,000 PowerBook 500 collection devices have been produced, double that of the former PowerBook 5300 collection. The 540c was once formally discontinued on April 1, 1996, and succeeded by way of the PowerBook 190, however a lot of its options live to tell the tale in fashionable MacBooks.
How Apple’s PowerBook 540c presentations up in fashionable MacBooks
The similar ambition we noticed from Apple when developing the 540c continues to be found in 2023 MacBooks.
Apple’s fresh MacBooks are lacking the Ethernet port that debuted at the 540c. Then again, nowadays’s MacBooks are nonetheless supplied with trackpads and stereo audio system, albeit with many upgrades, like haptic comments, gestures, and higher-quality speaker {hardware} and device.
Whilst fashionable MacBooks obviously outpace the PowerBook 540c with regards to specifications—with a higher-res show, a a lot more robust processor, and extra RAM and garage—the similar ambition we noticed from Apple when developing the 540c continues to be found in 2023 MacBooks.
Fashionable MacBooks proceed to provoke with {industry} firsts, like Apple’s Silicon chips, and mythical options like insanely lengthy battery existence and crisp, colourful Liquid Retina XDR shows. Thiry years from now, when Redditors are dissecting how neatly Apple’s 2023 Macs held up, one wonders if they will be nonetheless be the usage of the PowerBook 540c as a measuring stick for innovation
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