PowerBook 5300

The PowerBook 5300 series was the first generation of portable computers from Apple, with a PowerPC processor and was released in August 1995. Despite their attractive properties they have acquired through a series of breakdowns of the first models the reputation as one of the worst Apple products of all time.

There were four models of the 5300, 5300ce by low grayscale model 5300 to high resolution TFT Model:

As housing was the compact and tools expandable chassis of the PowerBook 190, common to all was the high expandability with up to 64 MB of RAM, two PCMCIA slots, SCSI, ADB and infrared interface, a module bay (there were, among others modules with floppy, ZIP drive, MO drive or built-in power supply) and an internal expansion slot for which there were about a module with Ethernet and a video card for an external display in dual-monitor mode.

The technical progressiveness ( other notebooks then had Pentium processors with up to 75 MHz or even 486 CPUs, interchangeable modules, high RAM equipment and TFT resolutions above 640x480 were hardly affordable rarities ) this PowerBook series was but from the margins of the first devices overshadowed. The originally planned, supplied by Sony lithium -ion batteries went partly on fire and had to be replaced by Ni-MH batteries; many devices were already on the conveyor broken ( Dead On Arrival), and there were problems with various components that Apple had to fix by far beyond the warranty period extended repair program.

Although improvements could fix all the problems of the 5300 series and many devices thanks to their expandability often stayed until well after the year 2000 with the task, the reputation of the series has never recovered. Already in October 1996, Apple introduced with the 1400 series successor, even though they went out in almost any way via the laws of the 5300 - series standards ( most notable is probably the CD -ROM drive ). The 3400 series in February 1997, the compatibility with the 5300 modules back on, had except DMA capability and slightly faster CPUs still no major innovations to offer but.

Thus, the PowerBook 5300 as an example of how margins in the introduction can affect the reputation of a product ( and in some cases the entire company ) to far above their removal beyond.