The PowerBook Duo 230, priced at US $ 2,610, was the high-end model of the two PowerBook Duos released simultaneously, with the bottom part being the US $ 2,250 PowerBook Duo 210. Featuring a 33 MHz Motorola 68030 microprocessor, 4 MB RAM and an 80 or 120 MB SCSI hard drive, the PowerBook Duo 230 was almost identical to the simultaneously released PowerBook 180, except for the smaller 9.1-inch grayscale "super twist" passive matrix LCD and the lack of a 68882 floating point unit.

With the introduction of the PowerBook Duo 250 and 270c in October 1993, the 230 replaced the entry-level 210 and was finally discontinued on July 27, 1994, shortly after the introduction of the 68040-based PowerBook Duo 280 and 280c.