Iconic PowerBook 540c Complete Restoration - iiiDIY

[@InitialiseDisk]

There’s something I just love about that series of Powerbooks. Probably the early active matrix colour displays.

[@BigBadBench]

Beautiful work as always! I'm looking forward to the new challenge. Thank you for giving me this machine!

[@mac27collection]

Apple was proud enough of these to include them in the historical montage of Apple laptops played during the 2016 MacBook Pro launch keynote, so I guess they agree they're not too bad looking!

[@iiidiy]

Nice! It's a shame to taint the reputation of the 540 by having it appear in a presentation for the dreaded 2016 😅

[@cjeelde]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3Kbp3d4jpuVedU At 29:40 in that video, that is Apple's October Special Event in 2016. At 29:47 I strongly believe we can see this 540c ⭐️ Tim Cook said it was the 25th anniversary for Apple'a first notebook: PowerBook (100 series, designed by Sony!!). But is that true? Wasn't Mac Portable a few years earlier the first Apple notebook? Sad that they never showed Mac Portable on that event! 25th anniversary was in october 2016. The 30th (Apple never did a thing about it) they announced MacBook Pro 14/16" Apple Silicon (late 2021). If the 1991 PowerBook was the start... I got some notebooks at home now: PowerBook G3 Pismo MacBook Pro CD 15" 2006 MacBook Pro 13" 2010 Unibody MacBook Pro 13" 2012 Unibody MacBook Pro 14" 2021 M1 Pro That 2016 Butterfly MBP with only dongle ports and touch bar and no magsafe was just crazy. One of the worst things ever by Apple. I love these older PowerBooks! The 3 digit models got 68k. 4 digits and G3-G4 means PPC. Anyways I've watched a lot of your videos and your channel is amazing! Hope for many more great projects and you deserve more like 700k subs than 700 subs or somthing like that!! ⭐️⭐️

[@mac27collection]

@@cjeelde No, the Macintosh Portable is not a "notebook". It was a "portable" or ""luggable" computer, which still used many standard parts from a desktop (like the 3.5" HDD). This is very different from a true "notebook", which packages the computer into a smaller, more ergonomic design - totally different class.

[@iiidiy]

Thanks for the thorough comment@@cjeelde! That's definitely a 500-series in the presentation - can't tell if it's a C model, but either way, cool! I agree with @mac27collection that the portable would be a different class, but I do think they are very closely related. The Mac Portable had a battery and was intended for "work on the go" using the best tech they had at the time - but that form factor *evolved* into what we call laptops now. The fact that it wasn't included in a release video doesn't mean Apple isn't proud of it -- I suspect that was a marketing decision. They were showing models that had a lot of "wow" factor when they were released, models that were very forward-looking (both for their time and in retrospectively). The Mac Portable would have stood out as bulky and clunky compared to the rest, just from a marketing or aesthetics perspective. The story there were telling wasn't just "look how far we've come" it was "look at how innovative we have always been". I'm not suggesting the Portable wasn't innovative, just that your average viewer might not know or appreciate those innovations, and would be caught off by the look of it. I could write another 5000-word essay about the 2016 MBP here, but won't :) I have a love-hate relationship with mine. Mostly hate... but I'll say that they were right about moving to USB-C/Thunderbolt, and that I miss having 4 ports that can do anything. Everything else about the new lineup is a major improvement though :) Thanks again for the comment, and tell all your nerd friends about the channel! That's how we'll someday get over 700! :)

[@cjeelde]

@@mac27collectionyeah the definition for "portable" and "notebook" is interesting. Mac Portable is portable in the same way as Mac 128k that got a handle and Apple made a travel bag for it and they showed it in an ad. Mac Portable is more like a notebook than Mac 128k is. Of course, with the built-in keyboard. Anyways, no matter if we're focusing on "notebook" or "portable" it would have been fun if Apple could have shown Mac Portable also, in the way that "2-3 years before the first notebook...". We also got the word "laptop". So we got these theee words: Portable Notebook Laptop Anyways the fact that 540c (?) was one of the portables in that marketing was nice! I rewatched it thanks to your comment and that was so nice! I still remember in july 1999 when Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller showed the first iBook with AirPort. That was an amazing show!

[@s8wc3]

Power bricks are not glued but ultrasonically welded. I usually get them apart with a thin hacksaw blade but since the seam on this one is curved just being persistent and careful with a sharp knife like you ended up doing is probably your best bet.

[@iiidiy]

Thanks for confirming this! Hopefully someone eventually creates "service-friendly" printable clones of these

[@GarthBeagle]

14:41 hahaa I had a feeling that's where it'd be going.. Nice work!

