Very capable 7-year-old
Written: Dec 22 '04
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Pros: Extremely cheap today, fast with OS 8 or 9, can do most computing tasks
Cons: NO OSX, 800X600 resolution poor for some websites, too old for DVD movies
The Bottom Line: If you can live without OSX, a 3400c is an extremely nice laptop at an unbeatable price.
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| lawman67's Full Review: Apple PowerBook 3400C (M4597LL/A) Mac Notebook |
I guess that when the Mac bug hits, it hits hard. Not long ago I reviewed an older Apple PowerBook (Lombard) G3 that I purchased for my daughter to use, and despite the fact that I own a fairly new PowerBook G4 12”, I’ve spent more time using that old G3 than she has. My wife, as non-technical as a person can be in the 21st century, likes the looks of the Lombard and particularly likes the large 14” LCD, and has essentially moved in, creating an account on OSX and using it more than she has ever used any computer. While we have a nice PowerMac G4 desktop and a working, though currently in-storage PowerMac G3 desktop, it seems that the whole household wants to be wireless and free.
Now money is not unlimited in my family, and so with a new house (lots of very nice appliances to review shortly) and many other expenses, getting another laptop for my daughter to use now that the Lombard has been confiscated meant looking at the REALLY low end. I made a short list of requirements for the new machine, and a ridiculously low price limit of $200. Turns out, I only spent half of the budget and ended up with an extremely nice computer that my daughter absolutely loves, more so than the Lombard, which I will explain below.
As I’m sure you can guess, the el-cheapo laptop I bought was a PowerBook 3400c, in particular the mid-line 200MHz model. It currently has 32MB of ram, though I ordered a 64MB module on eBay, which will raise that to 80MB. The original 2GB hard drive is still in there, and actually tests perfect and is still quiet. Common to all PowerBook 3400c computers, ours has a 12.1” active matrix TFT screen with 800X600 resolution, a unique though underwhelming 4-speaker sound system and no ability to run Mac OS X without a 3rd party hack, and even then, nowhere near fast enough to be tolerable, making this a strictly classic Mac OS machine.
The OS limitation is why my daughter likes this so much. Yes, the Lombard runs OS 9 as well, but she can’t be bothered with selecting startup disks in the control panel and wants to always work in one OS (I actually didn’t even install OS 9 or the classic environment on the Lombard or my G4). On the 3400c, 200MHz and the OS I installed, OS 8.6, makes for an extremely fast machine that is a pleasure for her to use. In fact, 200MHz on OS 9 is snappier than OS X Panther on the 333MHz Lombard, which for a 10-year-old means better game play despite the antiquated browser choices available.
Productivity is great, with Microsoft Office 2001 doing essentially everything that the previous version for OSX (Office v.X) did, and fully compatible with the Office 2004 installed on the other Macs in the house. Most other software works well too, including AppleWorks 6, a slew of chat programs and MS Entourage for email. Even with the 32MB of ram currently installed, the computer is both fast and stable under OS 8.6. Microsoft Office 2001 launches and runs as quickly on this 200MHz PowerBook from 1997 as Office 2004 does on my 7-years-newer PowerBook G4 with 5X the clock speed and over 20 times the memory. In short, this is a VERY FAST laptop when used with the classic Mac OS.
Okay, so performance is there, what about stability and other aspects of laptop use? Well, Mac OS 8.6 can never be as stable as Mac OS X 10.3, but it is better than I remember, and better than any pre-NT version of Windows. Yes, OS 8.6 can be made to crash, and when an application crashes, the rest of the system may decide to crash along with it. Still, after 5 days of aggressive use (installing software and testing various combinations of running applications) I have only had one freeze, caused by Internet Explorer, and the rest of the system actually remained stable. Better than I remember classic Mac OS being, and definitely good enough for the casual use this computer was purchased for.
The rest of the package is surprisingly modern, though keep in mind it was made in 1997 and lacks modern connectivity ports. There is no USB or FireWire, though the computer does have the now outdated SCSI, serial and ADB ports. There are two PCMCIA slots, though officially they are not cardbus (32-bit) compatible. The truth, undocumented though it is, is that these ARE FULLY CARDBUS COMPLIANT slots and the controller chip is as well. The cage itself is not, so all that is required to use cardbus cards on your 3400c is to install the cardbus driver and either replace the cage or probably easier, file down your cardbus cards to fit the existing, non-cardbus cage. With CardBus support, USB and FireWire can be added easily and inexpensively.
The 3400c has plenty of other options, so for me, adding USB or FireWire simply didn’t matter. First, it has a 10-base-T ethernet card that shares the same RJ-45 jack with the 33k modem, making it easy to connect to the internet through a DSl or cable connection. Even better, with a standard Orinoco gold WiFi card I was able to connect wirelessly to the AirPort nework, giving my daughter what we bought this for, wireless internet access.
Other nice touches that are surprisingly modern abound on this laptop. The touchpad feels almost as nice as the one on my G4, and better than the one on the Lombard. The keyboard isn’t nearly as nice as the one on the aluminum G4, but its not bad either, with a soft and quiet key action that is ruined only by the slight flex in the keyboard itself. The trackpad button is, in my opinion, the best I’ve even used on a laptop. Finally, while the speakers don’t deliver the earth-shattering sound Apple suggested they would back in 1997, they do sound much better than the pair of wimpy speakers on the Lombard (the aluminum 12 incher’s 3 speaker system puts it to shame though) or my friend’s G4 iBook. Even the screen is a delight, though 800X600 resolution can be annoying on some websites optimized for the now-standard 1024X768 screen resolution. Most of the time, the screen is simply bright, color-correct and a delight to the eye.
What I really like about the 3400c is how much it has deteriorated in value with the rise of OSX. I bought my 3400c for $80 on eBay, add another $20 for the 64MB memory module and $30 for the wireless card and I ended up with a wireless-internet connected, fast, nice-looking and comfortable laptop for $130. That is amazing value. Add to that how easily a Mac running OS 9 can play on a modern OSX network and wireless routed DSL connection, and the sacrifices of using an older machine become very minor indeed.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 80
Operating System: Macintosh
Processor: PowerPC
Processor speed: Under 200
Screen Size: 12 inches
RAM: 32
Internal Storage: CD-ROM
Hard Drive (GB): Under 4
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Epinions.com ID:
lawman67
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 in Computer Hardware |
 - Top 200 |
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Member: Andrew F
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 209
Trusted by: 63 members
About Me:
Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she doesn't have a lot to say.
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