PowerBook 170
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 170
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| Developer | Apple Computer |
|---|---|
| Type | Laptop |
| Release date | October 21, 1991 |
| Introductory price | US$4,599 (equivalent to $8,087 in 2016) |
| Discontinued | October 19, 1992 |
| CPU | Motorola 68030, 25 MHz |
| Predecessor | Macintosh Portable |
| Successor | PowerBook Duo series |
The PowerBook 170 was released by Apple Inc. in 1991 along with the PowerBook 100 and the PowerBook 140. Identical in form factor to the 140, it was the high end of the original PowerBook line featuring a faster 25 MHz Motorola 68030 processor with Floating point unit (FPU) and a more expensive and significantly better quality 10 in (250 mm) active matrix display. It was replaced by the PowerBook 180 in 1992.
Though the PowerBook 100 is the direct descendant of the Macintosh Portable based on its internal architecture, the 170 is the Portable's direct successor. A no-compromise, portable version of the desktop Macintosh, the 170 includes virtually all of the features incorporated in the original Portable, as on a comparable desktop of the day, but in a smaller and sleeker case design. Initiated as a more suitable replacement for the Portable, the only features the first generation 170 did not include in its reduced space were an external video port and internal ROM and PDS expansion slots. Indeed, Apple canceled its own external monitor adapter for the Portable shortly after it was announced, instead relying on numerous third party providers for solutions (still applicable to the 170) and FCC regulations of the day prevented any real use of the PDS expansion slot, by restricting any external connections to it. The PowerBook 180 replacement would address external video less than a year later, but expansion slots would not return to Macintosh portables until three years later with the PowerBook 500 series, in the form of PCMCIA cards. The 170 also dropped the external floppy disk port (only the Macintosh Classic II still had one) and made no provision for a second internal floppy disk port (a feature also missing from the rest of the desktop line by this time). Overall, it had roughly the equivalent features and performance of the powerful Macintosh IIci desktop in a laptop.
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