Restoring an In-Box Apple PowerBook from 1991!

[@Misstersack]

Hey! I came on Thursday down 2 hours from up north in a rare day off to Free Geek to buy something to play games from my childhood on and ended up walking out with your laptop! I just came home from work and saw this video and literally couldn't believe my eyes! I went to my storage unit, dug out my games and am patiently waiting for my roommate to come home and recap the power supply for me. Thank you so much! Free Geek has slowly helped me get back all the machines I used or owned growing up and this one was the last one I needed to get them all! My district was using these as late as 2001, when the clamshell iBooks ran out we had 5 of these in my kindergarten class just so we could play games or write short stories. Sometimes I got one of these and they always were more fun for me. Again, thanks for doing what you do, a sub well earned.

[@kanpaifighto]

That’s awesome, what are the odds?

[@Therealshadywerewolf]

Your comment is underrated AF dude. That's sick AF.

[@SonicBoone56]

Woah

[@Brasil66]

Very cool👍🏻

[@greg2672]

Darn. I was thinking of driving the 30 miles to grab it, just for the momentous of seeing it being fixed. How much it sell for?

[@CurtisOvard]

I do like the longer “rambling” style video. The more in-depth the better 👍🏼💻

[@remoschramm]

i do like these ones more too

[@andersj2963]

Same here!

[@Hat-]

Same

[@seshpenguin]

So many videos these days are really short and super fast, it's nice to have a more relaxing and substantial video!

[@CDRiley]

I also want to see 10 seconds restoration videos too!

[@HidrogenoyMau]

8:52 "We're at a point where pretty much everybody knows how to use a computer" My mother-in-law is an elementary school teacher, with the lockdowns she was surprised to find out that some of the younger kids don't know their way around a PC because for them tablets and smartphones are the computers.

[@thihal123]

That’s a surprise!

[@annjrue]

Makes sense, though! Why bother using a computer when the iPad has all the Fortnite games and Fortnite KZbin videos?

[@Ragnar8504]

Yup, I keep seeing kids try to tap the computer screens at work all the time! Surprisingly many of them have never used a mouse before! I've been thinking about setting up some System 7 emulation running Mouse Intro for a while but haven't gotten around to it. You can use a laptop or phone for distance learning but might run into trouble when you're required to run specific apps or do things like screen sharing. The apps might not be available for Android or iOS at all and things like screen sharing require permissions etc. and not everyone is tech-savvy enough to go into the settings and give those permissions. Some web sites won't work properly either and require a desktop browser.

[@annjrue]

@@Ragnar8504 In my experience with old electronics and real young kids, they're respond is either "meh who really cares tho" or "ewww why is it so old?!"

[@nickwallette6201]

@@Ragnar8504 Haha My mom does that sometimes. She gets so used to using her phone and iPad, sometimes she'll just instinctively reach out and touch the screen on her laptop when she opens it every six months or more... :-)

[@r4n85]

I absolutely prefer the long form videos.

[@briand7381]

This is great. I was a Apple repair tech in the 90’s. The Coner drives always failed even new. Loved this!

[@ernstoud]

Apparantly they also lost the extra letter “n”.

[@briand7381]

@@ernstoud so smartt

[@Ragnar8504]

The Quantum GoDrives died like flies when they were about 15 years old. I don't think I've ever had a 3.5" Mac HDD fail, at least none of the early-90s ones, but almost all of the 2.5" Powerbook SCSI ones are dead by now and have been for a long time. It's a pity because I loved the sound of those GoDrives! Unlike the 3.5" ProDrives they were quite soothing to listen to. The ProDrives were noisy even when new.

[@DiabloXL69]

@@Ragnar8504 quantum and Conner, some of the crappiest HDD makers of the 90s. I remember when I got my first pc and I immediately voided the warranty to swap that crappy drive for a WD Caviar. Way better than any of those other 2 brands

[@Ragnar8504]

@@DiabloXL69 I don't think I've ever had a 3.5" ProDrive or Fireballone fail (not even the almost discarded one I managed to drop from almost 2 m onto the floor, still worked). Only the 2.5" GoDrives from Powerbooks all died. The 3.5" ones were extremely noisy though, a horrible high-pitched whine. I don't think I've ever owned more than one Conner drive, a 425 MB IDE fitted to one of my Pentiums. Worked fine the last time I tried that machine, probably around 20 years old at that time.

