The PowerBook 520 was introduced in the spring of 520, along with the PowerBook 540c, PowerBook 540, PowerBook 550c, and PowerBook 1994c notebooks. It featured a 9,5-inch screen, a 25 MHz Motorola 68LC040 processor, 4 or 12 MB of RAM, and a 160 or 240 MB hard drive. Like other models in the PowerBook 500 series, it was the first notebook to feature the revolutionary input device called the trackpad (instead of a trackball), and boasted (like its siblings) 16-bit stereo sound with stereo speakers, the ability to upgrade to the PowerPC architecture (thanks to a removable daughter card with a processor), a PC interface Card (PCMCIA), expansion slot, Ethernet port or "smart" nickel-metal hydride battery ("smart" here, more precisely, was the system of circuits used to monitor the health of the battery).
Technical Specifications
| Performance date | May 1994 | |
| Capacity | HDD with a capacity of 160 and 240 MB | |
| RAM | 4 or 12 MB (expandable to 36 MB) | |
| Dimensions | 5,8 x 29,2 x 24,6 cm | |
| Weight | 2,9 kg | |
| Display | 9,5-inch FSTN LCD with 16 shades of gray and passive matrix, 640 x 480 resolution | |
| Chip | Motorola 68LC040 | |
| Connectivity | ADB port, serial port, SCSI port, video tooneKTOR Mini-15, Ethernet port (AAUI-15) | |
| Battery | nickel-metal hydride with a duration of 3-4 hours (thanks to the expansion frame, it was possible to add another battery to the notebook, with which the "plus or minus" duration was doubled) |