I totally lost it at "It's frankly a piece of shit." 🤣

@CharlesAnjos

3 ай бұрын

that caught me completely off guard, I piggy-laughed even!

@chaggydawg

3 ай бұрын

I just logged in on my phone just so I could also post comment about bursting out laughing about this statement.

@IntegerOfDoom

3 ай бұрын

It's always fun when people who don't speak like me break out of their shell.

@bryans8656

3 ай бұрын

"Don't sugarcoat Sundance, give it to me straight".

@Mrjamjams66

3 ай бұрын

This is the funniest part to me​@@IntegerOfDoom Collin is very G rated in my opinion

“It’s frankly a piece of shit” is the kind of incisive tech analysis we need more of.

@fallingwater

3 ай бұрын

Someone put SponsorBlock's highlight on that and they have my heartfelt thanks.

@rnts08

3 ай бұрын

Can be said for everything apple though

@crocodile2006

3 ай бұрын

Didn't swear during the whole video... "This is going to be Ad Family Friendly Safe"... then he drops of S Bomb because it had to be said

@thetechgenie7374

3 ай бұрын

Yep I wish we could get more product tech reviewers to be honest and state that “it’s frankly a Piece of 💩” instead of pushing product and not biased due to free products, but is wishful thinking at best?

@ivorjawa

Ай бұрын

A true road apple.

This Does Not Compute would be the last person I can think of to throw the middle finger at something

@stefanocrespi5424

3 ай бұрын

*something

@Prabolo

3 ай бұрын

​@@stefanocrespi5424 I was meant to type something but autocorrect came out of the grave and fucked me up

@tarstarkusz

3 ай бұрын

But if there is any product by any company that can it, it's Apple and their crappy laptops.

@adventureoflinkmk2

3 ай бұрын

Oh I dunno... LGR tried restoring a hot wheels (barbie?) PC and said f u c k

@HeadsetGuy

3 ай бұрын

And the last person _I_ would expect to say "shit". Twice.

The dedication to actually finishing off this laptop and not throwing in the towel is commendable. But probably mostly in a "I have to prove I'm better than this piece of junk" kind of way, and not in a proud, "I want to show this off in my collection" way :D

@LKComputes

3 ай бұрын

still can't tell if jeff or jeff

@CraftComputing

3 ай бұрын

"Hey... you wanna see the worst laptop I own?"

@JeffGeerling

3 ай бұрын

Now it's *really* hard to tell if jeff or jeff @@CraftComputing

@FB-qp8eo

3 ай бұрын

I think it's important to preserve the laptop Apple would like us to forget, and document why it sucked.

@c1ph3rpunk

3 ай бұрын

Throw the towel… yea, that’s it. ;-)

"I'll teach you to be sorry!" 🤣

30 years later and most manufacturers are still installing hinge mounts inside of weak plastic resulting in the same issue. Awesome video.

@aeleequis

3 ай бұрын

The biggest technician that ever lived

@Maciek2846

2 ай бұрын

Hinge Problems

@ripjaw1212-9

2 ай бұрын

its the greatest technician thats ever lived

@alittlebit64

Ай бұрын

HP=Hinge Problems

@s1mmermodule

4 күн бұрын

last place where i would expect you

My parents always buy the worst products, Chrysler cars, RCA electronics, etc. No wonder they had this. 🤦

@SonicBoone56

3 ай бұрын

The Walmart special

@mattb9664

3 ай бұрын

Chrysler was so bad until all the problems were fixed by the dealer..on your time.

@savnoorsamra3597

3 ай бұрын

RCA was at the top of the world at one point

@retro8696

3 ай бұрын

Chrysler Cars I've always had Goodluck with and if mine gives me issues now it will have nothing to do with it being a Chrysler since the car is 21 years old with 249000 miles.

@spookyghost7524

3 ай бұрын

the comment is so funny, yet so sad at the same time

16:06 "SORRY? I'LL TEACH YOU TO BE SORRY YOU-" *Dumbledore said calmly*

@matthewrease2376

3 ай бұрын

Underrated comment

@colinstu

3 ай бұрын

lost it @ this.

