Talk:PowerBook 5300

A fact from PowerBook 5300 appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 17 March 2006. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Apple Computer's PowerBook 5300 got the nickname "HindenBook" after the Lithium ion batteries used in the original design were shown to burst into flames under certain circumstances?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2006/March.

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David Adams (2006-06-15). "Nintendo DS Makes Film Debut". IGN. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

5300 vs. 3400 in the Problems section

The PowerBook 3400 series introduced in the February of 1997 had a slot that could use modules built for the 5300, but apart from DMA and slightly faster processors it still had few new features. That makes the PowerBook 5300 an example for the damage introduction problems can do to the reputation of a remarkable product (and of the whole company), even long after they have been resolved

While I agree with the conclusion, I think saying that the 3400 was merely a slightly tweaked version of the 3400 is a bit of an understatement. The 3400 had, among other things:

CD drive
PCI architecture
64-bit wide internal bus
Accelerated graphics
Built-in Ethernet
Li-Ion battery
Four loudspeakers
A better, higher-resolution screen

So even if superficially they look quite alike, under the skin they are very different machines. It's perhaps better to say that the 3400 is the machine the 5300 should have been, and perhaps would have been, had the technology been slightly more mature and the time of manufacture.

Cheers, Neale Neale Monks 23:23, 7 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]