RIP, PowerBook: 1991-2006

When Apple Computer introduced the first PowerBook in 1991, it was a dud. Not technologically -- as a relatively lightweight laptop with the power of a desktop Mac, it was a marked improvement over Apple's first attempt at portability, the hulking Mac Portable. But, like many Apple products, the PowerBook was initially priced at a level too high for the market to bear. Repriced at about $1,000, the model took off, and launched a line that would become nearly synonymous with Apple for years to come. Until today, that is. As part of the launch of the MacBook, Apple apparently removed the last remaining PowerBook, the 12-inch model, from its site earlier today (Apple also killed the iBook brand, but we don't really see anyone missing that nearly as much). While not unexpected, the retirement of the PowerBook does mark the end of a brand with a long, storied history as a sturdy, reliable workhorse, which later -- after Steve Jobs' return to the company -- morphed into a sleek and stylish object of desire for visual and creative artists. It also marks the end of the line for one of the last Apple brands still remaining from the interregnum between Jobs I and Jobs II: only the vestigial Power Mac G5 remains from that period. Will Apple retire that one as well, or will Jobs allow one product to carry the legacy of the Sculley, Spindler and Amelio? Yeah, when put like that, we'd vote to kill it, too. So, we'll wipe the tears. Now, bring us that Intel desktop already, Steve. Whatever you decide to call it.

[Thanks, Jonathan]

[Zim @ May 16th 2006 12:18PM]

may you rest in peace :/ thanks for the best years in my life

Z

[andrew @ May 16th 2006 12:19PM]

i mean i guess i've become a fanboy, since I'm thrilled the 12" powerbook is off the site. I can't wait to buy the mac book pro version and run boot camp. It'll look a lot better than the new mac book looks. And be lighter.

[Murali @ May 16th 2006 12:21PM]

OMG!!! Its 2006 AD....Apple till this date had this laptop?? giving it iBook as its name. Were they really selling and were people really buying this till y'day?? No wonder why IBM clones have flourished....and by the by this is the first time I am seeing this junk looking called iBook!!! LOL

[moofree @ May 16th 2006 12:25PM]

I wish they would bring back the trackball...

[Gill Bates @ May 16th 2006 12:30PM]

Wow, I didn't know that Apple sold PC's.
I thought that only MicroSoft did through venders like Sony, HP, Dell etc...

[KSB @ May 16th 2006 12:35PM]

then apple dropped the rest of it's brand names and changed them all to the current style:

MacPod video, MacPod nano, MacShuffle , MacLife, MacWorks, BigMac (powermac) and so on....

[idogcow @ May 16th 2006 12:40PM]

Still own that PowerBook 100 pictured (currently living neglected and in a closet) ? bought it in grad-school from a fellow student who sold his LC and 100 to defer the cost a PB180c.

Never did get 'round to buying the outboard floppy....

[Joe Smith @ May 16th 2006 12:43PM]

HahahahaHA KSB!!! BigMac!!! Great one.

[Gr1zz @ May 16th 2006 12:50PM]

this reminds me of the news last week when nintendo said it was the end of the line for the name "Game Boy".

[NNTPgrip @ May 16th 2006 1:14PM]

Yes, the Game Boy name found to be racist as the console has proclaimed it did not appreciate being called "boy".

[JimmyJames @ May 16th 2006 1:24PM]

The PowerMac will become the Mac Pro.

The GameBoy will become the NintendoBook Pocket.

obviously.

[JimmyJames @ May 16th 2006 1:26PM]

sorry, i meant miniWii.

[Skylar @ May 16th 2006 1:31PM]

...or the WeeWii

[est @ May 16th 2006 1:31PM]

Ah, I had a PowerBook 100. Fantastic computer for the time. And I still miss my Duo. If Apple ever comes out with a Duo II I'd be all over it....

[hj @ May 16th 2006 1:32PM]

#4 I totally agree with you. I've always loved trackball mice and to this day cannot get used to the stupid touch pads that have replaced the trackball for 10+ years now. BRING BACK TRACKBALLS.

The nubbin (that pointer stub that are on all thinkpads) is a good pointer device too.

[dzieci @ May 16th 2006 1:36PM]

it iss cut :)

[Sasha S. @ May 16th 2006 2:17PM]

Innovation means change, and change sometimes brings feelings of nostalgia along, even if the new things are much better in every respect.

Engadget guyz & girlz - thank you for marking this occasion with a few select words. It gave me a pause (of a nice sort) as I look forward to the delivery of my brand new MacBook (white).

