The PowerBook 500 series (codenamed Blackbird, which it shared with the older Macintosh IIfx) was a range of Apple Macintosh PowerBook portable computers first introduced by Apple Computer with the 540c model on 16 May 1994. The 500 series was the first laptop computer to use a trackpad instead of a trackball as a built-in pointing device and the first to have Ethernet networking built-in.

It was the first PowerBook series to use a Motorola 68LC040 CPU (simultaneous with Duo 280) and be upgradeable to the PowerPC architecture via a swap out CPU daughter card (with the PowerPC and 68040 upgrades for sale), use 9.5" Dual Scan passive color/B&W displays, 16bit stereo sound with stereo speakers, have an expansion bay, PC Card capability, two battery bays (and a ten minute sleep/clock battery, which allowed for main batteries to be swapped out while in sleep mode), full size keyboard with F1-F12 function keys, be able to sleep while connected to an external monitor and have a battery contact cover included on the actual batteries. It included a single serial port which could be to connect to a serial printer or a network via Apple's LocalTalk. In another first, it also included an AAUI port for connecting to non-LocalTalk (usually Ethernet) networks.

The 500 series was discontinued completely with the introduction of the ill-fated PowerBook 5300. The PowerBook 190 was the de facto successor to the 500 and continued the only 68LC040 processor offering as the low-end of the PPC-based PowerBook family.

Introduction Date: May 16, 1994 Discontinued Date: September 16, 1995
Processor Speed: 25 MHz Processor Type: 68LC040
Details: This model has a 32-bit processor and a 32-bit data path. Sometimes this model is designated as having a 50 MHz processor, since the clock input runs at 50 MHz. However, the processor itself is not "clock doubled," so technically it only is a 25 MHz processor.
System Bus Speed: 25 MHz Cache Bus Speed: N/A
ROM/Firmware Type: Macintosh ROM ROM/Firmware Size: 2 MB
RAM Type: DRAM Card Min. RAM Speed: 70 ns
Standard RAM: 4 MB, 12 MB Maximum RAM: 36 MB
Video Card: Dedicated VRAM Type: Onboard
Standard VRAM: 512k Maximum VRAM: 512k
Built-in Display: 9.5" Color Native Resolution: 640x480
Details: 9.5" color dual-scan (8-bit, 256 colors) LCD. An upgrade to an active-matrix color display also was available (M3063LL/A).
Standard Hard Drive: 160, 240, 320 MB* Int. HD Interface: SCSI

Apple Family number: M4880

Manufacturer: Apple
Date: 16th May 1994

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH65966. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.