Well, passive matrix displays had their own issues. I'm not sure what the technical term is, but they had a tendency to bleed. Back in the days of the PowerBook 180, that wasn't much of an issue because laptops were bleeding edge devices that people were willing to pay for (either in inconveniences or extra cost). The situation is quite different today. People expect crisp displays.

Of course, the big issue with LCD displays is that they depend upon polarized light. That means that at least 50% of the energy put into the backlight is lost because light sources tend to be unpolarized and that a polarized filter needs to be used to polarize that light.

(Also, was the PowerBook 180 even backlit? A lot of early laptop displays placed the light in front of the display simply to avoid absorption. That is similar to some of the technologies used to provide uniform lighting to eink displays.)