[@PotatoFi]

Vintage Macs, 3D printing, and even cracking open a hard drive! Super fun. I enjoy these a lot. I like that your channel is a mix of different kinds of videos.

[@JurruttCuurtnuy]

More long form vids pls. Ramble all you want.

[@deBaer]

The FDHD actually means "Floppy Disk High Density", the drive later called "SuperDrive" in marketing.

[@BrainSlugs83]

Are you thinking of Super Disk (the Zip Disk competitor)? Or is that different from Super Drive?

[@deBaer]

@@BrainSlugs83 No, Apple never built SuperDisk (LS120) drives into Macs, only Zip drives. The trademark SuperDrive was used twice by Apple, first for the HD floppy drive (1.44 MB instead of 800 kB), then for the DVD writer (instead of the ComboDrive that could write CDs, but only read DVDs).

[@thihal123]

Yup, you’re correct. SuperDrive are those that read 1.44MB, 800k, and 400k floppy disks.

[@beldin4704]

@@BrainSlugs83en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperDrive

[@retrolobo]

Wow, so lucky with the battery! As you said it is not common. I got a couple of PowerBook 100s series and both of them had a leaking battery and a lot of electrolytic all over the motherboard. Very nasty.

[@cleffei]

I love both formats! Longer is usually nicer for me though since I can put it on while I do other stuff and not have to keep finding new videos to queue up :P

[@atomicoverridelbc6796]

Also I do like the long detailed videos, especially the Sony walkman videos.

[@marcelofrau8818]

Me too..

[@xerzy]

You're a genuinely good teacher! I wish I could be thankful enough for videos like this, the narrative, tone, shots and pacing are really pleasing, and your thorough and careful methodology is really valuable and easy to follow, especially with a rewind button. Thank you a lot and good job, Colin!

[@heedmywarning2792]

The video format is just fine. However, I would like to see the occasional explosion.

[@wur10]

Doesn't the FDHD on the box indicate that it came with an 1.44MB drive instead of an 800k? HD 80SC below stands for the 80MB SCSI drive.

[@traviscombs6947]

That was my thought. I figured FDHD stood for "Floppy Drive - High Density"

[@maighstir3003]

Yeah, "Floppy Drive High Density", not "Floppy Drive & Hard Drive".

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

I’ve seen it referred to both ways. At that time Apple was still shipping machines where a hard drive was optional.

[@maighstir3003]

@@ThisDoesNotCompute Hmm, interesting. I'm not entirely certain (not having many SKUs in my head to be recalled in their entirety at a moments notice), but I'm fairly sure that, at least in a spec sheet, a hard drive being included would just be on its own line.

[@RECTANGLESWITHEYES]

I always prefer the longer rambling videos of yours :).

[@TheAfroman]

considering you only have a video a week.. i enjoy the longer format. always

[@EgoShredder]

One a week is plenty, if you happen to be subbed to hundreds of channels.

[@ukozi]

re: your question about video styles - I get PUMPED when I see 42 minute run times. What you call rambling the rest of us call teaching. For instance, I am not new to Macs or retro Macs (used them before they were retro!) but had still never really been exposed to LocalTalk. I also had never ever seen a home-based HDD repair ever work.

[@zxyz2191]

just commenting to say that i absolutely love the style

[@kylek6922]

Man this brings back memories. Our family started with a Performa 550 one evening in November 93 and quite literally watched the Sears truck bringing the 575's off the truck Poor mom and dad looked at each other after months of shopping with 4 kids and said stick with what we bought or we'll never own a computer. Since, we've had numerous macs. Love your content Colin, regardless of format because it reminds me of when computers were work to own and you had to figure most stuff out on your own or pay serious bucks to a expert. Kids now don't know how lucky they have it to not have to run a sneaker-net or survive with dial-up with one phone line in the house and family wanting to talk on the phone.

