Might 8, 1997: Apple launches the PowerBook 2400c laptop computer, a 4.4-pound “subnotebook” that’s the MacBook Air of its day.
The PowerBook 2400c predicts the rise of speedy, light-weight notebooks, whereas additionally paying tribute to Apple’s previous. Its design echoes the unique PowerBook 100. Even years later, it stays a cult favourite amongst many Mac customers.
PowerBook 2400c: Impressively skinny, impressively {powerful}
Right this moment, a 4.4-pound laptop computer doesn’t sound significantly spectacular. The trendy MacBook Air weighs lower than 3 kilos, making the PowerBook 2400c appear chunky by comparability. Nevertheless, it got here in at about half the burden of most laptops within the late Nineteen Nineties. That made it a formidable engineering feat from Apple.
Regardless of its skinny profile, the PowerBook 2400c proved surprisingly {powerful}. Manufactured by Apple’s previous rival IBM, it got here with PCI-based structure with a 180 MHz PowerPC 603e processor and 256KB of Stage 2 cache. This allowed it to run the usual enterprise functions of the time nearly in addition to Apple’s more-powerful PowerBook 3400c.
And that software program appeared good on the pc’s 800×600, 10.4-inch lively matrix TFT show. The graphics had been a step above what many laptops provided on the time.
The PowerBook 2400c additionally boasted a 1.3GB IDE arduous drive and 16MB of RAM (expandable to 48MB). The laptop computer’s lithium-ion battery delivered two to 4 hours of use between prices.
Loads of ports and expandability
The PowerBook 2400c got here with an honest array of ports, too, together with one Apple Desktop Bus, one serial port, one audio out, one audio in and one HD1–30 SCSI connection, together with the onboard Mini–15 show connector.
It additionally packed two Sort I/II PC Card slots and the choice for a double-high Sort III PC card for added expandability.
Later, when different Apple laptops of the period grew to become outdated, this stage of expandability gave customers entry to every little thing from USB and FireWire to Ethernet and wi-fi networking.
… however no CD-ROM or built-in floppy drive
As with every light-weight laptop computer, nonetheless, Apple made some compromises. To attain the PowerBook 2400c’s skinny kind issue, Apple ditched the CD-ROM drive and inner floppy drive. Nevertheless, the laptop computer got here with an exterior floppy.
Nonetheless, the extent of expandability made the PowerBook 2400c a pc that lived nicely past a couple of years. It got here preloaded with the popular Mac OS 8, however with the right modifications, it might run something from System 7 to 2002’s Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. Apple’s first skinny laptop computer was significantly well-liked in Japan, the place individuals favored light-weight laptops lengthy earlier than Western customers did.
Steve Jobs kills the PowerBook 2400c
Sadly, this skinny and lightweight laptop computer didn’t survive the wrath of Steve Jobs. When he returned to Apple in 1997 and subsequently assumed full management (he took over as interim CEO simply two months after the PowerBook 2400c was launched), he started scrapping projects to streamline Apple’s choices.
By the next yr, Apple had simply 4 main merchandise: the iMac, the Power Macintosh G3 and the PowerBook G3 series laptops. Jobs kicked the PowerBook 2400c to the curb in March 1998.
Do you keep in mind Apple’s first thin-and-light laptop computer? Go away your feedback under.