Clae, Obviously, you are in Australia, so I might be able to suggest another alternative. I recently bought a powerbook 1400c for the princly sum of $AU195. (about US$88) I realise this is a little more than both the machines you mentioned, but after a trade in of your 540 I think you will be much more impressed with the unit:
> Clae, > > Bruce Johnson and the other 5x0 owners on this list will probably > disagree, but I'd have to say "Go for the 190!!!!" > > The 5x0c is a nice machine (active matrix even), certainly. But > generally, I think the 190 is probably the better trade off on > features/price/availability. > - Score 1 for the 190 (It's AUD46 cheaper) (190cs: 1, 540c: 0) -- Score -1, it will be a little more expensive -- > 190 RAM (sometimes interchangeable with the 5300, but not always) is > probably a few cents cheaper per meg, but not much. > - Draw (190cs: 1, 540c: 0) -- My machine came maxed out at 64MB, probably a luck-of-the-draw thing, they are ex-optus machines, and seem to be configured a little differently -- > > The big savings advantage here is in hard drives. Yes, the 5x0 is > SCSI, and 2.5" SCSI hard drives are rare and expensive (though I > understand you can use a SCSI->IDE adapter to use a modern IDE disk). > The 190 is IDE, so you can use just about any hard drive on the > market today. > - Score 1 for the 190 (190cs:2, 540c: 0) -- Chances are, you will get a minimum of 750MB, which should be plenty of room for basic word processing etc. Once again, I got one with 1.3 GB, but like I said, luck of the draw. The 1400 has an ATA HDD. -- > > Forget about using a CD-R with either machine. The 190 (besides not > being SCSI Manager 4.3 compliant) doesn't have enough "umph" to do a > whole lot of cd mastering. I can't speak for the 5x0, but I'd bet > it's the same. > - Score 1 for the 540c (just because) (190cs: 2, 540c: 1) -- No idea. I have a different machine I use to burn stuff, so haven't even tried on this one. I assume it would work though... -- > The 190 has 2 PCMCIA slots built in. That's nice. Of course, it > doesn't have a built-in modem, but who uses their 5x0's 19.2Kbps > modem anyhow. PC card modems are cheap and widely available. Having > PCMCIA is nice for other things too (like wireless LANs, flash cards, > etc) Plus, the 190 has the expansion bay - if you are lucky enough > to find a device other than the floppy, you have a pretty capable > machine. (Magneto-Optical drives, hard drives, and power adapters > have all been made for the expansion bay.) The card cage is > available for the 5x0, but it is pretty expensive and rather rare. > - Score 1 for the 190cs (190cs: 3, 540c: 1) -- PCMCIA slots are standard on the 1400, but aren't cardbus compliant. CD-Rom modules are avaliable, but will cost you a bit extra. Floppy is of course standard. -- > The 5x0 has built-in ethernet, but it requires an AAUI->RJ-45 adapter > that will set you back about $15 on eBay. For that money, you can > get the 3Com 10bT PC card for the 190 and not have to carry around > such a huge dongle. Of course, you will have to carry an extra PC > card and it's dongle... > - Score 1 for both (190cs: 4, 540c: 2) -- I got a 28Kbps/10BT pc card included, which covers me for my needs. -- > They both have 68LC040s at the same speed (33/66). The 5x0 does have > the various nice PowerPC upgrades, but if money is an issue, just go > pick up a 5300 and be done with it (they should cost less than the > 5x0 PPC upgrade all by itself). They will run the same software with > about the same performance. They will both run OS 8.1 maximum > (unless you upgrade the 540c with a PowerPC or exchange the 190 logic > board for a 5300 logic board - a cheaper PPC upgrade) > - Draw (190cs: 4, 540c: 2) -- 117/133/166 MHz of raw 603e power, G3 Upgradable!! -- > Screen sizes are the same. The 540c is active matrix, the 190cs is > passive. (They both do 8bit color, right?) > - Score 1 for the 540c (190cs: 4, 540c: 3) -- Bigger screen, 11.3 inches, better resolution, 800*600 (opposed to the 640*480) and more colours (16 Bit vrs 8bit) -- > Batteries for the 190/5300 are a dime a dozen just about everywhere. > They are cheap and plentiful. 5x0 batteries are more expensive and a > bit rarer, in addition to being not-so-intelligent intelligent > batteries. The 5x0 can use two batteries at a time, the 190 only has > 1 battery bay. > - Score 1 for the 190cs (190cs: 5, 540c: 3) -- 1 battery bay, not particullarly smart, but mine lasts about 2 1/2 hours, with max brightness and no HDD spin-down -- > The 190's power connector is notorious for being easily breakable and > faulty. The free REA for the 190/5300 is going to be over Real Soon > Now. The 540 is more robust. > - Subtract 1 from the 190cs (190cs: 4, 540c: 3) -- I think this is the same type as on the Duo series. Very strong anyway... -- > > The 190 is a little smaller and lighter, so it's just a bit more portable. > - Score 1 for the 190cs (190cs: 5, 540c: 4) -- Not sure here... -- > The 190 does NOT have sound-in. That's right, besides the built-in > microphone on the display, you cannot record sound with the 190. > Does the 540 have sound-in? > - Score 1 for the 540c (190cs: 5, 540c: 4) -- Sound in is included -- > The 190 does have an internal PDS slot that can take either an > external display card or an external display card/ethernet card > combination. The card can do up to 16bits in some models. However, > the video/ethernet card is extremely buggy and is unstable in some > configurations. > - Score .5 for the 190cs (190cs: 5.5, 540c: 4) -- 1400 includes the same, probably already filled with a display - out adapter -- > The 190/5300 has generally poor workmanship - hence the REA to begin > with. If subjected to above average use or heavy handedness, some > components (like the clicker) may fail. > - Subtract 1 from the 190cs (190cs: 4.5, 540c: 4) -- Beutifull machine. I have had NO problems, case is in excellent condition. -- > The 190 has infrared (sometimes). The IR port can only do IRTalk, > though, so it's of questionable use. > - Score 0 for the 190cs (190cs: 4.5, 540c: 4) -- 1400 Includes IR -- > The 5x0 has built-in stereo speakers. The 190/5300 has one stinky > mono speaker (it plays both left and right channels through the > single speaker). > - Score 1 for the 540c (190cs: 4.5, 540c: 5) -- Only 1 speaker, but headphones are cheap... -- > The 190 has a tapable trackpad!!! I love these things. > - Score 1 for the 190cs (190cs: 5.5, 540c: 5) -- Tap, double tap and tap-drag on the 1400 I don't mean to put down the 5x0 and 190 machines. They are excellent for what they were designed to do, but if you are able to spare a little extra, I can give you the number of a company in Sydney which deals in ex-lease machines. Like I said, I bought mine through them, and have been very happy with the result. By going PPC, you are also 'future-proofing' yourself a bit I think... Contact me off-list if you are interested. John. -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 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