Hackers (1995) - laptops used by various characters?

[stan]

anyone know of replicas ever made? i've wanted to do one for probably 7 or 8 years. Don't have a copy of the DVD or VHS anymore after a couple moves, so I'm trying to find some references on them. anyone got some screen grabs, or can take some for me? looking for views of the laptops.

thanks guys :thumbsup

 

[Rik1138]

I can snag some screen shots later tonight...

I'd really like to know what happened to the clear laptop used in the film! :cool That's one I'd love to find (even if it's not obtainable). (The actual one used, that is....)

Rik

 

[TurboTrey03]

wow i used to love this movie! ahhh angelina jolie :love

 

[CB2001]

Well, for replicas, I can't say i know for sure. I know that one of them, Dade's first computer he gets when he's 18, was an old-school style portable computer case (I think it was referred to as a luggage case, but I can't be sure of it).

 

[stan]

I can snag some screen shots later tonight...

I'd really like to know what happened to the clear laptop used in the film! :cool That's one I'd love to find (even if it's not obtainable). (The actual one used, that is....)

Rik

PLEASE DO!!!!

in particular, theres a bunch of scenes when they do their competition (dade and kate). i know they show close ups of one of the guys (i think cereal killer?) spray painting his laptop. if you could get captures of all the laptops during that whole extended montage, and maybe some of the parts where htey are using audio couplers on payphones, that would be AWESOME. i'm mainly interested in the hardware itself. i can look at the images on their screens later, but duplicating the customizations to their laptops, and tracking down the laptops that they used is what i'm really interested in right now.

not particularly interested in kate's computer when they are looking at it during her house party. wouldnt be easy to replicate, and i didnt think it was that cool anyway.

 

[stan]

Well, for replicas, I can't say i know for sure. I know that one of them, Dade's first computer he gets when he's 18, was an old-school style portable computer case (I think it was referred to as a luggage case, but I can't be sure of it).

are you talking about the one we see in the scene where he's wearing sunglasses and hacking the TV station? that thing was an odd unit. i remember right, the screen was mounted in the box but relatively small unit overall. in my minds eye it seems like it was about 13" left to right, 6" deep, and maybe 8 inches tall? and he had an external keyboard / mouse? thats a cool unit, screen grabs would be neat.



man i remember this movie so well even thjough I havent seen it in a couple years.

 

[CB2001]

are you talking about the one we see in the scene where he's wearing sunglasses and hacking the TV station? that thing was an odd unit. i remember right, the screen was mounted in the box but relatively small unit overall. in my minds eye it seems like it was about 13" left to right, 6" deep, and maybe 8 inches tall? and he had an external keyboard / mouse? thats a cool unit, screen grabs would be neat.



man i remember this movie so well even thjough I havent seen it in a couple years.

Yeah, that's the computer I'm talking about. Basically, back in the 1980s, they tried to develop a means of taking a personal computer with you when you travel, thus developed what is known as the luggage-style computer case. The problem with it was the weight and bulkiness of the case. Though the bulkiness of the case was solved by the 1990s, newly constructed luggage-style cases were still offered through magazines like "Computer Shopper" throughout the mid-late 1990s (this was before "Computer Shopper" changed its format to be more of a review magazine than a list of source venders where you could buy parts and cases from).

I happen to know this because after seeing "Hackers", I wanted a laptop of my own and I did a lot of looking around.

 

[Rik1138]

DVD loading now...

I remember that computer. A company I worked for had several of those for remote inventory work... Big, ugly things... 386 machines if I remember correctly.

Images coming... (Now I'm going to want to watch the whole thing...)

 

[CB2001]

I remember that computer. A company I worked for had several of those for remote inventory work... Big, ugly things... 386 machines if I remember correctly.

Yeah, but then again, what computer wasn't a 386 or a 486 at that time? I do remember that in "Computer Shopper" some computer retailers actually sold the cases, screens and motherboards separately, so you could customize and upgrade them should you need to. Honestly, I'm surprised if there isn't some hardcore gamer that still uses this type of case, especially with all the case/enclosure mods that are out now.

 

[Rik1138]

So, it seems the movie was sponsored by Apple... :cool
Kate's machine is a Mac PowerBook Duo 270c, as seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenleewrites/3277732933/
But apparently painted a glossy dark gray/black color (and detailed). Turns out the clear laptop is the same model.
Dade uses a different model PowerBook in the final scene of attacking the Gibson, looks like a PowerBook 540c.
The machine that gets painted is Dade's original machine discussed above (the big, ugly one). He uses this until he gets the clear laptop. The screen shots show it running an Apple OS (when you can tell the OS, that is), but I can't find pictures of this thing online. It's either hacked together as a prop, or just some other 'luggable' that I couldn't find, might even be a PC machine. The weird (hopefully unique) feature is the apparent track ball and buttons next to the screen...

