Retro Mac CPU Upgrade: Putting the "Power" in PowerBook!

Apple's products these days have more or less become impossible to upgrade. But it wasn't always that way, as this mid-90s Mac PowerBook 540c demonstrates.
Sources:
540c PPC sticker image: paizhang.info/wp-content/uplo...
"PowerPC Portables," Macworld, November 1995.
MacUser, May 1997.
NUpowr upgrade card photo: www.sekaimon.com/itemdetail/2...
In-box NUpowr upgrade photo: www.ebay.com/itm/203165067257
"New & Notable," MacUser, May 1997.
SeeWorld MonsterDrive page, 1997: web.archive.org/web/199703272...
FWB Hard Disk Toolkit CD-ROM photo: archive.org/details/Hard_Disk...
Quadra 605 photo: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
PowerPC Upgrade Card photo: wiki.preterhuman.net/File:500...
"More PowerBook 5300 Woes," Macworld, February 1996.
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Music by
Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com) and Lakey Inspired ( / lakeyinspired .
Intro music by BoxCat Games (www.box-cat.com).

[@TheBasementChannel]

Colin: “The machine needed to be taken apart” Everyone: “yay!”

[@brockenconsole8678]

Nuuuu

[@LuisMercadoorg]

Your narration is always top notch. Particularly the last minutes are great story telling.

[@Eyetrauma]

11:50 There’s something so appealing about the chunkiness of a low resolution but still active matrix display.

[@fabiosarts]

Yeah, it happened to me when using really old phones, with resolutions even lower than 200x320

[@Stryder_The_Nite_Owl]

This is a great, thorough video. One tidbit: the 68020 reference in the benchmark is telling you it's running under 68k emulation. The 68k emulator in the PowerPC emulated a 68020. 4x Quadra 605 is the emulation equivalent.

[@brianarmstrong234]

That depends on the generation of the emulator. The initial NuBus PPC Macs did indeed use a 68020 emulator but I think by the time the PowerMac 9500 shipped they had switched the emulation target to be a 68040 (perhaps the non-fpu version; I can't quite remember) This machine being a PowerPC 603 based CPU makes me wonder which version it is using. I guess what I am saying is that the 68020 target only applied for the first few models of PPC Macs

[@Stryder_The_Nite_Owl]

@@brianarmstrong234 The emulator was always reported as a 68020 CPU as far as I've known. It may have been extended to support 68LC040 instructions later on, but I believe even on a G4 it is listed as 68020 to software.

[@coloradomoto3001]

This was so much fun to watch. I’m sitting here on an iPad Pro that is blisteringly fast, next to an M1 MacBook Air that is even faster… but there is something so exciting and comforting about the nostalgia of a machine like this. And you have to love the honesty of the clickable desktop icons: “browse the internet”. Excellent video.

[@Jackpkmn]

It's great to see that someone really loved and cared for this machine before you even got it.

[@sjukfan]

I like the more "wild west" attitude to computers we had back then. PC expansion card for Mac, PowerPC upgrade kit, a Playstation 1 cpu inside your Playstation 2. I really need to get around to fix my Mac mini G4 (and sell those PowerPC inside stickers I made on ebay. :-) )

[@MegaManNeo]

It's nice to see that the Powerbook runs fine after _fixing_ the display. That broken plastic makes me worry about current hardware in the future however, without people creating recreated models for people to print using a 3D Printer, a looooooot of things will brake.

[@gugajedi]

And as always, thanks for another great video! I love that have a restoration + history + benchmarks... always, awesome videos!

[@MichaelAStanhope]

Even with its limitations like no internal CD-ROM or PCMCIA (which could be added with a purely unobtainium adapter), the 500 series laptops are some of the best laptops ever made, Apple or PC. Those active matrix screens are absolutely beautiful, and the package is sleek and usable. Its unfortunate that the Apple PPC card really sucks, the aftermarket cards are MUCH better and faster.

[@MrVolksbeetle]

I dunno if I've said it before, but I love this channel!

