Outbound Notebook System

Donor: Jim Spadaccini
Location: Williamsburg, Virginia

Let's face it, Macintoshes are pretty cool. But even cooler are portable Macs. Also cool, and often very rare, are Mac clones. So, how rare and cool is a portable Mac clone? Meet the Outbound. It's a Mac SE in a notebook format. It's about the same size as a current-day notebook. And it's a Mac.

Unfortunately, it doesn't boot up past the splash screen. Well, it did once. I had tried booting it several times, with no luck. Then one day, on a lark, I tried again. And it booted right into the Mac OS! I called out to my wife to get her camera and we took some long exposure photos of the screen. And then we misplaced the photos. And, of course, it has refused to boot ever since. We're still looking for the photos.

When it actually boots, the screen is surprisingly sharp and readable. Instead of a touchpad or rollerball, it has a mesh cylinder that slides left and right, as well as rolls. It's very easy to control the mouse using this device. I wish current laptops used it. (I actually saw a similar device for sale at Comdex a couple years ago.) I really wish it booted because it's a really usable system.

And if all that isn't cool enough for you, get this. It uses camcorder batteries! How cool is that? That's right. It's very, very cool! And it has a black nylon carrying strap.

• Splash screen. This is what you see before it doesn't boot up. (The red dot is the digital camera's focus light.)
• Close-up of the mouse roller. It rolls and shifts from side to side.
• Closed-up, not much bigger than a laptop of today.
• Underside, showing the label.
• Here's one of the batteries.

Other Outbound Notebook System Resources

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