May 8, 1997: Apple Debuts a PowerBook…Designed by IBM

A PowerPC 603e, 180 MHz of raw processing power and up to 80 MB of RAM-- sounds like a passably powerful nineties Macintosh. Throw in an active matrix 10.4 inch display and a weight of 4.4 pounds and you have one highly desirable PowerBook.

The weight savings were realized by making the floppy an external device and through clever tricks in the design. Who was the design genius that came up with the PowerBook 2400? Some team at IBM. The PowerBook, surprisingly, was the result of an agreement between IBM and Apple and this time, IBM's engineering skills outstripped Apple's.

Perhaps just as interesting as the design was the intended audience for the 4.4 pound wonder: the Japanese. Apple had intended to release the PowerBook 2400 only in the Japanese market but Mac users the world over wanted an Apple sub notebook. Not a company to pass up an obvious buck, Apple relented and put the machine into general release. The IBM-designed lightweight laptop that every Mac fan wanted (but only the Japanese were supposed to get) debuted May 8, 1997.