PowerBook, as Apple's flagship notebook computer product, enjoys a very high reputation in the notebook industry. Not only does it have a very high status in the mind of MacFans, but Apple's notebook is a myth in the eyes of notebook manufacturers! Because Apple is an opponent they will never be able to figure out, you can only see his classics, and you can't guess its future. Every new product release of Apple's notebook in the past 15 years will set off waves in the market. Today, let the editor guide you, review the history of PowerBook, and review the legend of Apple notebooks for 15 years.
Ancestor of Mac Portable PowerBook 1989
The prototype of Apple's first-generation PowerBook notebook can be traced back to 1986. At that time, many people did not know what a computer was. At that time, Apple began to develop notebook computers in a forward-looking manner. The cover girl of MacUser magazine in November 1989, wearing a swimsuit, lying on the beach and enjoying the Mac Portable mobile office brings unlimited feelings. The cover of this magazine marks that Apple's notebook has entered the market, and Apple's first generation PowerBook--Mac Portable is born!
Mac Portable was released on September 20, 1989, when the price was as high as $ 7,300. Although it was a portable computer, it was not portable at all because of the computer manufacturing process at the time. The thickness of Mac Portable is 10.28cm, the length and width are 38.73cm and 37.67cm, and the overall weight is 16 ~ 17 pounds, which means that the weight of a Mac Portable is about 7.5 kg. It seems that "portable" must become a man at that time. Patent. Mac Portable is equipped with a 9.8-inch 640 × 480 pixel black and white “active matrix drive†LCD screen. The CPU uses Motorola's 68000, and the main frequency at that time was only 16MHz. The host is equipped with 1M of memory, users can expand to 9M (but the memory is a dedicated 30ns SRAM card, and the notebook has only one memory slot); 40M 3.5-inch hard drive, there is a Modem interface allows users to add a modem . An ADB interface is provided on the back of the host. A small numeric keyboard or a trackball can be installed, an 8-finger serial communication interface, and a SCSI communication interface. The entire notebook uses a 6V voltage 5Ah sealed lead-acid battery, which can be used for about 5 ~ 10 hours. At that time, the operating system supported by Mac Portable was 6.0.4 ~ 7.5.5.
Objectively speaking, the design of the Mac Portable was not very successful. First, a portable computer using the DOS operating system at the time was about 5 kg, and the weight of the Mac Portable reached 7.5 kg. Secondly, in order to pursue the battery life of the Mac Portable, Apple uses a sealed lead-acid battery. This battery structure is generally used in car batteries, and it is used on computers. It has brought many inconveniences to charging and use. Finally, because Mac Portable uses the most advanced computer technology at the time, the cost cannot be reduced, and the price of $ 7,300 makes it difficult for ordinary users to accept. Although Apple launched the Backlit version of the Mac Portable in February 1991, it only increased the memory to 2M and adjusted the memory type. On October 21, 1991, with the release of PowerBook 100 (Derringer), Mac Portable withdrew from the stage of history.
Derringer 1991
On October 21, 1991, Apple released its true PowerBook 100, and named it: Derringer (meaning a large mace that can be carried in a pocket. It still uses Motorola 16MHzr 68000CPU, 2M memory (up to Expand to 8M, use a special 100ns memory), 20M or 40M hard drive, it uses a 9-inch passive array black and white LCD screen, the display resolution is 640 × 400. The host is equipped with a Modem expansion interface, and a SCSI interface and a serial communication interface, the improved sealed lead-acid battery can be used for 2 ~ 4 hours. What is the most improved PowerBook 100, it is only 4.57cm thick, length and width are 27.94cm and 21.59cm respectively 2.3kg, only equivalent to one-third of Mac Portable.
It is not difficult to see that after drawing lessons from the price of Mac Portable, Apple chose a series of cost-control methods such as cheap passive array LCD panels and low-speed memory in the hardware selection of PowerBook 100, making the PowerBook 100 only 2500. US dollars.