[@EmelieKerek]

I definitely like this style of video. I love watching repairs, but I also really like learning more about the machine and why certain issues can be resolved they way that they are. I especially found the hard drive disassembly interesting.

[@Cameront9]

I am having a rough day and this video is exactly what I needed. Thanks for what you do!

[@therepairsloth]

Dude, make the videos you like making, but since you asked, I love these types of videos. Long-form, rambling videos show your thought process and your operating process. All of the ingenuity you employ to get these old machines running inspires me to get back into fixing stuff again. Keep up the amazing work, and thank you for your badass videos.

[@hmm2206]

Both styles of videos are good. a longer one once in a while makes for good balance

[@DeadReckon]

As someone who tinkers with Windows 98 / 95 more than any sane person would in the modern age, I can honestly say, from experience, reinstaling MacOS was waaaaaaay easier than any windows install back in the 90's.

[@DavisMakesGames]

Can't believe you could find one of these in-box!

[@Otakunopodcast]

Love the long format videos! Back in the day I had a PowerBook 100. A friend who was in university got it through some sort of super discount through their school. (This was in addition to the usual academic discount pricing.) I think this was either close to, or shortly after, the model got discontinued, so it was probably a final close-out type sale thing. Anyways I loved that machine, it was my first laptop computer, and I remember marveling at how thin and light it was compared to the PC laptops of the day. Part of me wants to get one again and restore it for nostalgia's sake, but I am afraid of what eBay pricing is for these, and the few Craigslist searches I've done in my area have turned up nothing.

[@mississippisteeler95]

While I enjoy modern technology I feel like it was more exciting to get something like this back then where today myself included a lot of tech is taken for granted. I remember my first laptop in 2001, It was exciting. I turned it back on last year and was like yikes this was old school stuff.

[@DavisMakesGames]

Also, I recently repaired a 4327 mb Toshiba drive that had a similar issue, heads wouldn't move because of the rubber bumper melting and sticking to the end.

[@tsuikagura]

I liked this video of yours as well as your shorter ones, I guess it all depends on the complexity of the topic / solutions. I mean the restoration of a computer warrants a longer video, unless it works out of the box :D while e.g. a fixing of a specific issue like a hinge, is better off being 5-10 minutes long. So... I like both. Depencs on how much actual things there are to say.

[@KatieCooper1990]

You really need to edit yourself much more. You ramble on so much and keep saying the same things over and over again. You only need to say things once (we get it, you shouldn't open a HDD in a dirty environment). This video could've been 15/20 mins with no loss of content or quality.

[@Nenemon]

If the plastic repair is going to be internal for things like screw standoffs I recommend using the Super Glue and Baking Soda method. It can be used to reconstruct or reinforce any brittle or lose plastics and dries almost instantly with a stupidly good bond. Ive used it on brittle plastic standoffs that receive a lot of stress from hinge movements and the results have been great

[@ellindsey000]

I performed a similar repair on a 30 year old hard drive recently, opening it up and replacing the bumpers which had turned into hideously sticky black tar with new nylon bumpers. I only did this as an emergency last resort, as the person who owned the hard drive wanted to recover data from them but wasn't willing to pay to send it to a hard drive repair shop. Most nerve-wracking repair job I've ever done, there are just so many ways to permanently ruin the drive once you've got it open like that. Amazingly it worked, but I don't trust the drive to actually keep working, I only kept it running long enough to get the lost files copied off of it.

[@bobbobson4069]

England prefers the longer video!!!

[@cerveraoliver]

If you really wanted, could you replace the backlight of the monitor? If yes that would be a very interesting topic. By the way I really enjoy long repair videos!

[@martinlutherkingjr.5582]

Hardware used to be so exciting, now it’s basically just buy a faster slab of metal so you can run newer software.

[@KevinFields777]

OOOH! Rebuild the battery!! Be the hero and make this a Mac the next owner deserves!

