Clae, Bruce Johnson and the other 5x0 owners on this list will probably disagree, but I'd have to say "Go for the 190!!!!"
The 5x0c is a nice machine (active matrix even), certainly. But generally, I think the 190 is probably the better trade off on features/price/availability. - Score 1 for the 190 (It's AUD46 cheaper) (190cs: 1, 540c: 0) 190 RAM (sometimes interchangeable with the 5300, but not always) is probably a few cents cheaper per meg, but not much. - Draw (190cs: 1, 540c: 0) The big savings advantage here is in hard drives. Yes, the 5x0 is SCSI, and 2.5" SCSI hard drives are rare and expensive (though I understand you can use a SCSI->IDE adapter to use a modern IDE disk). The 190 is IDE, so you can use just about any hard drive on the market today. - Score 1 for the 190 (190cs:2, 540c: 0) Forget about using a CD-R with either machine. The 190 (besides not being SCSI Manager 4.3 compliant) doesn't have enough "umph" to do a whole lot of cd mastering. I can't speak for the 5x0, but I'd bet it's the same. - Score 1 for the 540c (just because) (190cs: 2, 540c: 1) The 190 has 2 PCMCIA slots built in. That's nice. Of course, it doesn't have a built-in modem, but who uses their 5x0's 19.2Kbps modem anyhow. PC card modems are cheap and widely available. Having PCMCIA is nice for other things too (like wireless LANs, flash cards, etc) Plus, the 190 has the expansion bay - if you are lucky enough to find a device other than the floppy, you have a pretty capable machine. (Magneto-Optical drives, hard drives, and power adapters have all been made for the expansion bay.) The card cage is available for the 5x0, but it is pretty expensive and rather rare. - Score 1 for the 190cs (190cs: 3, 540c: 1) The 5x0 has built-in ethernet, but it requires an AAUI->RJ-45 adapter that will set you back about $15 on eBay. For that money, you can get the 3Com 10bT PC card for the 190 and not have to carry around such a huge dongle. Of course, you will have to carry an extra PC card and it's dongle... - Score 1 for both (190cs: 4, 540c: 2) They both have 68LC040s at the same speed (33/66). The 5x0 does have the various nice PowerPC upgrades, but if money is an issue, just go pick up a 5300 and be done with it (they should cost less than the 5x0 PPC upgrade all by itself). They will run the same software with about the same performance. They will both run OS 8.1 maximum (unless you upgrade the 540c with a PowerPC or exchange the 190 logic board for a 5300 logic board - a cheaper PPC upgrade) - Draw (190cs: 4, 540c: 2) Screen sizes are the same. The 540c is active matrix, the 190cs is passive. (They both do 8bit color, right?) - Score 1 for the 540c (190cs: 4, 540c: 3) Batteries for the 190/5300 are a dime a dozen just about everywhere. They are cheap and plentiful. 5x0 batteries are more expensive and a bit rarer, in addition to being not-so-intelligent intelligent batteries. The 5x0 can use two batteries at a time, the 190 only has 1 battery bay. - Score 1 for the 190cs (190cs: 5, 540c: 3) The 190's power connector is notorious for being easily breakable and faulty. The free REA for the 190/5300 is going to be over Real Soon Now. The 540 is more robust. - Subtract 1 from the 190cs (190cs: 4, 540c: 3) The 190 is a little smaller and lighter, so it's just a bit more portable. - Score 1 for the 190cs (190cs: 5, 540c: 4) The 190 does NOT have sound-in. That's right, besides the built-in microphone on the display, you cannot record sound with the 190. Does the 540 have sound-in? - Score 1 for the 540c (190cs: 5, 540c: 4) The 190 does have an internal PDS slot that can take either an external display card or an external display card/ethernet card combination. The card can do up to 16bits in some models. However, the video/ethernet card is extremely buggy and is unstable in some configurations. - Score .5 for the 190cs (190cs: 5.5, 540c: 4) The 190/5300 has generally poor workmanship - hence the REA to begin with. If subjected to above average use or heavy handedness, some components (like the clicker) may fail. - Subtract 1 from the 190cs (190cs: 4.5, 540c: 4) The 190 has infrared (sometimes). The IR port can only do IRTalk, though, so it's of questionable use. - Score 0 for the 190cs (190cs: 4.5, 540c: 4) The 5x0 has built-in stereo speakers. The 190/5300 has one stinky mono speaker (it plays both left and right channels through the single speaker). - Score 1 for the 540c (190cs: 4.5, 540c: 5) The 190 has a tapable trackpad!!! I love these things. - Score 1 for the 190cs (190cs: 5.5, 540c: 5) As you can see, neither of these machines is spectacular, and it's a pretty close race. But I'd have to say that it's either a draw, or a win for the 190cs. As my scoring system shows (yes, very scientific, I know!!), the 190cs earns 5.5 points, but the 540c only earns 5. The 540c wins for robustness and display quality. The 190cs wins for cheapness and expansion options. Now, if we are talking style and form factor, that's a whole different argument. The Blackbird (5x0) is spectacular and definitely an eye catcher. It's also won some industrial design awards. The M2 (190/5300) is pretty classic with a subdued elegance... But that's a matter of personal preference. Hope that helps! ;-) Peace, Drew -- Author of ClassicStumbler email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> web: <http://homepage.mac.com/alk/> Want to know if your neighbor has Wi-Fi? Find out with ClassicStumbler! <http://homepage.mac.com/alk/classicstumbler/> -- PowerBooks is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... 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