Insanely Great Mac - Top 10 Coolest PowerBook accessories

Top 10 Coolest PowerBook accessories
by Remy Davison.

Think you've got the most extreme PowerBook on the block? Think again. Here's the low-down on the making your 'Book better, stronger, faster. And you don't necessarily have to spend six million dollars or have a Pismo in your palm to have the coolest portable tool. You've been searching for ways to expand your PowerBook into the most flexible machine possible. But maybe you want form over function?

Search no more, young Road Warrior. Here, for your erudition, is the Top 10 Coolest bits for your 'Book. Not necessarily the most useful. Not necessarily the most functional. But without a doubt, it's the stuff we all want. Sure, there's gear like the Podium CoolPad, which makes your portable more ergonomic to use. But that's just too darn practical to pass the Quantum of Coolness test (despite the name). And I'm sure you can all think of many other fashion statements you can make with your 'Book (transluscent casing; making keyboard light up every time you sit on the toilet, etc. etc.). But here we're talking about extras mere mortals like you and me can buy, without ripping that 14" screen apart to make the damn crystal-white logo glow in the dark (attracts moths). Or programming your keyboard so the sleep LED can do Morse code.

So. The envelope please. Here, without further ado, are the nominees:

10. Infrared cell phone: Strictly speaking, not necessarily an add-on. Some cell phones, like various Nokia models, have the IrDA hardware built-in and offer Mac software for connection. Others, like Ericsson, offer a snap-on IR interface. Perfect for sending that emergency fax or checking email when there's no phone plug in range. But it loses coolness points for slowness (maximum of 9,600bps throughput). Subtract another two points because Wintel owners can do this too (given a few weeks to configure it). Oh, and don't surf too long; otherwise, your next cell phone bill will approximate your telephone number and lead to you filing for Chapter 11 a lot earlier than you expected.

9. Zip It Good: Removable storage: Here we're talking Zip and SuperDisk drives: The Zip is almost ubiquitous, although a look at the Dark Side makes you think that the floppy is still the most important storage device for the modern computer. 100 or 120MB is a decent amount of storage for most (non-video) files and Mac/PC compatibility is handy. And you can boot from them if necessary. The SuperDisk doubles as a (slow) 1.4MB floppy drive as well. Still faster and more convenient than a CD. And très cool. Remember, the Coolness Quotient is the criterion here. And what about a USB Floppy drive? In Tangerine or Blueberry. Let's not leave the iBook out here. Yes, I know what I said about floppies. But a matching floppy drive for your iBook is just what you need if you're into color-coding and accessorising. Plus, it does have a use: you might know a PC user with...uh...you guessed it: only one means of removable storage.

8. Video-in card: The Capsure PC card fromiRez is what you want. Yes, you too can dump all those Betamax movies onto your hard drive and burn a CD out of them. Great for preserving those old tapes. Not perfect, but the frame rate's not bad and you can output the picture onto your TV or video projector using your PowerBook's S-video connector. No, it's not iMovie, but you can use the free iMovie 1.0x or buy iMovie 2.0x to do your own desktop videos. No need to invest in one of those fancy-schancy FireWire DV cameras. A small investment in an AV Quadra or Centris wouldn't be a bad idea here either, when you want to play those QuickTime movies on a TV, or output to tape. Bore all your friends. Relive those episodes of LA Law. Works with the older PB models too, although they don't output to a TV. And it's a cheap way to look cool. Which is the whole purpose of the exercise, isn't it?

7. FireWire PC card: Got a Lombard? Or Wallstreet? Think CardBus. You too can hop on the FireWire bandwagon and plug that digital camera into your 'Book. The Ratoc card's probably a better buy than the VST card (they get enough plugs here as it is) as it has the power supply adapter built into the dongle. If you have 2400/3400 or Kanga, you can get a CardBus upgrade for $99 from MCE. If you have 5300 or 1400, you need to...get a second job to pay off that Pismo you put on Amex without telling your wife/partner/financial planner (forward delete not applicable).

6. Sound in living color: I told you we weren't leaving the iBook out. How about a set of Blueberry or Tangerine speakers? Try Altec for a set of these. There are also the Cozo (they're the guys who made a kit to make 5300s look like a 20th Anniversary Mac) speakers which come in six colors (strictly speaking, they're iMac speakers, but who's counting?). Admit it: that iBook speaker is lousy. But it does have 16-bit sound capability and you're wasting the sound-out jack wearing headphones. So do yourself a favour and hook up some decent stereo speakers and annoy every other occupant on your floor with your iBook's rendition of Iggy Pop's Lust For Life (which, at the right volume, does indeed rattle trash can lids). Of course, this trick can be duplicated with any PowerBook that's 6 years old. But Tangerine speakers and PowerBook Charcoal don't really mix 'n' match. You get the point.