[@AnthonyRBlacker]

I'm surprised this video hasn't done better, this is a REALLY GOOD flashback to the days.. back when, as you're showing off the manuals that are wire bound and very premium, to be read not just once and tossed, but kept with the system for its life.. there was a time that I remember VERY well when things that you paid a premium for were actually PREMIUM. This, this was the epitome of highest class in the Mac ecosphere. Nothing like today. Today you're lucky to get 4 or 5 years of out of a MacBook. Then? That thing would have lasted you a decade, EASY. I mean my wife's MacBook pro is probably 10 years old today and it still works fine, but I installed an SSD and ram, boosted it a little.. but it still does the job. It's nothing like they were back then though.

[@NonsensicalSpudz]

if you live in the UK all the stuff comes from ireland, its the main hub for that area of europe

[@lordwolffurry582]

Be sure to check the capacitors on the display. Those are electrolytics and the same used in many 80s/90s macs. They leak and my 145 works, minus the display, due to it having all of it's caps leak.

[@kirishima638]

170 screen doesn’t have any caps

[@concordelounge]

In 1993 I bought my first mac when I saw a Powerbook 180 in the window of a second-hand store in Ipswich, UK. At the time it was a current (and quite new) range-topping model, so at the price of £250 I didn't ask any awkward questions and snapped it up. It booted into System 7 and revealed that it was a sales demo model from the local Apple reseller. It was standard except for a smaller 40Mb hard drive rather than the standard 80Mb. I'm not sure it ended up in that store entirely legitimately. I used that excellent computer all the way through university. It was far superior to Windows machines of the time.

[@Pixoshiru]

It’s a nice format for something to listen to while I do something else, while the more documentary style format requires more of my attention, which is also good in its specific context. :) If it allows you to produce more content without adding more pressure to your schedule, it’s a win-win IMO. Good stuff as always!

[@Michael18751]

Wouldn't the tape you put in the HDD fall off over time due to heat and age?

[@Cash2024]

Yay a long Colin video - deploy popcorn 😍

[@motomike71]

These were great for music composition. You didn't need much more than a TFT greyscale screen for music notation. I had a professor at Berklee who kept one of these in an industrial strength briefcase with a midi interface and speakers. He would use this for instructional demos in his jazz counterpoint classes. This was in 1994 before every class was equipped with a computer and we were lucky if there was an overhead display.

[@LunarHermit]

So Misstersack is my roommate/friend; I just cracked into the powersupply tonight while watching this video! Every single one of the low voltage caps was leaking pretty badly. One had even started getting to work on the traces! Nothing too bad though! Lost a bit of the solder mask and there's some blackened bits on the very edge of the copper trace; nothing needing a trace repair thankfully, but plenty of clean up.... Only took maybe an hour or so, but it's working well now! Thanks for all the work you put into this machine even though you were just donating it!

[@mohammadshashaa573]

longer and more detailed episodes are extremely good and more exciting to watch, So yes longer is better :D Thank you So much we are learning from you sir I'm a resident doctor in the Oncology surgery department & I love your episodes on old Mac tech your doing a great effort to an extent, amount and intensity considerably above average

[@florky_01]

i like longer videos than short videos

[@execation]

Much rather watch the longer, detailed videos 👍

[@johntyszjr]

I like the longer format.

[@LoftechUK]

Can the tubes be replaced on the screen

[@drywinddotnet]

“ this video is fairly long and rambling“. That’s music to any retro computing fans ears. Keep the detail coming!

[@brokenelectronics3665]

I very much enjoyed this video, I would like to see more in this format.

[@GeekmanCA]

Colin - Your documentary-style technology retrospectives are top-notch, but I think a lot of people also enjoy these rambling tear-down and exploration videos on specific machines. Please keep 'em both coming!

[@cracklingice]

Video didn't feel 40 mins long.

[@klaushergesheimer8602]

Yes, longer in-depth videos are much better than shorter ones.

[@SteepSix]

$3500 in the early 1990s was like 10 grand today... $4500 was like $12k. I certainly couldn't have afforded to spend that much on a computer! Well my parents couldn't. I got my first x86 computer in 1989/1990, a monochrome Amstrad with a single 5.25" floppy and a dot matrix ribbon printer for just under $1500. Didn't get my first laptop tho until 2008 or something. Now I got three of them, and all three together were less expensive than that old PowerBook in 20-teens dollars. Computing today is way more powerful, reliable, useful, and accessible. But pretty much all the magic and wonder is gone. We take it for granted now, which is why, I suspect, there is such an interest in this retro computing. An effort to recapture some of that wonder of discovery we felt in the before times. A truly deep seated nostalgia.

