VOGONS


First post, by EvaMann80

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Hello, I am researching internet memes and attempting to identify the computer case in this photo:

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F% … 0casay5ljzy.jpg
(Apologies if linking off to Reddit isn't allowed)

It's similar to this case which has a logo for Aplico (which was apparently a computer company founded in 1990) but not exactly:
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/226396421055?mkcid=16 … emis&media=COPY

I'm trying to determine what model of case this would be to better identify the timeframe for this picture.

Based on the HP Deskjet 500-series or 600-series printer on the desk, that puts this photo sometime after 1994.

It's difficult to see on the screen, but that may be an early web browser which would also make this closer to 1994 or thereafter.

Thank you for any assistance you can provide!

Reply 1 of 4, by EvaMann80

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Apologies... the post cut off my links - here is the specific photo:
https://imgur.com/L3I2Vbz

Reply 2 of 4, by flupke11

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The printer looks like a Deskjet 660c. I'put it around '96. Most probably AT, and a clone pc. So there should still be cases like this out there. Drive seems to be a creative, probably from some multimedia pack (cdrom+soundcard). You might want to consult an expert in trainers (sneakers), based off the shoes the picture might be better pinpointed.

Reply 3 of 4, by CharlieFoxtrot

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Case looks like to be of the hundreds clone AT cases manufactured during the 90s. The problem with tracking these is that back in the days, such cases weren’t branded in any way. Several factories manufactured these mostly in China and SE Asia, they were shipped all over the world and businesses who sold and built computers in them slapped their own stickers on to them. This also applies to that Aplico case too, it is just one of these run off the mill AT cases. Only manufacturer markings related to case might be just on the cardboard box the case was shipped in.

And cases like these are almost useless to pinpoint the date of the picture as cases could be manufactured and/or used several years, computer could’ve been upgraded on the way and so on. If the MHz display is showing correct numbers, that computer can have either a 75MHz 486 (released march 1994) or Pentium 75MHz released october that same year. So it can’t be earlier than that. If it has Pentium, I’d say that the photo is most likely taken in 1995 or later as Pentiums became increasingly affordable and previous poster’s hint about the printer would also suggest later date than 1994. CDROM drive on the system could be Creative CD620E Hex Speed drive, which would also point to 1995 or later date.

Reply 4 of 4, by JidaiGeki

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Maybe the monitor can assist in dating the photo - it's a Packard Bell, research suggests it's a model 2020 (e.g. https://www.ebay.com/itm/267155118251) and there are pictures of various examples with build dates in August 1995 and September 1996 (the auction one). FCC application for the monitor was August 1995 (FCC ID DK42020, https://fccid.io/DK42020/amp). A chap who wrote a page dedicated to his PB 2020 (https://www.oocities.org/sjg/pb2020.html) suggests he bought his with a Platinum I, which was a P133 machine from 1996, but of course it would have been possible to buy the monitor in 1995.

The case you linked on eBay isn't the same as the one in the Imgur picture, from its styling that one is probably pre-486, a more fitting case style is this one - https://www.ebay.ca/itm/326414053433 (albeit with black buttons, and HI/LO settings on the display). The lack of a case sticker doesn't mean much, but I recall vendors being obsessed with the "Intel Inside" stickers from the Pentium era onwards, and less so with the 486 little oval stickers, so it could well be a 486-DX4 75 with quad speed multimedia kit (it's probably not the Hex, as the text on the drive tray would look a bit different even at low res - e.g. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintag … -pc2-3789118163)

The printer also could be a 540C, which was released in September 1994 (https://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press_kits … nivtimeline.pdf, https://www.recycledgoods.com/hp-c2162a-deskjet-printer-540/ for pics).

So to me it looks like a 1994 PC & printer that's had its screen upgraded with the PB, and the photo was taken no earlier than August 1995 based the monitor info. The software on the screen seems to be either word processing (though it's not Winword) or other productivity software and maybe that's an educational CD thing on the screen, possibly from the multimedia kit. Maybe it looks familiar to someone.

Oh, and an interesting resource for researching what was being sold back in the day can be found in the "Computer Paper" magazines on archive.org - https://archive.org/details/thecomputerpaper - covers the Canadian computer sales scene all the way back to 1988.