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Both of these cute little guys came out in 2025, but I only recently acquired them and decided to do a review. Each has its good and bad, not to mention a big price difference. Some of you probably already own one or both, so I'd love to read your thoughts. I've grown rather fond of both.

Many of you are already aware of Phil Greenland's Github project where he uses ATTiny85 to replace the RTC (Real Time Clock) on SE/30 motherboards. It's neat because it saves PRAM to onboard flash memory. If you don't care about the date/time (doesn't get saved to flash), then you can forgo...

First off, @3lectr1c has a nice overview of the stock electrolytic caps for the 180c display on his MacDAT web page here: https://www.macdat.net/repair/cap_reference/apple/powerbook/180c.html And "halkyardo" in the other forum has posted his solid tantalum recapping experience here...

Perhaps @eric or you other BlueSCSIv2 PowerBook edition owners might know, but I'm curious why only one of my two drives (on the SD card) mounts when I power on the machine, despite having a good PRAM battery. I am then forced to use SCSI Probe to mount the second drive, as shown in my short...

This question is for you experts out there, and that includes @Ron's Computer Videos & @Mac84 & @techknight . Because the display is Passive Matrix, is ghosting normal, or is it showing only because the stock caps inside the display haven't been changed? You can more easily see what I mean in...

Hey, @techknight . Your video here shows a recapping list for the PowerBook 165c at time stamp 14:39. You bought YAGEO ESS106M063AE2EA to replace the seven 10uF 63V "Low Profile" caps inside the display: Height (Length): 7mm (which your video shows "just barely clears") Diameter: 6.3mm Lead...

I acquired my first 68K PowerBooks this year (2026), starting with the 180c and 165c. These machines aren't as bad as the LC500 series which fall apart during delivery, but they are pretty bad when it comes to broken stand-offs. Battery leakage is another issue. Then we have Trackball issues...

I recently acquired a PowerBook 180c and found it's trackball didn't produce any vertical arrow pointer movement, so I cleaned the ball, rollers, and the red-eye gizmos, but that didn't do any good. When I use my finger on each roller, the arrow pointer moves just fine horizontally and...

You know, I hate it when someone creates a deceptive video with AI, trying to trick the viewer into thinking it's real. I've also seen a lot of "AI slop" that is thrown together too quickly and without needed edits by the human "creator". But I came across the following video the other day...

Folks, I thought we could use the LC520 motherboard inside an LC575 computer body, but apparently not. My LC520 board is now dead! Some of you may recall my LC520 recapping video, and my 84V VGA Mod video. As you could see, I had a working LC520 board even prior to the recap, and it worked...

I have 1 Analog Board that came with the Mac SE @Kai Robinson very graciously sent to me in the past (from the UK), and I also have 3 other Analog Boards that I use with my SE/30 machines. All Analog Boards have been recapped, trace-repaired, and have the same Noctua 60mm fan installed. The SE...

While not a "community member" in terms of being into the retro scene, Stewart Cheifet contributed to our hobby in a very significant way. Cheifet is familiar to anyone who has ever watched the Computer Chronicles: The series aired on PBS (in the USA) from 1984 to 2002, and 460 episodes were...

So far, I've not been successful in running Dark Castle or Beyond Dark Castle on my M5126 Backlit Macintosh Portable. I've tried disk images on my FloppyEMU to no avail. I've tried (and failed)running it from my internal BlueSCSI, even versions of Dark Castle that otherwise work under System...

Nearly everything you wanted to know about the very first mobile Mac from Apple, and more. This video shows the history of the Portable, detailed assembly process, along with discussion of repairs and upgrades. A link to my accompanying spreadsheet filled with specs and info is found in the...

I would appreciate feedback from 5120 Mac Portable owners who have a machine that works and who have experiencing adjusting the contrast of their LCD. I have a 5126 Backlit Portable, but when I turn off the Backlight, the LCD is really hard to see even under good lighting conditions, as shown...

Hi, folks. I know the Portable's backlight is rated at a meager 53 nits, but if any of you own a 5126 Backlit Portable, could you please tell me if your backlight is as dim as mine? I filmed the short video below under standard room lighting with a rather strong LED room light, and then an...

Two questions for my fellow Portable owners, including @techknight … Question 1: What is the step-by-step procedure to clean and lube stiff hinges? Question 2: My Portable’s screen was always hard to open, requiring me to press very hard on the right side of the handle to open it. Tonight I...

PowerBook 100 & 170 owners, could you please measure the displayable PIXEL AREA of your LCD from the bottom left to the top right? (Not the visible LCD area, but the displayed pixel area.) To accomplish that, launch Photoshop 1, full the screen with black and make it full screen. Feel free...

QUESTION for owners of both a 5120 & 5126: Do you find the 5120's display to be brighter and easier to see in good lighting compared to the 5126 with backlight OFF? (I only have a 5126 and therefore have no way to compare the two models.)

I received a question from a YouTube viewer about his recapped PSU for the SE & SE/30. He said that he tried to test the output voltages in the NO LOAD condition (disconnected from the Mac), and it trips his breaker every time he flips on the power switch. He said when the PSU is connected to...