As expected by Apple, the PowerBook 100 received rave reviews as soon as it was launched, with 400,000 units sold in a year, which was an astronomical figure at the time. At that time, many computer users loved it, and many people also used PowerBook 100 as an honor.
From the release of the PowerBook 100 in October 1991 to the discontinuation of the PowerBook 190cs in September 1996, a total of 13 models of the PowerBook 100 series were launched. The CPU was upgraded from 16MHz to 33MHz, the memory was upgraded to 8M, the hard disk capacity reached 500M, and the color 10.4-inch display. Dual PC-Card interface, PowerBook integrated the most advanced technology at the time, and maximized the efficiency of Motorola CPU. The success of the PowerBook 100 series has laid a solid foundation for the development of Apple notebooks, which can be said to be a milestone in Apple's development history. And since then, the name of PowerBook has also been used as a synonym for Apple's high-end notebooks and has been used to this day.
PowerBook Duo pursues avant-garde series 1992
In October 1992, Apple introduced the PowerBook Duo based on Motorola 68030CPU. Duo and PowerBook 160 were released at the same time, and they all used 68030, which is no coincidence, because Duo is like its name and PowerBook is another branch of the series. Apple developed Duo to meet the needs of the fashionable and avant-garde family and is designed for consumer users.
PowerBook Duo 210 uses 25MHz 68030CPU, 230 uses 30MHz 68030CPU, both models are equipped with 68882 FPU, built-in 4M memory, can be expanded up to 24M, 80M hard drive, 4-bit black and white passive array display can be on The resolution of 640 × 400, the biggest feature is that the thickness of the notebook is reduced to 3.55cm, the width and length are 27.69cm and 21.59cm respectively, and the weight is reduced to 1.9. kg. The price of Duo 210 is 2250 US dollars, while the price of Duo 230 is 2610 US dollars.
The biggest feature of the PowerBook Duo is its light design. Since Duo has the highest configuration of each product at the time, Apple called it "BOB W" or Best Of Both Workds. One year after the Duo 210 went public, Apple quickly launched the 280 and 280C in 1993. The PowerBook Duo 2300c released on August 28, 1995 was Apple ’s only notebook with a PowerPC CPU and the last PowerBook Duo series. The notebook computer released, Duo 2300C's CPU uses PowerPC 603e with 100MHz frequency, and the highest configuration is 56M memory, which can support 1.1G hard disk. Although equipped with a 9.5-inch color "active matrix drive" LCD screen, the size of the notebook is almost the same as the first generation Duo, and the weight is only about 2.17kg.
The PowerBook Duo series itself is very powerful, and the body design is excellent. Unfortunately, no matter how fast the notebook is, it ca n’t exceed the speed of the desktop computer, and the price is so expensive that Duo ’s sales are not ideal. Withdrew from Apple's historical stage in 1996.
Blackbird's epiphany 1994
Apple has been using Motorola's 68030 series CPUs since PowerBook 140, which is also the series with the most models of notebook products released by Apple. A total of 10 notebooks have been released from PowerBook 140 to PowerBook 180, and four PowerBook Duo have also been released during this period. New series of notebooks. So when Apple will adopt 68040 CPU from 1994, a new series was born, that is Blackdird.
On May 16, 1994, Apple released the latest Blackdird series of notebooks, which include PowerBook 520, PowerBook 520C, PowerBook 540, PowerBook 540C. The PowerBook 520 inherits the technology and design of the previous generation PowerBook 170. It uses Motorola ’s latest 25MHz 68040 processor, 4M memory, 512K video memory, and 240M hard drive. The PowerBook 520 adds 12 F functions to the notebook keyboard. Key, and replaced the previous trackball with a new mouse touchpad. It uses a 9.5-inch 4-digit display with a resolution of 640 × 480. For the first time, a 16-bit stereo speaker is designed on the machine cover, and an Ethernet card is built in. In terms of batteries, it uses a dual battery interface, so that the two batteries can work continuously for 4 hours, and the weight is only 3.2kg. The PowerBook 520C replaces the display with a two-line scanning 8-bit color screen based on the 520, and the hard disk is increased to 320M. The PowerBook 540 is equipped with a 68040 processor at 33MHz, and the PowerBook 540C replaces the hard drive with 500M on the basis of 540, and is equipped with an 8-bit color display. Such a high-end notebook computer was sold for a price of $ 4,840 at the time. Now enough to buy four ordinary laptops.
