KEEPING YOUR POWERBOOK ON THE ROAD

Despite the fact that the PowerBook 100 was discontinued in August of 1992, plenty of companies still offer repairs, upgrades and troubleshooting tips.

MEMORIES...
The original PowerBook 100 was shipped with a measly 2MB RAM. Chances are, if you buy your used machine from anyone who's actually used it, the RAM will have been upgraded. If not, you can order more RAM and install it yourself.

PUTTING THE POWER IN YOUR POWERBOOK
Replacement batteries for the PB100 are hard to come by and will only become more rare as the machine fades further into the mist of CPU history. MDS Marketing of London claims to offer new batteries specifically for the PB100. I haven't verified this. Lind offers AC adapters, chargers, and auto adapters. Even if you aren't experiencing battery problems, you might wanna learn the best ways to troubleshoot and preserve your functioning battery.

A GOOD FIXER-UPPER
I've never had the misfortune of needing repairs on my machine, so I can't recommend anyone, nor tell you who you should avoid. Dynamic Engineering of California offers a full range of repairs for the PB100. If you wanna try to do work yourself, Apple offers developers' notes on the Web (in Acrobat format). Phoenix: Macintosh Repair also offers online instructions for repairing almost any problem. If you're having power problems, you might be able to reset the power manager yourself. Also, if you feel like rearranging the keyboard layout, you can do that, too. MIDI users can work around their own problems. - Joe Nickell

Return to PowerBook 100 review.