Third-party Products for the Latest Powerbooks Are Inspired by What the New Models Have -- as Well as by What They're Missing.
Sharon Zardetto Aker
IF YOU'RE THINKING about getting one of the latest PowerBooks, you're probably also wondering just what else you can buy to go along with it. This latest round -- the PowerBook 5300 and 190 series and the Duo 2300c -- has early and enthusiastic support from third-party vendors. Most, of course, are enamored of the possibilities presented by the PCMCIA slots and the expansion bay in the 5300s and the 190s. Part of what you'll find to go in those open spots is what's missing from the new PowerBooks: internal modems and Ethernet support. The other choices range from various types of storage devices, video-capture, and infrared products to battery-recharging and memory products.
Although it's easy to predict the type of products that will soon be available to equip your new PowerBook, it's not so easy to say exactly how much they'll cost; the date they'll be available; or even, in some cases, the product name. Let's take a sneak peek at the new products, keeping in mind that some of the details may very well change.
Mo' Better Storage
Pop the floppy drive out of that space on the right side of the 190- and 5300-series PowerBooks, and you've got an empty expansion bay ready to be filled with the item of your choice. One of the most likely candidates is some sort of storage, because we always need more.
Although you may be waiting to see if that little wunderkind the Iomega Zip drive (a small and inexpensive drive that uses 100-MB removable cartridges) makes its way to the bay, there are options available this year that may fit your needs even better.
At the top of the list is Fujitsu's $500 Dynamo 230 Portable, a magneto-optical (MO) drive that reads from and writes to 128-MB and 230-MB MO cartridges. With internal drives getting bigger, MO drives of this size make great backup devices.
If you want to slap that old standard -- a hard-disk drive -- into the expansion bay, you will probably have several brands to choose from before many more months go by. Among the first out of the gate are drives from VST Power Systems. Because of a clever modification VST made to Apple's standard slide-in unit for the bay, you can actually fit VST's 1.2-GB drive into the expansion bay. The company additionally makes 540- and 810-MB drives that fit into the bay.
Modems and Mo'
Put together what the 5300s and the 190s have (PCMCIA slots) and what they are missing (internal-modem capability), and what do you get? PCMCIA-based modems.
You'll no doubt find a slew of modem PCMCIA cards available before the end of the calendar year, but there are three brands in particular I'd like to mention here. (I'd also like to mention that everyone's tired of saying "PCMCIA"; the accepted nomenclature is "PC Card," even if that conjures up the other kind of computer Mac loyalists may prefer to avoid.)
First, there's Global Village's modems. The company is offering three Type II PC Card modems: the 14.4-kbps PowerPort Gold (under $200); the 28.8-kbps PowerPort Platinum (around $350); and the 28.8-kbps PowerPort Platinum Pro (under $600), which includes an Ethernet connection you can use simultaneously with the modem. Each modem comes with PC Card-enhancement software, which allows "enhanced hot-swapping." That means you can remove the card even while your modem software is running -- in case, for instance, you need to grab some information that's stored on another card.
Dayna Communications, known for its networking products, is also offering a PC Card modem, called the CommuniCard Plus, that includes an Ethernet connection. It comes in a 14.4-kbps version ($415) and in a 28.8-kbps version ($450).
The other PC Card modem of note is the AIRplex, from VST. What's so special about it? For about $600, you get a modem card with a piggybacked infrared (IR) module and a base IR transceiver. That gives you a wireless phone connection from your PowerBook to the transceiver. Since the infrared module uses a signal that's good for up to about 50 feet, you can wall-mount the transceiver and let all PowerBooks in the room with IR capability take turns using it.
Networking: Ether and Other
So far, I've mentioned Ethernet capability only in conjunction with modem PC Cards, but you can get PC Card-based Ethernet support without the modem too. Dayna Communications and Farallon make cards that enable wired or wireless networking.
Farallon's AirDock, with its AirPath software (about $70), is an intriguing example of the infrared variety. You hook up a "pod" to the serial port and the ADB port on a desktop Mac and let your IR-equipped PowerBook talk to the desktop Mac through it. The AirPath software lets the PowerBook connect to the desktop Mac's AppleTalk or Ethernet network as well as exchange files with that Mac. The IR signal is line-of-sight -- good for about 6 feet.
Focus Enhancements is offering yet another Ethernet option for yet another slot, the video-card slot (which is actually a thinly disguised processor-direct slot, or PDS), in the new PowerBooks. The LapisColor MV16-EN ($399) is a 10BASE-T Ethernet adapter and a 16-bit-video-out card that goes in the PowerBook 190- and 5300-series machines. Focus will offer the card without the Ethernet adapter as the LapisColor MV16 ($299).
Charge!
VST has long offered one of the best external batteries (the ThinPack) and battery-utility software (PBTools) for the PowerBook, so it's no surprise that the company is offering battery-related products for the latest models. There are two external rechargers: one for lithium ion (LiIon) batteries and one that handles both LiIon and nickel metal hydride (NiMH). The combo recharger (around $250) is a blessing for PowerBook 190 owners who have to start out with a NiMH battery but want to switch to LiIon later.
In addition to the rechargers, VST has come up with a clever AC adapter, temporarily named the Expansion Bay AC Adapter, for the expansion bay of the 5300 and 190 series. You can dump the standard power cord and its "brick" of an adapter and use VST's slide-in unit, which then plugs into a standard outlet. If you need the expansion bay for a floppy drive or other device, you can use VST's adapter externally. The target price is $200.
What's Up, Dock?
What does it take to give a Duo 2300c the capabilities of the new all-in-ones? Well, for starters, you need one Type III or two Type II PC Card slots, a SCSI connector, a floppy-drive connector, an ADB port, and audio-in and -out -- so you need the PC Card MicroDock, from Newer Technology. The dock also gives you an Ethernet connection and 16-bit color-video output. Talk about one-stop shopping. (Newer also makes memory chips for each of the new PowerBooks and a video card that gives the PowerBook 5300 series 16-bit color for external video.)
Picture This
Videoconferencing on your PowerBook, using a PC Card to get video input? Intelligence at Large is bundling its conferencing software, BeingThere, with Quadrant's PC Video Input PC Card for under $700 to give you videoconferencing ability. The burning question in my mind about this package: Will the collaboration tools that let you mark up a networked document window also let you draw mustaches and beehive hairdos on your colleague's video images?
New Models, New Buzzwords
OK, repeat after me: "PCMCIA. PC Card. Expansion bay. IR. Wireless." They'll be part of your computing vocabulary in no time.
Sharon Aker and Rich Wolfson are contemplating which of the new PowerBooks would best complement their family of seven Mac models.