[@andrewrempt13]

First off, I love your videos. The captions, the thorough cleanings (what do you use to clean the cases?), just great stuff. I also have two 540c's. One has a cracked bottom case, but it's been thoroughly recapped. The other is an unknown quantity. Both boot, both run fine, but I want to do what you did and combine them. I'm still a novice, so I'll finish some other projects first, but thanks for the inspiration.

[@iiidiy]

Thank you so much! For cleaning products, it depends on the surface. IPA can be harsh on some plastics and especially rubbers, so I try to start with water or glass cleaner (though that too can be damaging sometimes). I'd say about 90% of the time it's glass cleaner and paper towels / swabs as a first pass, then water and microfibre towel for the fine pass. Good luck with the 540's!

[@TheBasementChannel]

Great video, I love the 540c, my favourite powerbook!

[@iiidiy]

Thanks! Agreed... I'm indecisive with favourites, but it's the 540c, Duo 2300, and G3 as my top 3... for now :)

[@TheBasementChannel]

@@iiidiy my TiBook certainly ranks top 3 for me. And probably my 280c to round off the list.

[@iiidiy]

@@TheBasementChannel Oh no... now your mention of the TiBook reminded me of the 12" G4 that forever HAS to be in my top-3... see? Indecision haha

[@RealOny]

Clean cinematography, I loved this video!

[@iiidiy]

Thank you!

[@AlanGrassia]

Awesome video! Glad to see that you got a nice 540c at the end of all this. And looking forward to the jank-tastic stream on the lesser 540c!

[@iiidiy]

Thanks Alan! I wonder what he'll do with it... headless, wooden 540? CRT 540? Fix the keyboard ribbon cable with nails?? Exciting stuff :)

[@AlanGrassia]

@@iiidiy So many possibilities. I’ll get an extra fire extinguisher.

[@aev-g8c]

The power brick is likely ultrasonically welded. One way to try to open these is by using the handle of a large screwdriver like a hammer and tap along the seam to crack the weld.

[@iiidiy]

Thanks for the tip!

[@jryankennedy12]

Loving these videos. Keep 'em coming!

[@iiidiy]

Thanks! More in the pipeline! :)

[@ajmoo]

Why do the two machines have two different boot chimes? I expected them to both sound like the chime at 10:53… The Mactracker app suggests the second machine might have a PPC chip in it??

[@iiidiy]

Good ear! Yes, one of them has a PPC upgrade - I hadn't noticed until after posting :)

[@ajmoo]

​@@iiidiy what a cool/lucky find!! I'm a little jealous 😍

[@achiu31]

Beautiful job. Only seeing your hands with no running commentary gives me "Red Dead Restoration" vibes; except it's computers and not watches. 🙂

[@iiidiy]

Thanks! I hadn't heard of them yet, but will check them out - I love quiet, calm restoration stuff! My biggest influences (aside from the computer repair folks) were "my mechanics" crossed with "Aging Wheels" and a pinch of "r/powerwashingporn" :)

[@Ven115]

I have a couple questions about this. I just got one at a thrift shop for 15 bucks and it has a bad screen and the store had to get rid of the hard drive. My questions are as followed. Where can I buy a replacement display? I cant find them anywhere, and my other question is what i need for a replacement hard drive? Please someone answer me.

[@iiidiy]

Congrats, that's a really great find! I don't know of a source for new replacement screens, so I would try getting a "parts" computer on your local classifieds or eBay. Chances are, you'll send more money on the parts computer than your thrift shop find though! For the hard drive, I would look into the BlueSCSI v2, which converts an SD card into a SCSI hard drive. You could get the "PowerBook" version to use internally, or get the "DB25" one and an HDI30 adapter to use it externally. Good luck!

[@Ven115]

@@iiidiy alright thank you! I managed to get the screen to work so all she needs is a drive.

[@kirishima638]

Baking powder?

[@iiidiy]

It combines with the super glue to create a stronger structure

[@kirishima638]

@@iiidiy oh!

[@investit4]

Those powerb. look amazeing condition , I seen far worse .You over did'it , with a toothbrush or paintbrush and R10 or G20 contact cleaner job would have been much easyer *you can spray that stuff evrywhere. I also have a Powerbook but it just won't boot of the IDE drive, Drive seems fine , I did a install on a G5 desktop,connected ide via usb, and all went well but when I pluged it back in the pb it just won't boot(no cd drive available). My screen also died /broke in safely stored/storeadge , just because of some temperature diffrences and not using it for a while (they have bad screens , you don't even need to dmg or brake the screen in order for it to brake).

[@iiidiy]

"over doing it" is kinda my thing :) Sorry to hear about your PowerBook - it's a shame to see these things deteriorate, even just sitting. Very true about those screens.

[@investit4]

@@iiidiy it seems , there is a fix , TheBasement posted a video about it.