Apple's Blackbird series hits all competitors with its powerful processing capabilities and the introduction of multimedia concepts. In 1995, Apple Note 1 had a strong sales head, and Apple changed the processor from 68040 to PowerPC. So Blackbird has since withdrawn from the stage of history.
PowerBook 5300 Shadow in Apple History 1995
Apple wanted to use the PowerBook 603e processor to develop a new product line in 1995, and the 5300 was born in this context.
The PowerBook 5300 was released on March 25, 1995. At that time, the price reached 6500 US dollars. From the price, it can be seen that the 5300 is a high-end product at that time. It uses the latest 100 or 117MHz PowerPC 603e processor, 32M memory, It can be upgraded to a maximum of 64M, supports a hard disk of up to 1.1G, two PC Card slots, uses a 10.4-inch color display, and is equipped with a professional display card. The thickness is 5cm, the length and width are 29.21cm and 21.59cm respectively. Due to the use of lithium batteries, the weight is only 2.9kg. It can be seen that Apple had high hopes for the 5300. They wanted to use the 5300 series to develop a larger market. However, contrary to expectations, the 5300 not only failed to gain popularity, but also brought unprecedented disaster to Apple.
"The success of Xiao He, and the defeat of Xiao He" due to the use of immature lithium batteries, so that the 5300 will be a lot of problems as soon as it goes to market, this kind of battery will even burn when used. In order to solve this problem, Apple had to replace the 5300 with nickel-metal hydride batteries. However, some problems caused by the design still plagued 5300 users. Apple was hit on the PowerPC603e! The company had to stop the 5300 series and recall all the problem machines, for which Apple paid at least $ 500 million.
PowerBook 1400 painfully thought 1996
The failure of the 5300 slowed down the pace of Apple ’s notebook development. After a year of redesign and preparation, Apple launched the PowerBook 1400 on October 1, 1996, and the first time the optical drive was built into the notebook until 1997 Until the release of the PowerBook 2400 and 3400 in May, Apple launched three notebooks based on the PowerPC603e processor.
As mature PowerPC processor models, 1400/2400/3400 performance is very stable, different configurations make them cover different consumer markets, to the greatest extent meet the needs of various consumers. Among them, the PowerBook 2400C weighs only 1.99kg and is by far the lightest PowerBook. Among them, the highest configuration PowerBook 3400 has a 240MHz CPU, 40MHz bus width, 16M memory (up to 144M), 256K secondary cache, 1M video memory , The maximum hard disk capacity of 3G, 12X optical drive and 12.1-inch color 800 × 600 display, which can be considered a fever-level configuration at the time.
The market response of PowerBook1400 / 2400/3400 is very good, and the sales volume is gradually increasing. Consumers have also slowly forgotten the negative impact of 5300. Apple finally came out of the shadow of the 5300 incident.
PowerBook G3 "big black book" to create brilliant 1997
In early 1997, the success of PowerBook 2400 and 3400 laid a good foundation for Apple's notebook market. And consumers are more and more fond of high-configuration and high-performance models, and the sales of high-configuration machines are getting better and better. So on November 10, 1997, Apple introduced the PowerBook G3, the most powerful laptop at the time.
G3 is a new generation of classic models developed on the basis of PowerBook 3400. It uses 250MHz PowerPC750 processor, 50MHz system bus, up to 160M EDO memory, 512K L2 cache at 10MHz operating frequency, 2M video memory, 5G EIDE hard drive, 20x speed removable optical drive, built-in network card and modem, and designed an infrared interface with a transmission rate of 1Mbps, two PCCard expansion slots, a 12.1-inch 16-bit 800 × 600 color display, the battery can work continuously for 2 hours .