“It’s frankly a piece of shit” & “Sorry? I’ll teach you to be sorry you - “ 😂😂😂

hearing you drop the casual "it's frankly a piece of shit" speaks (properly formatted, non-partitioned) volumes about your experience here

@picklerick_91

3 ай бұрын

lmao i understood that reference

@JoBot__

3 ай бұрын

Nice one. >w>

"If you liked watching me suffer I'd appreciate a thumbs up" >_< Oh no haha! Calling us out on our schadenfreude are you?

@joncalon7508

3 ай бұрын

I snorted at that line and absolutely had to follow instructions on that. My god Colin, I would’ve pitched the thing into the trash after only half of what you went through on this laptop.

Not surprised that it was built by Acer. I can't count the number of times that an Acer-laptop of my employer in the late 90's suffered broken hinges. It is an Acer "seal of quality". 🤣

@kuchenblechmafiagmbh1381

3 ай бұрын

I have no large experience with Acer but they're seemingly pretty average, a friend of my grandparents got an 15" Aspire ES1 and it's okayish with i3-6006U, the LCD panel has 1080p resolution, still got optical drive and just 4 GB of RAM, however DDR4 and another slot is available, three USB-A but sadly one on of them a 3.0. But they really put a 1 TB mechanical hard drive into that thing (at that time 240/250 GB SSDs were available at the same price of a 1TB 2.5" HDD) I recently serviced it and it enraged me once more how slow Windows 10 due to that spinnin' rust was! So I got a 250 GB SSD where I cloned Windows onto and also a stick of RAM to have dual-channel, now it really runs and also boots up in around 20 seconds instead of far above 2 minutes to get to the login screen and easily another minute to the desktop! And no joke, I bought a 2017 iMac 21.5" 4K a year ago (with i5-7400, 8 GB of RAM, Radeon Pro 555 and 1TB HDD) and this ran the final official mac OS version - Ventura from HDD better than Windows 10 on that Acer laptop. Also barely seen some outstanding concepts and innovations, at least their ConceptD line has some nice styling similar to Asus' ProArt and Gigabyte's Vision lines, if the prices are similar I'd rather choose such a Laptop or small Desktop over a overstyled Predator/ROG/TUF/Aorus Gaming machine.

The fact that the trash icon is blinking during the final remarks... 🙂

Fun fact: the 150 was such a slow seller that some Mac resellers still had 150s in stock as late as 1996 (which I remember seeing in Macworld magazine back then; usually they were $950.00 or less).

@ptonpc

3 ай бұрын

A company I did a job for had bought thousands of these for execs. Most of them ended in skips, completely unused.

Watching the PowerBook 150 almost break This Does Not Compute made me chuckle but also slap my forehead several times.

I've had a number of 100, as well as Duo 200 series PowerBooks. They've all been Pieces of Shhhhh... But the 150 definitely takes the cake for its blatant disregard of humanity.

I was issued one of these at work in ‘96, I was so excited at the time not knowing that the new dude was the one that inherited it from the last person that hated it.

When I heard "bent keyboard", I wondered will all the keys work after it is unbent.

I felt every setback in this video physically. Stuff like this bonds the communicty together. Thanks for suffering for us Colin.

Your disdain for this laptop really came through like no other video you've produced. I really enjoyed this one.

I can feel the rage behind that thumbnail. It's a feeling that unites all retro computer enthusiasts 😂

@IntegerOfDoom

3 ай бұрын

I just had four slot 1 motherboards fail in front of me. I can feel this.

@ozzie_goat

3 ай бұрын

I'm working on a Sega Game Gear...I got it all nicely recapped after being blasted with fish stink all afternoon, only to have the contrast wheel explosively decompose

@app0the

3 ай бұрын

Hence bullshit.computer exists for a reason

@MrJohndoakes

3 ай бұрын

At least it isn't a Coleco Adam.

@ozzie_goat

3 ай бұрын

@@MrJohndoakes Isn't that the computer that wipes the cassettes when you turn it on

You were pretty much the last person I'd expect to hate a machine so much. It was epic!

At several points in the video I half expected the next scene to be of the 150 getting tossed in a bin. And while that's not TDNC's style, everyone has their breaking point!

