Can a PowerBook or MacBook be configured to automatically wake when power is connected?
As you indicated, this does depend on the specifics of the hardware - but the pmset acwake command is used to read or change the intended wake on power change status for a Mac.

The man page for pmset goes into some detail how to use this command line tool to change settings.

I couldn't find a reference that calls out which models work with this setting - you may have to experiment or do some more research.