PowerBook 5300 FAQ

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1.3) Productivity & Creativity


1.3.1) What office suites & word processors can I use on this computer?

Generally, there is no limit on what office suite you can run on this computer. Anything that will run on your operating system will probably run on the 5300. Of course, the usual disclaimers apply: Newer software tends to require more resources than older software and runs more slowly on the 5300. That being said, Microsoft Office 2000 and Office 98 will run on the 5300. The startup time for the applications is significant, but once running the applications are fairly responsive. As a rule of thumb, you should stay away from Office 6. Corel WordPerfect 3.5e runs fine, as does Word 5.1a. In addition, Nisus Writer [www.nisus.com], ClarisWorks 3, 4, and 5, and various other 3rd party word processors and spreadsheets run fine on the 5300. AppleWorks 6 [www.apple.com] requires the CarbonLib extension (and hence OS 8.6 or 9).

Of course, the fantastic Bare Bones BBEdit [www.barebones.com] runs terrifically on this computer.

1.3.2) What image editors can I use on this computer?

Again, if it runs on your OS, it will run on your computer (usually). However, there are very few low-resource image editors. Photoshop is probably a poor choice for this computer, but GraphicConverter runs like a champ (if a little slow while scrolling). Of course, there are other choices. If GraphicConverter won't do it for you, though, it probably can't be done (well, within reason for a machine of this vintage).

1.3.3) What page layout software can I use on this computer?

Old versions of QuarkExpress will probably work on the 5300. Again, the usual caveat applies: apps that require horsepower to finish tasks in a timely manner won't like the 5300. That being said, you can probably run just about anything you can get your hands on. In the end, though, I wouldn't expect good performance out of this machine. Also, a reader reports that "Adobe PageMaker 6.5 runs just fine" on the 5300.

1.3.4) Can I build web pages on this computer?

Absolutely! There's a whole bunch of website development tools you can run on this computer ranging from simple text editors (like BBEdit, if you can call it simple) to AppleScripts to specialized HTML optimization programs to full blown development suites from Adobe and Macromedia. I use Macromedia's DreamWeaver 4 on my 5300ce for the occasional light HTML retooling. Claris HomePage also works very well on the 5300, if you can find a copy. I wouldn't plan on doing much Flash programming, though.

1.3.5) Can I write software/applications on this computer?

Yes, but you might want to think long and hard about making that decision. There hasn't been a version of CodeWarrior that would run on the 5300 without being a total pooch for a long time. Apple's MPW is probably also too heavy for the 5300. REALbasic 3.x and 4.x work, slowly, on the 5300. There are probably other development environments that will work with varying degrees of success. The bottom line is that it can be done, but I wouldn't want to be the one doing it.

If all you are doing is compiling AppleScript scripts or doing PHP programming, then the 5300 makes a fantastic workhorse, on the other hand.