I would still argue that the 5300 was the worst one. The 150 didn’t pretend to be anything but a low end piece of crap, while the 5300 mascaraed as a high end machine despite its middling performance and lack of CD drive right as multimedia was booming (the batteries also caught fire on the first batch and they had a whole repair program due to the fragility of the plastics)

@nicholasjulianriley

3 ай бұрын

5300/190 definitely need to be up there (along with the Duo 2300c, which wasn't a terrible design but was just SLOW due to its architecture - my family had two of them). But the 145B/150 as the maximally cost-reduced 100 series should be up there.

@egbront1506

3 ай бұрын

The worst was the non-stick power lead jack, which would do anything not to stay put in the power socket. Sneeze anywhere near your 5300 with a depleted battery and watch your machine switch off in disgust.

@3lectr1c

3 ай бұрын

I agree with just about everything here, but the battery thing is massively overblown. The units with Lithium batteries never made it to customers. The fires were all apple employees or in the factory (only around 3 I believe). The real unfortunate part is that it hit the press, meaning that people still talk about it. The main disappointment is that they had to switch back to NiMH batteries - that lowered the battery life. That’s what should be criticized, not the fires which also weren’t even apple’s fault.

@headwerkn

3 ай бұрын

The 5300 series were still useable/connectable/expandable. The 150 was extremely limited in every conceivable way.

@christineclips

3 ай бұрын

But the 5300 saved the world.

"Sorry?! I'll show you sorry you....." LOL. That power book is about to get the office space treatment lol.

It's incredible to see a machine break you. But jeez, what a weirdly compromised machine.

@FB-qp8eo

3 ай бұрын

Oh, but it didn't break him.....he forced it to continue to live.

One of the most calm and collected tech KZreadr on here finally snapped at an Apple laptop.

LMAO when you almost lost your temper in 16:04. That was a great way to vent your frustration through the video.

I've never heard you cuss in a video before. It must have been that bad. 🤣

At least you got the RAM adapter. They weren't included from the factory (at least, not without additional BTO RAM installed) and nobody has them anymore. Plus people want a bunch of money for the Duo RAM cards on top of it. Normally computers with no features are more reliable than their blinged-out counterparts, but the 150 was clearly bottom-rung and it shows.

@kirishima638

3 ай бұрын

That RAM is worth more than the laptop!

Your warranted frustration toward this PowerBook only made this video that much better... I'm glad you were able to get it working! Seeing what you went through to fix yours gives me little desire to fix up my own. 😅

@JeskidoYT

3 ай бұрын

i dont think he was able to format the drive though

I remember these things. Back when Apple supported their field service techs. I probably have a service manual for it in a box somewhere in the garage.

ABS can be both sanded and bonded with acetone. For pieces in cases like these, I'm a big fan of using ABS filament for my printer, and using ABS slurry (ABS in acetone) to glue parts & add some extra around the sides of weak parts. It works great, and when the bond is strong it's theoretically as strong as an original part; the chemical bonding means there's no intermediary substance like Cyanoacrylate there. :)

This video was hilarious. You're usually so calm, so snapping at the "sorry" button was really amusing.

You must be a very patient man.

Its nice to see these old machines being saved. Its crazy how wildly different these types of plastic hold up over time.

You have way more patience than me! I would have tested it's aerodynamics against a wall.

Bravo to you for sticking it out on this restoration. I really enjoyed the candor and the realism that comes from real-world insurmountable obstacles. Reminds me of every technical project I have started and not finished. Thanks for not glossing over the fact that dumb design choices from years ago have real consequences when trying to restore these systems. Respect.

