© 1992 Lawrence I. Charters
Washington Apple Pi Journal, Vol. 14. no. 11, November 1992, pp. 34-35.
Apple’s PowerBook is a hit. Not only does it open the world of notebook computing to the electronic fruit company, it also gives current Mac owners and users a portable “extension” to their desktop machines. T/Maker’s PowerBook Bundle is intended for both kinds of Power Book owners. Included in the Bundle are:
- A carrying case sized for the Power Book featuring the T/Maker logo;
- A copy of WriteNow 2.2a by T/Maker;
- A copy of Address Book Plus 2.01 from Power Up Software Corp.;
- A copy of if-X Business Expense Reports by Softview (now owned by ChipSoft, the TurboTax people);
- A trial subscription to America OnLine, with their 1.0 software package;
- And a copy of ClickArt for Faxes by T/Maker.
These are complete software packages, with full manuals (unlike Apple’s recent student promotions which lacked printed manuals), and T/Maker also tosses in a large collection of coupons for various things. Unfortunately, many of the coupons had short expiration dates, and are no longer valid.
For most people, the “flagship” product in the Bundle will be the word processor. Word processing is the single most important personal computer task, and the PowerBook — any model — is a surprisingly good computer for doing word processing. The integrated trackball, palm rest and decent keyboard layout make it an excellent machine for writing, including writing on the go. Most of this review, for example, was written while riding the Metro. Significantly, it was written in WriteNow.
While not the most popular Macintosh word processor (that honor falls to Microsoft Word, which is also the most popular Macintosh program of all time), WriteNow is a great choice for any model of PowerBook. WriteNow2.2a, the version included in the Bundle, will run on any Macintosh made, from the original 128K Macintosh of1984 to a Macintosh Quadra. Running on a Power Book under System 7, it has a Get Info suggested RAM size of 475K, but actually uses just 145K after launching. The updated version, WriteNow 3.0, has a Get Info suggested size of 490K, and actually uses 197K of RAM after launching. This means that a minimal Power Book, a model 100 with just two megabytes of RAM and a 20 megabyte hard disk, has plenty of room to run WriteNow.
In fact, it is possible to have both WriteNow 2.2a and WriteNow 3.0 running simultaneously on a Power Book 100 with two megabytes of RAM. WriteNow is tiny. It is also quite fast and, as long as the PowerBook’s drive hasn’t turned itself off to save power, virtually all actions, from scrolling to spell checking, are quick. WriteNow 2.2a is not as full-featured as Microsoft Word 5.0, but it only insists on just a fraction of Word’s RAM or disk requirements.
About the only potential problem with using WriteNow 2.2a on a Power Book is the thesaurus. Rather than rewrite the thesaurus to work with System 7, T/Maker has included a small piece of paper with rather spare instructions on how to use the Font/DA Mover to embed the thesaurus desk accessory into the application. While this isn’t difficult, it is an annoying extra step and probably too intimidating for most novices.
WriteNow 2.2a is not 32-bit clean, and it won’t run on a machine with more than 8 megabytes of RAM. Because none of the current Power Book modems (100, 140, 145, 170) allow more than eight megabytes, this isn’t a real problem, but for those who have more robust desktop machines, they may wish to use the fully System 7 compatible WriteNow 3.0. Upgrading from 2.2a to 3.0 is either $49.95 or $69.95 (T/Maker’s literature is unclear on the subject).
Address Book Plus 2.0 has been my “name and address” manager of choice for the past year and is a good choice for the PowerBook. It works flawlessly on all models of Macintosh and is System 7 compatible. On the other hand, Address Book Plus does require more memory to operate than WriteNow, and you can’t open both at the same time in just two megabytes of RAM. On the other hand, the Copy Address option will copy just the address information to the clipboard, where it can then be retrieved to paste into WriteNow, or any other application.
Aside from just listing and sorting names and addresses, Address Book Plus can also dial the phone via the modem port, and it has options to transparently change dialing prefixes and area codes if you move to a different location. As you might expect, it prints labels in a huge variety of styles, including any custom style you might create. Unlike some address managers, all formats are displayed on the screen, so you don’t have. to guess how things will look.
Address Book Plus will also print envelopes with both the From and To addresses in the proper places, complete to the Postnet codes at the bottom of the envelopes for speedy delivery. For those who prefer to have printed address books, it can print single- and double-sided address listings to fit virtually every commercial personal organizer binder, and allows almost limitless customization.
if-X Business Expense Reports is probably a good idea for a PowerBook-outside of the Washington metropolitan area. The name might be kind of strange, but the application is very businesslike. It allows you to enter and keep track of business expenses using a broad range of pre-designed forms covering travel, lodging, meals and incidental expenses. The forms print out nicely on an ImageWriter, DeskWriter or LaserWriter, and look quite professional.
On the down side, all the forms are geared to corporations and small businesses; none translates to anything resembling a government form. So, if you work for Uncle Sam, about the best you can do is give it to someone in the private sector.
America OnLine is a good choice for a commercial telecommunications service. The graphical interface is ideal for novices because it is far less threatening than the usual CLI (command line interface). On the other hand, the software included in the Power Bundle, version 1.0, isn’t really System 7 compatible and will fail if you have Zapf Dingbats installed. The PowerBundle package even comes with a note telling you this, but the note doesn’t say what you are supposed to do about this failing. An experienced user will probably stick the AOL disk in a disk drive, select Erase, and turn it into a blank floppy, then call up AOL and ask for the current software. A novice user, on the other hand, will probably decide it all sounds vaguely threatening- which means AOL will lose a potential customer.
ClickArt for Faxes was likely included in the belief that most Power Book owners would use their machines as portable fax machines. In fact, most Power Book owners do nothing of the sort. Just the same, the collection is very well done, with very professional and businesslike cover sheets for virtually any kind of business or situation, and in several different formats: WriteNow (art embedded in a WriteNow document), MacPaint, PICT, and PowerBook Fax (designed for use with the fax cover application included with Apple’s unlamented PowerBook modem). The PICT collection is the largest, and about the only criticism would be a lack of fax covers for government agencies. I’d like to see one that said something like, “Sorry for the delayed response, but our appropriation was cut.” Included is a slim manual with excellent advice on sending faxes, plus a visual index of all images.
The PowerBundle carrying case is strongly built, with pockets and places for spare batteries, AC adapters, diskettes and other goodies. Like most computer carrying cases, it is available in any color you want, so long as it is black. With a PowerBook and all the necessities, it makes for a compact package, everything snuggly in place.
But it is not padded. In this regard, the Targus Universal notebook case seems a better choice for protecting a computer from the casual bumps and shocks of mobile computing, plus it has even more pockets and places to put things. On the other hand, the Targus is also far bulkier, so there is the usual trade-off between security and convenience. I vote for security.
As a whole, the PowerBundle really is a good deal — provided you can find anyone willing to sell you one. This was supposedly a “limited time special,” and many mail-order outfits and dealers say they are out of stock. There are some annoyances, such as the hassles involved in replacing older versions of software with current versions, but these are minor. It would be nice if
Thanks to Lou Pastura for carting in about 20 cubic feet of carrying cases to compare and contrast with T/Maker’s PowerBundle case. For those who want a closer look, the PowerBundle carrying case is the regular home of the Pi’s PowerBook 140, and can be seen at most General Meetings or during a visit to the office.