[@Hoodratsnextdoor]

Been waiting all week for this. Thanks Collin

[@EwoutSchalkwijk]

OMG, I really love your videos about the old Mac's and Powerbooks. I have worked professionally from 1992-2007 as an Apple Service Engineer and know all the models on display here. I get good feelings watching you taking care of the machines and fiddling with MacOS and 'System 7' as it was called before. I think I have all of your Mac videos now. That's a pity ;-)

[@xenocide2121]

You have inspired me with goals for my 520c!

[@Markimark151]

Apple’s PowerPC processors are the best for retro Mac games, I have a G5 Power Mac, but the hard drive broke, and need to reformat the MacOS! You should do a video on the final PowerPC Macs from 2006!

[@TheAfroman]

The moment you powered it on, I knew it was just the connector. I have a G4 iMac (lamp) that the lcd cable connector is loose and if you move the lcd too much it pulls on the mobo. I then flip it over. Open it and press the connector back in. And boom. That black slow fade to white is she. It gets power and no signal. It’s weird but I’ve seen it before! I was yelling at the video! “Just reseat the connector!!” Hehe

[@MK-og4qm]

I have an unmodified PowerBook 5300ce, and decided to run Speedometer 4.02 just to see how it compares to your machines. For the "benchmark mix" I got a score of 27.821, and for the separate performance test scores I got 5.198 CPU and 203.636 MATH. I know there were woes with the PowerBook 5300 but imo the machine isn't so bad.

[@ChrisHarringtonMinneapolis]

The screen reveal was actually beautiful.

[@vernonbishop]

I had a PowerBook 540c, back in the early 2000's. I really loved that machine. I also used it with an external hard drive from DEC, and transferred files between my Performa 6400/180 tower, and that machine. I was running Mac OS 8 on it as well.

[@alerey4363]

I thought the bulging keyboard was due to an inflated battery but the culprit was some lazy guy not driving that screw till the end!

[@thomasandrews9355]

I'm quite surprised the display resolved it's self as that is a known problem with the apple active matrix displays. It's called tunnel vision.

[@soviut303]

I think tunnel vision is more of an issue with the LCD panel delaminating from the polarizer layer which produces a dark vignette around the edge of the display. Anything with weird display artifacts is usually an issue with the signal timing being wrong, hence why Colin thought it was a capacitor issue at first.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

The tunnel vision problem seems to only happen on greyscale active-matrix panels, not color ones. There’s still a lot we don’t know about that syndrome, but as it becomes more common some patterns are emerging.

[@TheBrayReport]

This was a very nice video with top notch information thank you

[@calzonemaniacsvideocorner0804]

That screen looks absolutely gorgeous. Really shows how much better active matrix screens were compared to passive matrix.

[@xmetal280]

Man, I remember those days and being amazed at how much power could be contained in such a package. It was kind of magical. And now I look at that absolute chonk and wonder how I ever carried something like around. 😆

[@pancudowny]

This reminds me how I refurbished a "gutted-out shell" Gateway YGR-600... then started gathering compatible parts of all types to make upgrades, including Pentium-4 Mobile processors.

[@smileyface8124]

Ready for PowerPC upgrade.

[@jazeenharal6013]

Whoever owned this thing back in the day was the definition of a "power user". The guy had dumped an easy $2500 into it above and beyond the price of the actual laptop itself. Hopefully he got many thousands of hours of good use out of it.

[@StiffAftermath]

I love old tech. Og Gameboy. Thinkpads. Fujitsu laptops. Man.....

[@smiththers2]

i grew up wanting a powerbook so bad, i used to see them in macworld magazines and beg my parents for one lol. i remember thinking about how much faster 100mhz would be over my 75mhz performa 6200... blew my mind when i started seeing machines in the 200 range... now they all feel slow haha

[@Evercade_Effect]

It still amazes me how far tech has come today.

[@pseudotasuki]

That IDE bridge board is sacrilegious. Edit: I really hate my teenage self for throwing away my broken PowerBook 5300CE. Especially since it had a prototype mini-CD drive, exactly like the one in Independence Day.

[@nickwallette6201]

Sacrilegious? More like glorious! Would love to have a few SCSI-to-IDE bridges hanging around.

[@briand7381]

Thanks for memory lane. I had a 540c I upgraded to power PC. I had that until I got a Lombard G3. 🤙

[@teedeeayeee]

The knackered screen reminds me of my PB190 which had a terrible smoking habit...