@kenon6968

3 ай бұрын

it's kind of weird to think that in a generation this hobby won't even exist because all our current tech is designed to end up as e-waste

i appreciate that you show your mistakes and mess ups, it makes me feel better that even someone with your experience doing this doesn’t always do it perfectly. been wanting to learn to solder and get some old tech like this

This was my first PowerBook (or Mac). First computer I upgraded RAM on, installed a global village modem. Used to access prodigy and the AOL on it. I remember convincing my mom to get it for me as it was the lowest cost Mac. I ordered it from MacMall COD. I handed the FedEx delivery guy a money order. I remember cleaning the rollers for the trackball and I broke one of the rollers. We found an independent repair shop and got me going again. For legal reasons I can’t share what happened to it. But I miss my first. Next PowerBook was a G3 Lombard. So much better 😆

Best "please subscribe" invitation ever: "If you like watching me suffer..." 😂

I really didn't expect to ever see this guy mad, he's the Bob Ross of computers

I'm so sorry for your suffering, I do understand what it feels like to in such a rabbit hole just to fix a computer. In the other hand, it was a great time watching you video! Seriously that laptop is really a pain!

5:44 I thought it was either the thing coming up, a cat meowing, or someone moaning 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The ending camera pan with the Trash icon next to the "PowerBook 150" text was beautiful, no way that wasn't intentional.

This has to be my most favorite video of yours! Your frustrations were felt by us all!

As a poor student in 1995, the PowerBook 150 was the only Macintosh notebook my parents and I could afford. I can attest that it is every bit as sh%tty as suggested. The hard drive failed, plastics cracked, the display glitched, and it occasionally didn't like to power up. The fourth time I had to ship it back to Apple for repairs under the 1-year warranty, they were having trouble keeping replacement parts in stock and I convinced them to replace it with a PowerBook 190. The 190 had its own set of shortcomings but was all in all a much better machine.

Ah man! The 12" MacBook was and still is my FAVORITE Mac ever. When it came out, it's performance was great - but over time it did start to lag. The one USB port was never an issue for me and I loved it being silent and super portable. Great work on this video though. I hate it when you fix one problem only to discover another one whilst you're trying to make a video.

@nickwallette6201

3 ай бұрын

I know a few people who picked them up as auxiliary laptops for their small size and light weight. It may have been designed for the casual consumer, but they were appreciated by (e.g.) techs who were highly mobile during the work day. It served a specialized niche between "actual laptop" and "tablet with keyboard."

@dgpsf

2 ай бұрын

At least the 12" had its compromises for plausible reasons (for extreme compactness). The 150 was just "let's keep ripping out features until we can ship this under $X and still have whatever margin we want." It must have been painful to work on the team that made that thing.

I never saw inside the screen of one of those things. I always assumed the chonky bezel was full of electronics around the edges needed to make the screen work. Did not realize there was so much empty space in there.

I bought an old Powerbook 180C at a computer street sale in Dallas in the late '90s for all of $15. It was my first laptop, and I'm flinching with sympathy pain as I watch you work on that 150. Even though It was technologically ancient, I still had fun with the 180C but it did need a decent amount of work to keep it running.

I remember when they were new and offered as Apple's lowest price option next to the 500-series had been released. It was a dog back then too in person.

I hate that you had to endure this, but am so grateful that you shared your experience. It’s easy for we viewers to forget that sometimes, behind even the slickest of editing, even for a seasoned pro, the restoration doesn’t quite go to plan.

Vintage computer restoration in a nutshell ... problem ... after problem ... after problem. LOL

The 12" MacBook deserves a redo

@nooneinpart

3 ай бұрын

Stick Apple Silicon in there and swap out the keyboard for a Good keyboard and it would make for a pretty good Chromebook competitor. Maybe they can even hit the $400 range if they use an A-series chip instead, it would still be faster than many Chromebooks today.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! I've SO been there before. Way to push through it tho! My favorite part was the "No T" keyboard resulting in the Probook label. It actually made me do a spit take with my drink. "Its frankly a piece of shit". Classic. Hope this video gets lots of views for you. You earned it.

The 150’s an “I love it because it sucks” sort of laptop in my collection. I may be glad I have one, but I absolutely agree that they aren’t what someone just looking to pick up one old apple laptop should get. Overall very impressive coverage of this thing - I’m surprised you found out about the ADB hack, hardly anyone knows about that. I didn’t even know about that second serial port card. One thing I’d like to highlight is the RAM - because it uses Duo RAM, it can take WAY more than any other 100 series laptop can, 40MB!! If they hadn’t put such a terrible screen on it (and it really is terrible, worse than other passive matrix panels), and gave it better IO, it could be a worthy competitor to even the 180c which maxes out at 14MB.