Due to the built-in optical drive and large screen, the body and weight of the notebook have increased. The PowerBook G3 has a thickness of 6.09cm, length and width of 29.21cm and 24.13cm, and weighs about 3.3kg.
As expected by Apple's market, the PowerBook G3 received rave reviews as soon as it came out. And from the inside of Apple, Steve Jobs became Apple's iCEO on September 16, 1997. The Apple legend returned to Apple's hometown and immediately released G3, which also shows that G3 was an ace of Apple at that time. . In 1998, Apple finally came out of the trough and regained profits. In the first fiscal quarter of 1998, the income was 47 million US dollars.
In the next two years, Apple will continue to upgrade and innovate on the PowerBook G3 platform until the PowerBook G3 series of models launched a total of five in 2000. The PowerBook Duo (pismo), which finally came out in 2000, used 500MHz PowerPC 750 as the CPU, the system bus reached 100MHz, 128M memory, 1M secondary cache, equipped with ATI Rage Mobility 128 graphics card, 10G DMA-66 hard drive, 14.1 inch 1024 × 768 display screen, 2x DVD drive, built-in 100M network card and modem, and the “FireWire†interface was first used in “Pismo†to replace the SCSI interface that has been used in the past, so that the laptop can not only connect to “FireWire†External ink hard disk, and can be easily connected to various DV digital devices, and supports AirPort wireless networking, the entire notebook is only 2.8kg, the size is 26.4 × 32.3 × 4.3cm, the price was 2499 ~ 3499 US dollars.
PowerBook's entry into the Chinese market was also started by the PowerBook G3. Xiaobian personally feels that it is Apple's first notebook with excellent mobility, performance, and functionality. Even four years later, you can still see someone using it. Written by "Big Black Book" G3.
PowerBook Titanium "Hot Pot Machine" 2001
On January 9, 2001, Apple introduced the latest generation of PowerBook G4 (Titanium). Because the new generation of G4 uses titanium as the shell of the notebook, it got the name "titanium", which uses 400MHz PowerPC As a processor, the 7410 changed the traditional optical drive into a DVD-ROM with a slot-in design. Although it is equipped with a 15.2-inch 16: 9 wide-screen display, the body is only 2.6cm thick and weighs only 2.3kg. G4 does not build from the running speed or design can be said to be a leap. So that when you see it for the first time, you will have a feeling of suffocation. Even today's lightest PC similar laptops have about 2.8kg. It can be said that the titanium G4 created the world's most at that time.
In October of the same year, Titanium Gold was upgraded for the first time. A Gigabit network card was installed at the request of the majority of users, and the PowerPC 7450 processor was used. The graphics card also replaced the stronger ATI 7500, and it was also equipped with a COMBO optical drive.
After three minor upgrades, Apple added a DVI digital interface to the new version of "Titanium Gold" on April 29, 2002, and fully positioned the PowerBook G4 as a dedicated product in the field of video and graphic design. On November 6, Apple released the last notebook in the "Titanium" series, which has built-in the long-awaited suction SuperDrive, which can read DVDs 8 times and burn DVDs 2 times. It can be said that it is a boon, and you will never worry about the insufficient hard disk capacity. It uses a 1GHz CPU, and the graphics card uses the most advanced ATI 9000 graphics card at that time. Since then, "titanium" has established Apple's position in the video and graphic design industry and has become the first choice in the design field.
However, "Titanium Gold" also brings a lot of troubles after adopting high-speed CPU. The biggest problem is that the overheated CPU will transfer the heat to the entire computer shell, so domestic users have made a sound of "Titanium Gold" G4. Nicknamed "Hot Pot Machine". Moreover, because most of the "Titanium" G4 chassis is made of 99.95% titanium, and the surface of the titanium metal does not have good adsorption to the paint, the surface of the "Titanium" G4 will partially lose paint after a long period of use. . This makes Apple abandon titanium metal in the design of the shell and use aluminum alloy materials for aircraft. Since then Apple's "plane" was born.