[@MK-og4qm]

Also, regarding the hard drive, typically for a PowerPC machine you would use Drive Setup instead of HD SC setup. Both will work on early powerpc machines like this but you're leaving disk performance on the table by not using Drive Setup. There are patched versions of Drive Setup also available out there.

[@MrMegaManFan]

Hey Colin. I don't think I've ever been here four minutes after you debuted a video. That feels faster than the CPU upgrade!

[@WS-gs6sf]

I had a 540c back in the day and have a laugh with folks weigh in on the cost of the new MacBook Pros.

[@nickwallette6201]

Yeah. Watch one episode of The Computer Chronicles when they say, with a straight face, how much a monochrome 20MHz laptop with no hard drive used to cost. Then tell me the super computer thin as a fingernail is "gouging all you sheep...."

[@Cyber_Horse_Studios87]

What was even stranger is that the PowerBook 190 and 190CS where just non PowerBook clones of the 5300. It does make it easier to get parts for both machines, but it was kinda strange that a non PPC version of a PPC computer existed.

[@JeffWaynee]

I had a 540c with a 603e 117MHz upgrade in 98.

[@justz00t48]

A 1gb laptop hard drive was a massive drive for that time.

[@damianisel3598]

Utilizado en el Films misión imposible 👏👏👏💻💻💻

[@Bianchi77]

Nice video, keep it up, thank you :)

[@ShinyTechThings]

Awesome!

[@aegonthedragon7303]

I think this might actually be one of those 1995 Apple sold PowerPC models based off the jewel and no markings to indicate otherwise that its a 540c. Check the OS revision since it had a special enabler. If so, you have one of the rarest Mac notebooks.

[@onigvd77]

Hi Colin, great video. I managed to acquire a 520c fair while ago. Unfortunately its screen got broken in transit, and I was only able to get a grayscale replacement. Not too bad tho, I was used to using a Mac Classic in the day and being greyscale they is more detail anyway. One of the best looking laptops still, and rightly applauded for its ground breaking features way back when. Also unfortunately my machine stops powering on, and hope to find out why when I get some spare time :)

[@Jah_Rastafari_ORIG]

I had one...did both the CPU upgrade and had to replace the screen. Woulda been early '96, IIRC... Also had an internet access addon that velcroed to the back of the screen w/flip-up antenna (might've been two ..) that talked to streetlight-mounted tranceivers on 900MHz, again, IIRC.

[@agenericaccount3935]

I’d be curious to know what you film with. Wonderfully smooth and crispy.

[@dmnddog7417]

Gosh, I have one of these in my storage locker (climate controlled). I think the screen hinges are just a little looser than they should be, but I don't think they have any cracks. Last time I checked it, it would still boot fine. The G3 processor upgrade is something I always wanted to do but didn't have the funds. I should probably check on it again. He's right in saying that people loved this model. It was a very reliable machine. I remember the 5300 being a mess, but the 1400, 2400 and 3400 that followed it were much better.

[@SkyOctopus1]

Interesting wedding ring. Also, as usual a great video.

[@EricsEdgeVideos]

I

[@autobotjazz1972]

It is amazing how user serviceable these old mac laptops especially in comparison to much more modern models that are nearly impossible for 99% of users to service, especially the ultra thin models.

[@chandlerzhu9735]

a laptop cpu user can upgrade? Totally unthinkable nowadays

[@guspaz]

Those PowerPC upgrade cards might have been bottlenecked by the slow bus speeds (among other things) in '040 macs, but they were still a huge upgrade in terms of performance. They also let you do many things that were not viable or even impossible on an '040 mac. Running PowerPC-only software (and games) is one thing, but the inclusion of an FPU is also another. The LC040 lacking an FPU and having that bug that prevents SoftwareFPU from working means that a bunch of software that requires an FPU either won't run at all because they bypassed Apple's floating point math libraries and had no fallback, or they did use the floating point fallbacks and ran excruciatingly slowly. However, with a PowerPC upgrade card, not only could you run PowerPC-only software, but you could use PowerFPU to emulate the '040 FPU when running '040 software on the PowerPC. Unfortunately, PowerFPU still ultimately emulates '040 floating point math on the PowerPC integer hardware, so it's much slower than a real '040's integrated FPU, but it is around the speed of the '030's discrete FPU, so usable.