[@choppergirl]

I got a box of tehse Powerbooks at one tmie, probably cost the people $2000-$4000 at one time. I wanted to use them for wordprocessing on the go like I always dreamed of, but they turned out completely useless for that. Yes, you could type up things on that LCD screen. No, you couldn't really get it off. No wifi, no ethernet port... floppy was the only want and localtalk. By that time I had completely abandoned using floppy and my LocalTalk network was long gone and replaced by 10bt. I still have them, but doubt the screens even work any more... the winter stored out in an unheated building probably did a job on the screens. On a lot of old macs, like my Performa 476 for example, if the CMOS battery is dead, the unit won't power up at all. I've never successfully repaired any harddrive, with parts from an identical donor drive, even to get it working long enough to get the data off.

[@TheSteveSteele]

I was using Quadra’s with NuBus cards to edit 4-channel audio in ‘93. This is several years before Pro Tools. Love the line drawing in the User Guides. Disk First Aid. Ah, that brings back memories!

[@CDRiley]

We also need 10 seconds video of restoration on this channel. It would be interesting what kind stuff you get done in 10 seconds.

[@Tall_Order]

I have a powerbook 180 that has the same problem. It wont power on. I used it in school in the 90s. It took a tumble that crashed the hard drive, and its been in storage every since. Even though the HD crashed it still turned on back then. But today if you plug it in, nothing. I even replaced the AC adapter. Still no go.

[@matiasgl]

Man! On a past ThinkPad video I mentioned I got an X41 that wouldn't boot with the battery plugged in. Removed the battery and voila. The jinx's on you this time haha. Regarding the long vs short video format I do like the long ones more than the short ones. I do like to hear the story and the train of thought involving a decision. What about having two versions? The "hands on" (short one) and extended version?

[@michaellacock]

I love these longer video! It's cool to see how you problem solve when it doesn't work.

[@phreapersoonlijk]

I like this format better.

[@TheyreStillOutThere]

I enjoy these longer loose-format videos focused on one project as a whole, but there's also value in shooting individual videos about the specific aspects of the project to get it working again (the standoffs, the hard drive, etc). I'm always in favor of a longer format. But as a creator, is it worth the time and effort for the longer format is the ultimate question. Do what makes sense for the growth of the channel.

[@AnthonyRBlacker]

Holy cow that thing, with the battery condition, is basically a museum piece! I can NOT believe that battery didn't leak ONE BIT! That's just amazing, what a find.. I'll bet that thing was NOT cheap.. great find!

[@RikerJoe]

Love the longer format when it suits the topic, such as this one. Thanks Colin.

[@christineayres7199]

I NEED DISC FIRST AIDER STAT LOL

[@viceroy7792]

what I would really like to see someone do sometime; take this awesome 170 or 180 body case, and put modern guts inside. I love these old body styles and I think I would really enjoy using such a Powerbook, especially if the insides and secreen could be modernized. it's just a thought.

[@kimkimpa5150]

Had access to a similar model around 1994, a Powerbook 145b. Released later but way cheaper, comparable performance to the 170. Biggest difference is the 170 had an FPU and active matrix LCD, whereas 145b had no FPU and passive matrix. The 145b was a good little workhorse for the time, so I can imagine the 170 being a beast a couple of years earlier.

[@traviscombs6947]

That box doesn't match that laptop. The box shows serial number CK221034800 but the laptop shows CK211052703. That explains the difference in the hard drive specs.

[@icestar65]

Keep up with these long format videos, you're great at describing things in details while keeping it very interesting. Looking forward to more of them.

[@DmitryEljuseev]

Thanks for a review. Is the SD/CF card solution for replacing the SCSI drive like this, available?

[@Paul_Bearden]

It's very interesting, that a hard drive from 1990 looks pretty much identical to a modern drive.

[@larsvonlennep6405]

...like the video format very interesting; thank you for sharing your expertise! Btw when I owned such a PB in the 90ies, it came with a so called "weight saving devise" that was a battery block but without the battery itself.

