PowerBook G4

I recently purchased a new MacBook Pro, and it gave me chance to reflect on the first Mac I owned: a 12-inch PowerBook G4 (nearly 20 years ago).

The PowerBook remains one of my favourite laptop form-factors; incredibly compact back in 2003, and still with a full keyboard. It’s the first portable desktop-class computer I ever owned, with a playfulness and charm that I haven’t come across in a portable since¹.

Before letting it go a few years back, I took some photos that show off some of the MacBook’s fantastic details: the machined power button, interactive battery monitor, and screen latch, home to the ‘breathing’ sleep indicator was so characteristic of Apple portables of the time. I regret not giving it a better clean beforehand but, if you can get over that, I think they capture a fun piece of computing history.