[@francoisrevol7926]

Interesting this little SCSI to IDE board… 53CF96-2 is an SCSI controller, KL5C80A12 "Z80 COMPATIBLE HIGH SPEED MICROCONTROLLER" :-)

[@Otakunopodcast]

Here's another way of possibly repairing cracked display latches, etc. in the absence of a suitable donor machine. I first learned about this neat trick on KZbin. Apparently if you combine baking soda with cyanoacrylate(sp?) aka Super Glue(tm) it makes a pretty darn strong plastic filler. Who knew?! It looks pretty simple. The only other tool you'll need (other than the baking soda and super glue) is a file, to file down the gob of hardened super glue to the correct dimensions. Anyways Tech Tangents did a great video on the topic. He repaired several things with this method, including some similar (in function) plastic clips that are used to attach a PCjr sidecar cover panel thingy. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pGLQlqKQlq2MkNE

[@berkant_k]

I hope someone Is going to make new plastic cases for the older powerbooks

[@CYPH3RsD0M41N]

I miss those big bulky laptops.

[@DatBlueHusky]

I have a 5300c and yes its a pos but its fast when its working good

[@blunderingfool]

Now you're playing with power(book)!

[@wasjosh]

thanks

[@singletona082]

Hm. Wondering if that drive bridge board can be used on one of those memory card/sd card to IDE cards or not...

[@buttermashpotatoes4617]

That SCSI to IDE adapter would be so useful, can you put an IDE solid state drive in it and see if it makes a difference in performance?

[@Tyler-gv6zf]

I have a 540c, but I think it has the upgraded screen since it doesn’t have adjustment bars on the bottom left bezel. Mine unfortunately isn’t Power PC equipped. I do have 36mb of RAM though :)

[@hismastersvoice2729]

11:32 damn that hard drive was modified a long time ago

[@DasBoSchitt2]

I'd have assumed that Apple applied the PowerPC sticker over the PowerBook 540C label on the cover, which may signify the PPC upgrade offered from the factory.

[@jasonalbindeleon]

Wow, imagine having 40mb of RAM in 1995 !

[@sharpsharkabcabcabc]

I got mine lcd poped in damaged. Do you think we could change them with the new led screens?

[@ahah1785]

back when shit still was not soldered on...

[@Hoodratsnextdoor]

I know next to nothing about laptops or pcs, would it be possible to build a modern laptop in an old shell like these?

[@nickwallette6201]

Not really. I mean, with enough cosmetic surgery on the case, and probably a few custom PCBs or flex cables, sure. But you're basically going to have to hollow out all the old supports that held the PCBs and drives and whatnot, come up with your own way to mount the donor motherboard, then figure out what you're going to do with the gaping hole in the back where the legacy ports went. Every result of something like that, that I've seen, has just been a horror show of hot glue and Raspberry Pis and HDMI adapter boards just tossed into an empty shell. It's a gross waste of a historical artifact, IMO, all for the sake of a Frankenstein computer that will be larger than most people want to carry, and probably not even nearly as useful as a modern finished product. Sorry to rain on your parade. But better you know before you invest a ton of money in parts and spent 30 hours with a Dremel just to toss the whole pile in the bin.

[@mlegions]

My first computer was a Quadra 605, from CompUSA...lol

[@AmstradExin]

Waaaait....that thing is a SCSI to IDE Adapter? I might have this card somewhere

[@trepanier01]

I recommend you replace the purple and green caps as the are prone to leak all over the board i have had history with them caps

[@darrenwendell1723]

The "plastic" 90's. Still going strong today. Crap!

[@Wasmachineman]

POWERRR!

[@retr0bits545]

I need to get my PowerBook 520 back online. The display is busted unfortunately. And as of a year ago as the is got corrupted, not failed (need Mac OS 8.1 on floppy to fix it)

[@moviebod]

We are surely becoming detectives especially as I buy more broken stuff.

[@iamlaci76]

RoadRunner disk made in HUNGARY!