[@Headsign]

I just did the repair after the drive stopped working, and here's my DIY emulation of a dust-free room: just put a running vacuum cleaner's hose over your shoulder while doing the hard drive OP. It should suck any dust right out of the air. It worked for me, although the drive had been exchanged against a 512 MB one, at some point, and was thus more delicate to handle than the Connor.

[@zapod20]

This inspires me to repair my PowerBook 165. The trackball failed in 1 axis insofar as one of the infrared LEDs used in the opto tracker assembly had a corroded leg. No idea if the replacement I bought has the required voltage/IR frequency specs. Also, I think I need to go down the BluSCSI rabbit hole…

[@maisiefreeman8597]

Cars don't even come with this level of documentation nowadays, though they probably should. I have no idea how to operate all the gadgets on mine. Just the CD changer, radio, climate control, and stuff like headlights and wipers. Honestly, that's all I need, but if you asked me to turn on lane assist, or podcasts, or activate voice control, I'd be dumbfounded. The only thing I own with this level of documentation is my TI-Nspire CX II.

[@bummers]

Our first family PC was an Epson PC/AT in 1990 and it came with a box of PC manual just like that as well. Back in the 80s and early 90s, many companies actually bundled each PC with a computer course for FREE!! You had to attend a course to know how to use a PC or what to do with it. Talk about user friendliness.

[@lkswift]

Just a quick note about the label (minute 2 or so). FDHD on the label means it has a high-density floppy drive. You’d see that regardless of whether it had a hard disk or not.

[@jacobgreenmanedlion1863]

I always thought digging for old data on older computers to be part of the fun. I remember a bunch of IBM PC XTs I got from a friend that had been used by a local police departments. Arrest reports, various investigations, I mean if I had blackmail in my heart it would have been a treasure trove. Never would have used it like that (this would be the immorality, at least in my opinion), but people who fail to erase data from their computers before disposing of them are fodder for people watching. PS if I was getting rid of a computer, its hard drive would be dismantled, magnet wiped, and its platters smashed and then thrown in the trash.- I’ve never actually disposed of a computer.

[@ShaunakHub]

I miss these books. I remember, even in the early 2000s RHEL came with about a dozen books (I don't know if they still provide them or not). I am quite old, so I always prefer reading books than reading something off the monitor.

[@fsfs555]

That PB's original HD probably failed at some point and the only available replacement was the smaller drive you found installed. There were mostly three 2.5" HD suppliers to Apple in this era: Conner, Quantum, and IBM. Occasionally you'd see a Seagate but that was uncommon. The Quantum drives were crap as far as reliability is concerned and they generally don't come back once they fail. The Conners are slow but relatively reliable and once the sticky bump stop situation is cured they're fairly decent. IBMs were the best but unfortunately they tend to develop stiction which often can't be cured without removing the drive and shaking it around a bit, but even then it's likely to stick again after a day or two of disuse and you'll have to repeat the process which is not something you want to do with increasingly brittle plastics. Once PBs switched to ATA it was mostly IBM drives with some Toshibas thrown in on occasion until the very late '90s when Fujitsus also started showing up. After the early '00s you may see nearly any major make of HD in there. Sony made all of the PB 1x0 series' floppy drives. Mitsubishi made the bulk of the new smaller PB floppy drives starting with the 5x0 series but on occasion you'd still find a Sony-badged drive in there, same as with the auto-inject desktops.

[@Ragnar8504]

I think that adaptor is a PhoneTalk adaptor. The original Apple LocalTalk ones had two mini DIN connectors and used the same serial cables as your LaserWriter, just longer. My dad bought a used 170 in 1993, so almost new, and the backlight has always been very yellow, I don't think the colour actually changed much over the past 30 years! The other original 100 series were the same, none of them had what you'd call white backlight. I loved that colour back when these were in service!