Computers - even nicely designed one as those Apple makes are still tools - and I hope that new MacBooks (Pro) will bring their new owners as much joy and serve them well and as the old Powerbooks did.

Powerbook is dead - Long live MacBook!

[DC @ May 16th 2006 2:19PM]

I'm not sure I understand nostalgia for a product name.

[Tush @ May 16th 2006 2:51PM]

DC, humans in general get very attached to the things they love, be it a mass-produced product or just a name.

[ChrisM @ May 16th 2006 3:05PM]

I though that the IIc was Apple's first try at a portable computer, not the Mac Portable. Not that it matters...

[John Stracke @ May 16th 2006 3:13PM]

#7: don't forget the MacMac.

[John Stracke @ May 16th 2006 3:21PM]

#21: you're right, but I'd say Engadget can be forgiven for forgetting the //c, which was more like a transportable (a la Osborne), in that it could be transported easily, but couldn't be used on the move, since it didn't have a battery, or a built-in screen.

...except Wikipedia says there *were* battery packs for the //c (though not the //c+), but not from Apple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II#Apple_IIc

[PDubNYC @ May 16th 2006 3:21PM]

#2 Andrew "i mean i guess i've become a fanboy, since I'm thrilled the 12" powerbook is off the site. I can't wait to buy the mac book pro version and run boot camp. It'll look a lot better than the new mac book looks. And be lighter."

Get ready for a long wait. Not more laptops are going to be introduced. No 12" MacBook Pro. The family is complete.

I still have my PB 180c and still book it up on occasion. I have to agree with some of the other posters, the Trackball ruled.

[Thataboy @ May 16th 2006 3:38PM]

Clearly the PowerMac will be called the Mac Pro.

[KSB @ May 16th 2006 3:43PM]

#22 and the macApple corp

[Frank @ May 16th 2006 4:01PM]

I have always wanted an Apple laptop of sorts....
As for the mouse discussion, ever tried an EgoTrac from Fujitsu, that is what my laptop has (lifebook 280dx).

[DB @ May 16th 2006 5:07PM]

I still power up my duo230 and use it. Ahhh for the trackball again. infinitely better than these dreadful trackpads.

[DB @ May 16th 2006 5:10PM]

I also had a MacPortable. That was the first luggable. Like a bleeding electric typewriter that thing.

[DinnyHoon @ May 16th 2006 5:28PM]

Byebye Powerbook... Lets all turn our thoughts towards a possible relocation of Apple to Scotland (the McMacMac?)

[eric @ May 16th 2006 5:31PM]

seriously, what's the deal on the intel desktops? besides the offhand comment in this article, I've yet to see any discussion or even conjecture about it anywhere.

I'd love to make "the switch" at home, after getting a G5 at work, but I don't want or need a laptop and I don't want to buy a PPC core machine if they're being phased out.

I'd love even a whisper of a rumour of a possible date when they might release a teaser about an eventual hypothetical release date.

[wii-emu @ May 16th 2006 6:12PM]

If they are abandoning the brand - can I have it :) Please Please Please! And> #7 Love that MacPod nano

[Benjamin @ May 16th 2006 6:35PM]

powerbook just rolls of the tongue... i'll just stick with that.

[phreaki @ May 16th 2006 7:22PM]

The wireless in the ibooks could always be better, but having owned several of them, they are great notebooks.

[andrei @ May 16th 2006 7:37PM]

whatever...

[sharpie05 @ May 16th 2006 8:46PM]

i love my iBook! it is a fantastic computer- i replaced my desktop with it(horrid Dell OptiPlex), and i take it everywhere! iBook should have stayed!!! but they killed it off...

[Ben Hou @ May 17th 2006 1:31AM]

RIP Powerbook.

[Nate MC @ May 17th 2006 3:54AM]

My Powerbook 150 still runs decently besides the sluggish trackball. They don't build em like that anymore, much more stuff to break on em these days.

[OldMacGuy @ May 17th 2006 10:13AM]

"A dud" ?

Are you insane?

The PowerBook 170 was announced along with the 100 and was BY FAR the best portable computer in the world at the time.

It had a trackball, active matrix screen, built-in networking, digital audio output, and a fast (at the time) 68030 cpu. It was an amazing machine for 1991 and every laptop in existence today still steals from it. The pushed-back keyboard and palm rest that we take for granted now were totally new. The active matrix screen didn't ghost like other laptop displays.

I remember someone at Apple telling me how surprised they were that so many users wanted the most expensive model - the 170 - instead of the other ones.

Calling the first PowerBooks a dud is like calling the Model T a dud because it doesn't compare well against a modern car.