The new chip is a Freescale MC68040FE33A. He could put the Powerbook back in the parts bin, or he could source a 68040 CPU with an FPU. Still, it’s an impressive display of rework ability, and generated a factlet for the marginalia of the history of consumer electronics.įaced with a laptop that was effectively unchanged after an immense amount of very, very fine soldering, had two choices. The replacement CPU was sourced from China, and even though the number lasered onto the new CPU read 68040 and not 68 LC040, this laptop was still without a floating point unit. He pulled the CPU card from the laptop, got out some ChipQuick, and reworked a 180-pin QFP package. A few months ago, was looking for a project and decided replacing the CPU would be a valuable learning experience. The ‘ LC‘ designation inside the part name says this CPU doesn’t have a floating point unit. The CPU inside these laptops - save for the high-end Japan-only Powerbook 550c - was the 68LC040.
This was one of the first laptops that looked like a modern laptop. They had built-in Ethernet, a trackpad instead of a trackball, stereo sound, and a full-size keyboard. Released in 1994, Apple’s Powerbook 500 series of laptop computers were the top of the line.
This is a tale of old CPUs, intensive SMD rework, and things that should work but don’t.
