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2300c finally
Posted by: imactheknife on 2025-08-11 16:48:18
So after a few boondoggles i was able to purchase a 2300c along with a 280 somewhat local to me for a half decent price. Recapped it on weekend and all is good🙂 So now have a 2300c, 2400c, 1400c, 5300c, 280c, 270c, and a converted 190cs to a 190c now.
Posted by: MacUp72 on 2025-08-12 00:05:00
interesting sticker..is that original?
Posted by: Durosity on 2025-08-14 03:31:13
interesting sticker..is that original?
The PowerBook 2300 stickers above the keyboard? If so yes, that PowerBook 2300 has been upgraded from an older one, probably a 280. The 2300 from the factory came with the trackpad rather than trackball, but the upgrade kit that Apple made available re-used the existing trackball mechanism! I’d love to have one of these “hybrids” in my collection one day.

Edit: Actually I’m not sure if those stickers are the official ones.. they look like they’re home made.. but there definitely was official ones as my mum had an upgrade 280c back in the day!
Posted by: 3lectr1cPPC on 2025-08-15 07:04:38
The official stickers definitely wouldn’t have said “mod”’on them. In fact, I don’t think the Apple upgrade even gave stickers.
Posted by: finkmac on 2025-08-15 07:27:28
the apple 2300c upgrade kit had a replacement bottom case (with 2300c label) and a "powerpc" sticker for the lid

1755268071885.png
Posted by: Trash80toHP_Mini on 2025-08-15 10:30:03
Nice! Love the 2300cTB variants, trackballs rule! Apple shipped gawdawful trackpads until the G3 series.


edit: everyone else shipped same in that period, not just Apple. 😉
Posted by: CC_333 on 2025-08-16 23:39:59
@Trash80toHP_Mini Agreed. Most early trackpads weren't the greatest. When they worked, they worked OK, but they were finicky, and in particular not very tolerant of moisture.

I would say that the first genuinely decent Apple trackpad came on the Aluminum PowerBooks, although the clamshell iBook's was fair.

The best by far are the ones in the Unibody MacBooks. Since they're made of glass, they have a much smoother and nicer feel, and they don't get smooth, sticky spots where the texture wears away, like the old ones did. They also have good support for multi finger gestures.

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Posted by: Durosity on 2025-08-17 00:27:46
the apple 2300c upgrade kit had a replacement bottom case (with 2300c label) and a "powerpc" sticker for the lid

View attachment 89847
Ah that was it, I remembered there was a sticker!
Posted by: Durosity on 2025-08-17 00:30:46
Nice! Love the 2300cTB variants, trackballs rule! Apple shipped gawdawful trackpads until the G3 series.


edit: everyone else shipped same in that period, not just Apple. 😉
Personally, I loved the trackpad from the moment I got to use a PowerBook 520c at school. It was SO much better than the trackballs in the PowerBook 145b units they’d had up until then.. possibly because they needed a cleaning.. but either way I was hooked. They got a bit better with later models, but I never found the early ones particularly bad. The only thing I wished at the time was for a right click button, but of course Apple didn’t even support that functionality until what.. macOS 8?
Posted by: croissantking on 2025-08-17 00:48:45
Personally, I loved the trackpad from the moment I got to use a PowerBook 520c at school. It was SO much better than the trackballs in the PowerBook 145b units they’d had up until then.. possibly because they needed a cleaning.. but either way I was hooked. They got a bit better with later models, but I never found the early ones particularly bad. The only thing I wished at the time was for a right click button, but of course Apple didn’t even support that functionality until what.. macOS 8?

You had Macs at school… lucky.

For the right click, I’d say more like Mac OS X. Mac OS 8 did introduce contextual menus that were activated with control-click - but you needed a third party control panel to assign a second mouse button to the function. It was always a bit of a hack.
Posted by: Durosity on 2025-08-17 23:41:14
You had Macs at school… lucky.

For the right click, I’d say more like Mac OS X. Mac OS 8 did introduce contextual menus that were activated with control-click - but you needed a third party control panel to assign a second mouse button to the function. It was always a bit of a hack.
Yep, my school was filled with loads of Mac Plus, Mac Classics, a smattering of PowerBooks and BBC Micros. Later on they added some Performa 630s and some 5400s eventually too.

And yeah, Mac OS 8 was a bit hacky for it.. I remember buying a two button mouse for my Beige G3 266 MT and the right click being a bit weird, but it got better over time.
Posted by: nathall on 2025-08-18 22:04:21
Personally, I loved the trackpad from the moment I got to use a PowerBook 520c at school. It was SO much better than the trackballs in the PowerBook 145b units they’d had up until then.. possibly because they needed a cleaning.. but either way I was hooked. They got a bit better with later models, but I never found the early ones particularly bad.

Agreed! I really like the trackpad on the 1400s, which is my only Mac laptop of that vintage. Much, much better than the Dell laptops I’m forced to use for work.
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