Iconic PowerBook 540c Complete Restoration - iiiDIY

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Happy #marchintosh everyone! The PowerBook 540c is Apple's mid-90s "espresso" aesthetic in a tidy to-go package. It was positioned as their high-end laptop with enough power and expandability to replace some desktops, and offered a transition path from the 68k to PowerPC era.

With a retail price of $4,800 - 5,200 USD in May of 1994 (that's up to $10,800 in 2024, adjusted for inflation!), the 540c was really at the top-end of Apple's laptop line and out of reach for your average consumer.

I could finally afford a used PowerBook 520 in the early 2000's, so that became my first laptop. It was bulky, but I enjoyed the hot-swappable batteries, and the 520 could do most tasks that my desktop LC630 could! Being my first portable, the "Blackbird" family has a special place in my heart, and I've always wanted the top-of-the-line model.

Now, more than 20 years later, the 500-series has become somewhat collectable and prices are on the rise. To help make my dreams come true on a budget, I found two "broken for parts" models for sale, and bought them with the intention of restoring, fixing, and then combining them into the best overall 540c I could afford.

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Thank you to PCBWay for sponsoring this video. You can check them out at https://www.pcbway.com/

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:01 Laptop 1 Test
01:31 Laptop 2 Overview & Test
02:12 Laptop 2 Cleaning & Disassembly
04:19 Laptop 2 Logic Board Repair
06:14 Laptop 2 Deep clean
07:53 Laptop 1 Cleaning & Disassembly
09:09 Laptop 1 Case repairs
09:09 Best Laptop Reassembly
10:52 Best Laptop Test
11:30 Sponsor
11:55 Lesser Laptop Reassembly
12:13 Power Problems
14:01 Finale

LINKS AND CREDITS

Watch ‪@BigBadBench‬ Saturdays at noon to see if the second 540c can be fully repaired:    / @bigbadbench  

Chris Edwards Restoration on cutting caps:    • Mr Brett Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200 dou...  


#marchintosh2024 #apple #PowerBook #Macintosh #retrocomputing #nostalgia #540c #68k #PowerBook540 #520c #520 #90s #PCBWay