PowerBook 100 Series Introduction (1991)

PowerBook 100 Series Introduction (1991)

Author: Derek August 1, 2022 Duration: 30:12

Apple’s apology for the gigantic expensive Macintosh Portable. Original text from Macworld, December 1991.

Audio clips courtesy of The Unofficial Apple VHS Archive’s collection of Apple User Group Connection tapes, which covered Apple’s PowerBook 1xx launch event for employees in 1991. Got all that?

Television commercials: it attracts mates somehow, it runs everything in 4MB of RAM somehow, and the predecessor to the Yao Ming/Verne Troyer 12-inch PowerBook G4 ad.

Apple telling you how great the design is.

Apple telling you how great the product is.

John Sculley telling you how great he is. Useful if you’re having trouble falling asleep.

Apple demonstrating the Microsoft Jump Rope and the Microsoft Wart.

John Medica: R.I.P., press release and tribute by Wake Forest University, also on YouTube.

Computer History Museum - Apple Industrial Design Event (2007) featuring Robert Brunner, Manager of Industrial Design during the PowerBook 1xx era, and Jerry Manock, industrial designer on the Apple II through the Mac 128.


Derek hosts Mac Folklore Radio, a podcast that serves as a warm, nostalgic conversation about the machines that defined personal computing for a generation. This isn't a dry technical history, but rather a collection of stories, memories, and shared experiences centered on the Macintosh ecosystem from its early beige-box days through the colorful iMac era and beyond. Each episode feels like digging through a box of old software manuals and rediscovering the community, the quirks, and the sheer sense of possibility those computers inspired. You'll hear tales of first setups, beloved and baffling peripherals, the games that consumed hours, and the software that felt like magic. It's crafted specifically for those who lived through it-the users, tinkerers, and enthusiasts who remember the hum of a CRT and the distinct scent of a warm motherboard. Tune in for a dose of genuine, fond reminiscence that functions as comfort food for the Apple-centric soul, preserving the personal side of tech history one story at a time. This podcast is a love letter to the culture built around these machines, celebrating the folklore that official manuals never recorded.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Mac Folklore Radio
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