[@robillanes]

Hi Collin. Great video. I am in the midlle of restoring some vintage 90's PowerBooks that I have come accross and I have a question: I am not seeing in either your videos or any other vintage mac youtubers' any tips about the PRAM batteries on these machines. Do they leak? Is it better to replace them or directly get rid of them like with desktop Macs? I recently had a battery explosion in one of my vintage macs in storage (a PM 8500) and I am a bit paranoid about this with all my macs in the collection. I have gotten rid of all the batteries in almost all my desktops, and some PowerBokks, but some of the vintage models present some risks when getting them opened (like brittle plastics) that I have been treying to avoid doing this on them at all.

[@Charlesb88]

You’re going to find these days with the 1st Gen Powerbook series (Powerbook 100, 140, and 170) issues with plastic breaking as apparently the type of plastic they used has been shown to become brittle over the decades, especially on the PB 100. The plastic standoffs breaking are one the most common issues as you found in this PB 170.

[@WilliamHostman]

That's not the first time I've seen a bad battery prevent a 68k powerbook from booting. If its totally flat and the charge controller's clueless, it will try to charge the totally unchargeable battery rather than boot. I've had it happen to 3 coworkers.

[@jurgmesser7723]

Thumbs up for refurbishing this nice classic PB170 Mac, great video, very interesting, perfect order (box, accessories, laptop).

[@ronhutcherson9845]

Back in the mid-nineties I actually ended up meeting a guy in a parking lot to buy a T8 Torx bit from a Snap-On truck. It was the one thing keeping me from upgrading my PowerBook 160 RAM.

[@Hotdogman351]

I’ve been a subscriber since 2019..do you have solution for PSP AD HOC disconnecting issues with other psp..thank you sir

[@Kunigun]

Fantastic! Best ASMR best Relaxing And Best Education Videos;) hello from Ukraine 🇺🇦😍

[@jericoba]

And future people will probably laugh at things we have to learn to do today. That's just life, and development. And to be fair, there were digital, built-in help in the operating system too, *just as it is today.* You don't _have to have_ the internet for that. And, the language in those manuals you have there, is not technical because it is Apple, and Apple has always strived to keep it close to the everyday user and still get the message across. You probably know this, but you didn't mention it, so took the liberty.

[@motomike71]

I don't think the microphone was an OEM part included with the laptop. That was something purchased as an accessory if you needed it. Whomever owned this was careful enough to keep all the original packaging and probably threw it in the box when they donated the laptop, bless their heart. The Appletalk dongle also wasn't originally included.

[@peterw.gstettner7737]

As for educational discounts: I bought my SE/30 with a whopping 25% discount as a student back then here in Europe...

[@dbhansen]

There's a third issue with these 2.5" Conner drives as well --- the magnet on the bridge can delaminate and dislodge its cover, pushing the cover down on the coil. It's also repairable - I've done it, on my 170 coincidentally - by cleaning the magnet, then epoxying the cover back over the magnet. Has worked like a charm ever since.

[@cwaldrip]

FDHD meant, if I recall correctly, “floppy drive, high density” so a 1.44MB drive… which was almost the only version still around.

[@Ariffer]

This was great to watch. I learned some nice repair tricks, if I ever needed to them. I still have my PowerBook 170 that I bought brand new back in the 90’s. I still turn it on once a year for fun.

[@vforce1988]

if u are gonna round out the price say for that 170 $45xx to 4500 why not just say it was $4600 ? does removing $1 mean its $100 cheaper? I just don't understand when people round to nearest they go down 99 instead of going up 1?

[@andrasszabo7386]

Hinge problems?? That is why metal laptop frames were invented later. I wish that manufacturers could use them from the beginning of laptop productions in the 80's. Anyway, I wouldn't say that the restoration is complete until the laptop's battery is restored, too. At least that's how I do it.

[@envirogeekyyc]

The 170 was a popular machine at the time, anyone who wanted a 100 series machine at the time and could afford one bought one, if they could get one. Regarding the assmbly in Ireland... For a time, I have a fuzzy memory that some 170's were also assembled in British Columbia, Canada. I seem to remember that it had something to do with the tax rate on the display of the 170. I'll have to see if I have any info.

[@salthebard6258]

My first computer was a Mac Plus that my Dad brought home in 1987 or 88. I remember those spiral bound books and those are 100% how I learned to use a computer.