Here's some key pics: (RAR file of everything at the bottom...)
Dade's machine:

Kate's machine, along with an external floppy drive, Apple Newton, and two 2600 Magazines (never noticed those before... probably looking too closely at something else in that shot... :cool )

And the clear laptop:

And here's everything I captured (about 46 images of all the laptops, and a few bits of random hardware...)
This also includes the other hackers' machines during the final Gibson battle. I haven't identified those yet....
http://props.handheldmuseum.com/Z_Img/ForumImgs/TheRPFCom/HackersComputers.rar

 

[Darth Lars]

Finding a M680x0-era Macintosh Powerbook with a P6 processor might be a bit difficult ...

 

[Wayne R.]

I've got one of these somewhere:

And it still works!

 

[stan]

Finding a M680x0-era Macintosh Powerbook with a P6 processor might be a bit difficult ...

my friend is an apple fanatic and a software engineer for apple up in cupertino, i'm going to talk to him. i'm pretty sure he will be able to help me

 

[jackdoud]

So, it seems the movie was sponsored by Apple... :cool

The rumor I always heard was Microsoft wanted insane money to show the windows OS on screen so EVERY movie computer(that isn't linux based) is a MAC. :rolleyes

I want the Gibson's keyboard and screen. :angel

 

[TheDoctor]

The rumor I always heard was Microsoft wanted insane money to show the windows OS on screen so EVERY movie computer(that isn't linux based) is a MAC. :rolleyes

I want the Gibson's keyboard and screen. :angel

There may be some truth in that, but, generally speaking, most computers featured in films of that era were Macs - and not necssarily because Apple paid them, but because script writers/set dressers/prop makers/etc. were Mac fans.

In this particular movie, there were alot of Mac Laptops:
- Kate's laptop (powerbook duo)
- The clear laptop (I thought it was a duo) that Dade recieves from the bad guy
- The laptop Dade uses at the end of the movie
- The guy in london uses a Powerbook
- The bad guy (in disguise... i.e. "Mr. Babbge" - Love that!!) uses the same clear Mac as the one he gave Dade.
- Also, both Joey and the bad guy use Mac desktops

As far as others, I know Nikon uses a Toshiba Satallite and I THINK Cerial uses a Compaq.

 

[Rik1138]

There may be some truth in that, but, generally speaking, most computers featured in films of that era were Macs - and not necssarily because Apple paid them, but because script writers/set dressers/prop makers/etc. were Mac fans.

Yeah, that's possible. They didn't cover the tiny Apple logos, but all the text that would say PowerBook, etc is painted over... Almost like they were just leaving a hint for fans, but not clearly stating 'These are Macs!'

- The clear laptop (I thought it was a duo) that Dade recieves from the bad guy

It is, it's the same model as Kate's (270c)

As far as others, I know Nikon uses a Toshiba Satallite and I THINK Cerial uses a Compaq.

Yeah, those definitely look uglier than something Apple would make... :cool I have pics of them in the RAR file, just didn't have time to try to locate them online... You only see them briefly in the final scenes I think.

Rik

 

[stan]

@Rik1138 thank you for the help! those screen grabs are GREAT!

 

[stan]

Yeah, that's the computer I'm talking about. Basically, back in the 1980s, they tried to develop a means of taking a personal computer with you when you travel, thus developed what is known as the luggage-style computer case. The problem with it was the weight and bulkiness of the case. Though the bulkiness of the case was solved by the 1990s, newly constructed luggage-style cases were still offered through magazines like "Computer Shopper" throughout the mid-late 1990s (this was before "Computer Shopper" changed its format to be more of a review magazine than a list of source venders where you could buy parts and cases from).

I happen to know this because after seeing "Hackers", I wanted a laptop of my own and I did a lot of looking around.

this is interesting! i've been trying to find something similar to it all day now that I have references, and I can't find anything. I spoke to my friend at apple and he said apple definitely never made anything like that. He though it sorta resembled an apple portable computer that had been built into a custom case maybe

for reference, an apple portable:

so my question is, do you know of any information that might help me track down who made and / or sold the type of custom case we see in the movie? i tried to find any ads that looked right but all the vintage computer ads i found were irrelevant to this. any help would be awesome! thank you :thumbsup

 

[CB2001]

so my question is, do you know of any information that might help me track down who made and / or sold the type of custom case we see in the movie? i tried to find any ads that looked right but all the vintage computer ads i found were irrelevant to this. any help would be awesome! thank you :thumbsup

I wish I could help, but I can't. I'm afraid any information that I even got on the luggage-type computer cases were from old issues of Computer Shopper. You can always try vintage computer websites. They may give you some ideas.

 

[Capt MarVell]

Have never seen the movie, but could the luggage-style computer referred to be a Kaypro? http://koti.mbnet.fi/~oju/retro/Kaypro_eng.html and http://koti.mbnet.fi/~oju/retro/weng.html

I also see a Newton MessagePad on the desk in one pic - I've got that covered! Got a working MP100 at home.

Jim