You made me feel better about the repair I tried on my theater speakers. Total fail as the capacitor pad tore off. Stuff happens!

I have a PowerBook 160 and was experiencing a few of the same issues that plague these devices. This video could not have come at a more ideal time!! Thank you for walking through this, I'm going to see what I can do to fix my 160 since it's similar internally!

Thank you for posting these videos. I worked at a Mac shop doing these repairs on these. These videos take me back. Also, the 150 had plastic cracking after a few years old. 🎉

I’m so glad you did this one - thank you! I have a PB 160 that needs some of those same repairs.

lol. Saw the title and thought ‘its gotta be a PowerBook 150’ 😂 Ironically this was the first Mac I ever owned, which I bought for all of $20 back in 2001. Woefully limited machine for I/O etc so I quickly got myself a 540c which was one of the best ‘old’ PowerBooks ever made. My then girlfriend used the 150 to write her novel.

Your so mild mannered and well spoken but on this one I about fell out my chair laughing!! An image of a bitmapped turd being flipped off then “it’s frankly a piece of shit” too funny!!

I spent of good portion of the late 90s and early 2000's wheeling and dealing old Powerbooks on eBay for a living. These type of issues are very common and even back then it was difficult to get spare parts at a reasonable price. Apple's absurd copyright restrictions on old service manuals made restoring an old 'Book a hair-pulling experience. Tempers flared, tears were shed, much whinging ensued. You have my utmost sympathy and respect.

I had one of these in primary school in a class experimenting with all students having laptops instead of books. I have fond memories of it, but it was the first computer I used properly so I had no standards…

quite some story, Colin. Funny little hint with that trash can at the end 20:30😂

This video makes me nostalgic for my Powerbook 140. Last time I took a look at it, the battery had swelled to the point it could not be removed. Might have to take a look at it again.

Mad props for not tossing this one underneath a moving train.

id never think id see the light of Colin being mad about any sort of device, let alone both giving it the middle finger AND throwing the word "shit" at it

lol, this is why the previous owner told the keyboard to get bent.

I have never seen this man talk shit about something like this. I instantly clicked. I'm looking forward to seeing the chillest tech youtuber this side of LGR be grumpy.

Every vintage Mac enthusiast has one of "those projects" - a computer that stubbornly refuses to work no matter how much time, energy, period-accurate components and upgrades you throw at it. And that's on top of the wonderous limitations that shipped with the computer in the first place thanks to Apple's cost-cutting or weird quirks of the era. Kudos to you Colin for soldering on and entertaining us with your suffering! Also, I'd argue that the G3 iBook is one of the worst laptops Apple made. They were heavy, incredibly annoying to service if the hard drive died, and suffered from BGA solder failures with the GPU. That meant that motherboard failure was all but guaranteed unless you had access to a BGA reworking station.

@und4287

3 ай бұрын

Which one? Clamshell, white, or both?

@exPOnEntial7

3 ай бұрын

@@und4287 The white iBook with the Rage 128 GPU. The clamshell iBooks were also very difficult to get into, but they didn't have the same GPU issues that the later white iBooks had.

That coil reminds me of when I was repairing a 70s Tektronix 214 o’scope and the tiny isolation transformer was shorted and nowhere to be found anywhere so I had to do my first hand wound transformer. I still can’t believe it worked.

Those lovely rainbow ribbon cables. 🌈

Colin: "Sorry? I'll teach you to be Sorry!" Me: "... why do I suddenly hear the Geneva convention being narrated?" Tim Cook: "That's a war crime."

I remember using one of these when I worked on a helpdesk in the mid-90s. Most desks had some variety of Macintosh II family and there were a few Quadras with one PowerBook 150 and a Classic II, all connected via PhoneNET. If stuck with the choice of the last two the PowerBook was the better choice, if barely.

“It’s frankly a piece of shit” lol love it. Collin you are human after all lol. love the channel and thank you for another excellent video!

What an awesome video! I never get tired of watching you restore an old piece of hardware like this. You're a real pro.

