laptop by Apple

The PowerBook 100 was a big step forward from the Mac Portable . First and foremost, it was just one-third as heavy at 5.1 pounds. Secondly, it was several thousand dollars less expensive.

The weight reduction was accomplished by using lighter plastics, eliminating the internal floppy drive, and using a smaller (2 hour, 7V) lead-acid battery. Cost savings were achieved by eliminating the internal floppy drive (a $200 accessory), using a physically smaller hard drive (20 MB 2.5″), building around a 9″ (640 x 400 1-bit) passive-matrix screen, and having Sony manufacture it. (Sony designed the 100 by starting with the Mac Portable and reducing the size and weight of components as much as possible.)

Although the PowerBook 100 uses a standard 2.5″ SCSI hard drive, there just isn’t room for a 2.5″ IDE drive plus a SCSI-to-IDE adapter (the solution for most SCSI PowerBooks). You can only use a real SCSI hard drive in the PB 100.

Specs (via Low End Mac)

• Cpu: 16 MHz 68HC000
• Ram: 2 MB, expandable to 8 MB using a special 100ns pseudostatic RAM card
• Rom: 256 KB
• Hard Drive: 20, 40, or 80 MB
• Floppy Drive: external 1.4 MB drive with proprietary connector
• Display: 9″ 1-bit 640 x 400 84 ppi passive-matrix
• Addressing: 24-bit only
• Gestalt Id: 24
• Code Name: Derringer, Rosebud
• Adb Ports: 1 for keyboard and mouse
• Pram Battery: 3 CR-2430
• Weight: 5.1 pounds
• Serial Ports: 1 DIN-8 RS-422 port on back of computer
• Scsi Ports: HDI30 connector on back of computer
• Battery: 7V lead-acid battery, unique to PB 100
• Ac Adapter: 7.5V, 1.5 A nominal
• Power Supply: M5140 – 15W, 2 amps
• See: Online resources and links for the PowerBook 100