"Aircraft" will let you fly fast 2003
On January 7, 2003, Apple introduced two new PowerBook G4s, the PowerBook G4 (12) with a 12-inch display and the PowerBook G4 (17) with a 17-inch display. Both machines use aluminum alloy casing, built-in Bluetooth and wireless AirPort Extreme (IEEE802.11g standard), 1GHz G4 processor, 133MHz system bus, 256M memory, 40G4200 to ATA100 hard drive, and installed the latest nVidia G3Force4 420 graphics card And slotted SuperDrive.
The shell of the new version of G4 uses aluminum alloy materials for aircraft, so the hardness is very high, and because this synthetic metal has good castability and flexibility, it can be processed into a thickness without ensuring its hardness. To 1 mm aluminum sheet, which greatly reduces the weight of the fuselage. So that although the "aircraft" series has examples of all the current advanced technology, the weight of the 12-inch G4 is only 2.1kg, and the 17-inch G4 is only 3.1kg, which can be said to have created the world's volume again. Domestic users call the 12-inch small PowerBook G4 affectionately as "small aircraft", while the 17-inch PowerBook G4 is called "large aircraft."
After that, Apple continued to upgrade the PowerBook G4, adding Firewire 800 interface and USB2.0 interface ... On September 16, 2003, Apple introduced the PowerBook G4 15-inch notebook (medium aircraft), and its release Officially ended the historical mission of the old titanium G4 notebook.
The new version of the PowerBook G4 (15) not only completely adopts the appearance design of the new PowerBook aluminum series, but also changes the screen hinge that was not strong enough to the latest L-shaped design. It is also equipped with only "big aircraft". Adaptive backlit keyboard. At this point, the PowerBook G4 product line is complete, and the configuration of the three large, medium and small notebooks is also from high to low. Whether it is high-end processing or ordinary applications, you will have a satisfactory choice.
In June 2004, Apple introduced the latest "airplane" series of notebooks, 15-inch and 17-inch PowerBook G4 are currently equipped with up to 1.5GHz PowerPC G4 processor, and through the ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 graphics processor provides amazing Graphics performance. For customers who need the highest graphics performance, the 1.5GHz 15-inch and 17-inch PowerBooks can now be customized with up to 128MB of graphics memory.
The new 12-inch PowerBook G4 is equipped with a 1.33 GHz PowerPC processor, an NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 graphics card with 64MB of dedicated video memory, and a larger 60GB Uitra ATA hard drive. And all new PowerBook G4 laptops include Apple ’s award-winning digital lifestyle application suite iLife'04, including iTunes for managing digital music, iPhoto for organizing and sharing digital photos, and digital movie production. iMovie, iDVD for making and burning Hollywood-style movies, and the innovative music application GarageBand--can transform Mac into a professional-quality instrument and recording studio.
The current high-end "small aircraft" is priced at RMB 17,900, the high-end "medium aircraft" is priced at RMB 24,900, and the "large aircraft" is priced at RMB 27,900.
PowerBook G5 Rhapsody 2005
At present, Apple's Power Mac G5 has been on the market for more than a year. With the 64-bit PowerPC 970 processor and the latest system bus, it has become a leader in desktop workstations. It has amazing performances in many aspects such as multimedia, graphics, and images. Will Apple install the G5 processor in the next generation of PowerBook notebooks? We can't speculate on this.
However, if the G5 processor is really used, its heat dissipation will become a new problem. It is estimated that the most popular liquid cooling system has been placed on the workbench of Apple R & D personnel. Apple is the perfect combination of technology and art. We have no way of guessing what the new generation of PowerBook will look like. However, looking at the development history of PowerBook in the past 15 years, each generation of its products and each series will make people feel refreshing. Knowing that the next generation of PowerBook must be better than the current one and better than the current one.
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