[@John-jc3ty]

so you use the 520 parts to fix the 540, but later when you fix the 520, you will need spares of a 500

[@sabianwoods]

He need to get America online for that Mac computer because it have everything ok on it

[@bmichel5581]

Holy crap, does that battery actually work?

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

I haven’t tested it for runtime, but it does still hold some amount of charge!

[@atgw2009]

What is the battery tech? Ni-Cd? The original battery (vintage of 1992-ish) of my Sony MZ-1 minidisc recorder still holds enough charge for 30 minutes of play time. Amazing really

[@SnHoennBitsNintendo]

7:53 spitting bars

[@KylesDigitalLab]

Back when Apple made products that easy to service, highly upgradeable, and built to last more than a few years.

[@vurpo7080]

Other than the part where only Apple brand hard drives were accepted?

[@grumpykitten4566]

@@vurpo7080 Id be real with you although yes, that isn't really good but also still better than what they're doing today.

[@rolandsmash]

Die-hard Mac user since the early nineties. The suggestion that Apple’s creaky plastic laptops from the 1990s were somehow built to last longer than their sleek unibody aluminum laptops of today is laughably misinformed.

[@error4159]

Kyle's confusing phones with computers because Apple's computer (besides the Trashcan) are will known for their longevity

[@oggilein1]

@error4159 yeah no they really arent, the desktops have had ssd parts pairing since the 2019 mac pro (making the trashcan mac the last fully upgradeable desktop from them which is quite sad) and on macbooks the storage has just been soldered in with the 2018 mac pro being the last model to have that be upgradeable (and still using a propriatary connector). and thats just storage, things are worse for cpu and ram.

[@bryandrobny7690]

You should get 2 mac hd's 1 for each lap top 😊

[@atgw2009]

Is the ‘PowerPC’ at the top of the display a sticker? Peeling off may reveal the original model name?

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

It is indeed a label, but I didn’t want to remove it due to the risk of damage - not everyone who got the upgrade applied it, so machines that have them are in pretty small numbers.

[@MisiekCentralny]

@@ThisDoesNotCompute Very nice ;)

[@SNKev411]

It would be hilarious if this guy went to the Genius Bar at the apple store slams this computer and says, fix this 😤

[@SNKev411]

🤣😂🤣😂

[@IkilledA0livebox]

that arrow key layout 💀

[@blunderingfool]

That always hurts my soul.

[@retrogamer33]

$899 for 1GB HDD Now $15 for 1TB Micro SD

[@coleeau]

What's the name of the music starting at 11:27

[@andresbravo2003]

Just to Think Different.

[@jonathan15681]

can you rebuild one for a costumer.

[@owenkelsey6279]

Still trying to figure out how to install Mac OS 8.6 on my PB 540c, it only has Mac OS 7.5 installed.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

Unless it has a PPC upgrade card, the 500 series is limited to 8.1.

[@owenkelsey6279]

@@ThisDoesNotCompute Ah, that is very good to know. Do you know what I would need to get 8.1 then?

[@justthatmichael2176]

MY APPLE BROTHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[@subliminalvibes]

Anybody else laugh out loud at "SeeWord Technologies"?!? No?!? Just me then... 😆

[@ronlevon4294]

look the deference between replacing keyboard in this old PowerBook, VS new MacBook's, 2 ribbon cables ) 2 min of work) , VS 40+ screws, 40+ ribbon aluminum sticks and removing's first 8 screws from the back, 15 for motherboard and motherboard itself, 1.5h of work.

[@nickwallette6201]

Wait... what's the FWB joke?

[@davidgustafson9799]

Friends with benefits. I had to look it up too

[@artwuss1185]

tHE Os reminds me of amigas workbench xD. Sheet I am old by millenial standards :( .

[@veritac]

16:12 BANZAI

[@theshadowman1398]

When looking at retro Apple laptops and how easy it was to work on them and replace parts I really don’t get it when it all went so badly off the rails with modern Apple devices

[@belstar1128]

Anyone else think its funny the mac used powerPC.

[@sugaryhull9688]

11:46 😏

[@Fry09294]

you need to dust your stuff before you put it on camera