5. Expansion bay hard drive: The best, most convenient storage for the PowerBook. You can have 4, 6, 8, 12 or right up to 18GB (yes, 18GB) of storage in the expansion bay of a Pismo or Lombard. Hot-swappable and fast because they take advantage of DMA (Direct Memory Access). Bootable? You betcha. Run an office of Lombards and Pismos? Instant sharing of gigs of data. Use it as a backup, for extra storage or as a rescue disk. Have a Wallstreet, Kanga, 3400, 1400, 5300 or 190? You're not out in the cold. You can find similar expansion bay hard drives for these models. The Kanga/3400/5300/190 can all use the same drive; the Wallstreet's and the 1400's are unique to each model. MCE has 1.0GB drives for the 5300 form-factor 'Books (190/3400/Kanga). Both MCE and VST carry larger capacity drives.

4. Internal CDRW: Still got cash to burn? Good, because you're going to need it. To burn CDs that is. Toast or Jam your CDs in a cab, on a plane, on the run (maybe not). You can find these at VST or MCE. Reads at 20x (same as a Wallstreet CD-ROM), writes and rewrites at 4x. Bootable too. Outstandingly useful for making data backups on the move, or for burning CDs in hybrid Mac/ISO format for use in any Mac or PC. No messy SCSI, FireWire or USB cables. You can burn a full CD in 18 minutes. Fire up this baby in front of your Wintel-toting idiot friends (the noise you hear is their jaws hitting the ground). And yes, those Celine Dion MP3s on your (expansion bay) hard drive would make a perfect CD for that intimate dinner you have planned tonight with that person who is not your spouse.

3. Airport: Yes, Airport. What - you mean you haven't bought one yet? What're you doing here? The world's going wireless. Even Toshiba and IBM have worked that one out. Or are you one of these guys who gets out of couch-potato mode every 30 seconds to switch the channels on the TV? Once you've experienced Airport, you'll wonder what you were doing 'netting in a freezing room where the only phone jack was. You can surf in bed now. In fact, there's virtually no reason to get out of bed anymore. After all, you can always order pizza on line.

Another reason for going Mac is that you will not find a cheaper wireless solution anywhere else. Don't believe me? Check out the Toshiba or IBM web sites; you could be paying up to $1,000 for a wireless LAN solution. By contrast, Apple's $99 Airport card and $299 Base Station are a steal. If you have a spare iBook, G4 or iMac with an Airport card, you don't even need a base station; just use the other Mac as your gateway to the 'net. In fact, Apple should make it standard across the Mac line and just retail the Base Station. My guess is it will be (in time), the same way ethernet is the standard on the Mac and still-too-optional in the Wintel world (those guys have a steep learning curve to surmount). But (*shudder*), even the Wintelians can access the Base Station. Sacrilege. What's worse, I read somewhere that the Base Station has a 486 CPU in it. If that's true, I'm starting my own Base Station factory right here in my living room.

And yes, all you PB190/5300/3400/2400/1400/Kanga/Wallstreet/Lombard users can be at the Airport Lounge as well. All you need is Farallon's SkyLine or Lucent Technologies' Orinoco card (same thing). There's also Cabletron's RoamAbout card, which is a variation on the same theme. The 11mbps card's available now; there should also be quite a few 4mbps cards around for less money. And, as a fine point of interest, this probably all works with a PowerBook 500 series (that's the 1994 model) as well, so long as it has the optional PC card cage installed.

2. PCI Expansion: From Magma Okay, so this costs about half a Pismo, but it's worth it. Serious road warriors need only apply. It connects via the media bay on a Wallstreet, Lombard or Pismo and comes in a separate enclosure. You can have 3 or 7 PCI slots. Video cards (7 or 8 monitors?), Ultra-wide SCSI, sound cards, tape drives, RAID systems - if it's available as a PCI card, it can be done. With an extra adapter, it can also be swapped into your desktop PCI Power Mac. Ideal for designing the lighting rig on the next Pink Floyd world tour.

1. Upgrade: Of course. What else? There's nothing better or cooler than a faster 'Book. Upgrade your old PB to a 500MHz Pismo. Or a 366MHz iBook SE. Toss a 366 or 400MHz card into your 1400 or a G3 in your 2400. Find a Kanga logic board for your 3400. Trade your 5300 in. Make your Wallstreet or Lombard run at 400 or 500MHz. The possibilities are only limited by your wallet and your loved one, wherever s/he and the money are now.

The Bottom Line

Any or all of these accessories will make your 'Book a better place to live and work. And while you shouldn't over-capitalise your investment, bear in mind that these options add value to your PB or iBook and make it a better selling proposition when it comes to trade-in time. Believe me, your 'Book's next owner will appreciate the investments you've made - and they'll show their appreciation in cold, hard cash.

PostScript (Level 1)

A lot of people mailed me about my last column regarding a prospective Wallstreet or iBook purchase. Surprise, surprise: no one recommended the iBook. Everyone told me what I could do with a Wallstreet (not all of it polite, and not all of it legal). Thanks to everyone who took the trouble.

The solution? Yes, I'm getting a Wallstreet. It's not here yet, but it soon will be. I even took the extra trouble to try an iBook again (and a Pismo, while I was at it, plus I drank a very nice Chardonnay out of a G4 Cube). But in the end, there can be no doubt that the Wallstreet wins over the iBook. The 14.1" screen, the legacy connectivity. I could go on...

Or maybe it's just because I'd rather be seen wearing the black tux instead of the clown costume.