Man I really enjoy your videos and have for several years. Recently I've gotten bitten by the retro Mac bug and going back to see your library of videos has been extremely helpful. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos and for the extreme detail and macro camera shots! I know the work involved and it is much appreciated 👍

I just love your videos - can’t click on them fast enough. Your soothing manner and outstanding work are inspiring. Thank you!

I had one of these for work when they were brand new, and the screen was barely usable in an office with normal lighting. Everything else was pretty good for the money at the time for a deliberately budget specced computer, but the hours I spent staring at the lousy screen trying to find the magic combination of head position, contrast and brightness aren't a great memory.

I knew exactly what you meant when you said the hard drive is making "sad sounds" 😂

First time you officially lose your temper 😆😆😆

I had one these for a while in the late 1990s, inherited from my brother. Yes, it was a ghastly thing that was wretchedly slow, but at least the OS 7.53 that I used was totally stable and with the use of Ram Doubler from Connectix, the computer could run a couple of programs at the same time.

From the thumbnail I thought you were coming for my Duo for a second I and got ready to charge to its defense!

Hey my guy. I grew up in rural southern MN (near enough to Rochester) and had a lot of experiences with PCs growing up. It's always a pleasure to see someone else there who appreciates PCs and Macs. This one seemed like a LOT of struggle, but I'm glad to hear and see that you did well with it. Been here for about 8 years, since the Bivert mods GBP. I hope you're for the still going in another 15 or so years.

Watching you repair that laptop was enjoyable. I recently bought a Powerbook 180 and I'm waiting for it to come in.

"If you liked watching me suffer, I'd appreciate a thumbs up" I laughed pretty hard at that

5:44 Colin said shit For the second time In a youtube video 😂 And 16:41 has the third occurrence 😂

This is why I avoid fixing these particular old Apple laptops, it’s like repairing a DeLorean or some obscure car that is just too hard to find replacement parts!

"Frankly it's a piece of shit" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I sure hope my keyboard works after that coffee bath.

God damn 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I didn't expect you to verbally assault this thing like that. Hilarious episode. More of these sprinkled in every now and again would be an awesome detour from your already super serious videos.

Learn something new every day.. Thank you for sharing. Flash mods are cool mate!

Excellent production as always, Colin. I really love your dedication and passion for this tech, and for all the effort you undertake in order to keep these pieces of history alive. Your blunt honesty was a nice touch and honestly very refreshing.

15:00 - huh, strange, I have an identical cheap Aliexpress IDE2CF adapter with a similar 1GB Kingston CF in my unit and it worked right away, although I installed MacOS on my PC with Basilisk II and transferring the image over to the CF.

Greetings from northern New Jersey. I'm glad to see you're back in the saddle!

I enjoyed watching this video. I like the way you just carry on and don't give up.

I have had an apple Macintosh PowerBook 165 laying around in my closet for quite some time. This video is inspired me to finally sit down and work on that machine as well. See if I can get it running. Thank you.

I think I have one of these somewhere. I remember the trackball not working and I had to fix traces on one of the axis wheels to get it _kinda_ working. After that I tried to use the floppy drive, but the drive was fried. The brightness control was also hosed and I was cited the caps on the monitor needed replacing to correct it. The main HDD also needed replacement. I think from that point forward I threw it in a box and it's been there for about 5 years.

At least one of the cost cutting parts is actually helpful today - it's much cheaper and easier to replace an IDE laptop drive than it is a SCSI one. At least with conventional drives!

You have real dedication to this! I have a PowerBook 145b that someone gave me. The last time I checked, it still booted up. That has been a while. It's just a decorative piece in my home office now but I do get the urge to power it up. I need to find its power brick first! After I got my first 3-d printer I found that there are a lot of 3-d models for vintage Apple computer parts. I was surprised by this but then I should have known there would be. We Mac users are passionate about these products, even the ones that were made while Steve Jobs wasn't around. Apple made some great products during this time but they also made some really bad ones like the Performa 6360 that I bought just after Apple acquired NeXT. It worked well but its 1.2GB hard drive died just a couple of months after I bought it. After getting it fixed, I kept it until I bought a rev B iMac in January 1999. It was on that Mac that I first ran Mac OS X beta and I was happy that all of the familiar features that I loved about NeXTSTEP were in Mac OS X.