Hmm not a bad idea. 🤣

so i found not so retro monitor from Dell but with retroish resolutions(1920x1200, 1600x1200)
it is working but sad thing is that panel is broken.

as always, you can click on pictures to open in album.

Morc wrote:

so i found not so retro monitor from Dell but with retroish resolutions(1920x1200, 1600x1200) it is working but sad thing is tha […]
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so i found not so retro monitor from Dell but with retroish resolutions(1920x1200, 1600x1200)
it is working but sad thing is that panel is broken.

as always, you can click on pictures to open in album.

Guess that's why it ended up dumped. Nothing really you can do to save it unfortunately, would be cheaper to find another monitor instead of replacing the panel.

I've recently found this beauty, had to clean it up a little because it was so filthy the camera refuses to focus.

Found this Pentium MMX too... but it seems somebody has grinded the cooler, is it some way to remove it without breaking the cpu?

Well guys, as usual Friday the 13th was a lucky day for me and I found something completely unexpected!!!

I just scored a BLACK Packard Bell monitor! I'd heard about these black Packard Bell computers from around 1994 but this is the first time I've ever seen any bits of such a system in person. The funny part is I almost missed it, it was under a pile of modern LCDs and other junk! My father who just happened to be along noticed the speaker and pointed it out to me, but when I went to go grab it I noticed it woudn't come off the monitor I thought it was sitting on. Then it hit me... 🤣 This wasn't just any old monitor, it's about the rarest Packard Bell monitor out there. 😁

This is a PB 1511SL from September of 1994, it's a 15" CRT with digital controls.

I guess this raises my Packard Bell monitor count to 12. No idea if it works yet as it's still wet from the rain and my cleaning but I'm not tossing something this rare even if it doesn't work! 🤣

And here's what it looked like when I found it, white speakers attached and filthy as hell!

croton64 wrote:

Found this Pentium MMX too... but it seems somebody has grinded the cooler, is it some way to remove it without breaking the cpu?

lol, ouch. It's possible to remove the cooler (it's attached using a superstrong adhesive), but with the amount of trouble you will have removing it, you may as well just find another chip.

Let's see that PackardBell in action - it's looking pretty nice. I think back in the day I would have given a lo for a black crt. Only "low price" company in Euroland that had black setups was Escom.

King_Corduroy wrote:

Well guys, as usual Friday the 13th was a lucky day for me and I found something completely unexpected!!! […]
Show full quote

Well guys, as usual Friday the 13th was a lucky day for me and I found something completely unexpected!!!

I just scored a BLACK Packard Bell monitor! I'd heard about these black Packard Bell computers from around 1994 but this is the first time I've ever seen any bits of such a system in person. The funny part is I almost missed it, it was under a pile of modern LCDs and other junk! My father who just happened to be along noticed the speaker and pointed it out to me, but when I went to go grab it I noticed it woudn't come off the monitor I thought it was sitting on. Then it hit me... 🤣 This wasn't just any old monitor, it's about the rarest Packard Bell monitor out there. 😁

This is a PB 1511SL from September of 1994, it's a 15" CRT with digital controls.

I guess this raises my Packard Bell monitor count to 12. No idea if it works yet as it's still wet from the rain and my cleaning but I'm not tossing something this rare even if it doesn't work! 🤣

And here's what it looked like when I found it, white speakers attached and filthy as hell!

I had one of those with the matching black speakers back in a 90's.
It wasn't great but it was a step up from the beige 14" it replaced.
.
.

Woah really? The computer was black also? I'm in a group that collects Packard Bell machines on Facebook and they only have one photo of a Black Packard Bell and it's a Packard Bell Pro 66TV. 🤣

This computer and a case style they call the 2x2 are basically mythical legends. 🤣 No one owns one, I'm the only one in the group with any part of the uber rare Black computers. 🤣

King_Corduroy wrote:

Woah really? The computer was black also? I'm in a group that collects Packard Bell machines on Facebook and they only have one photo of a Black Packard Bell and it's a Packard Bell Pro 66TV. 🤣

This computer and a case style they call the 2x2 are basically mythical legends. 🤣 No one owns one, I'm the only one in the group with any part of the uber rare Black computers. 🤣

Nope. I bought the upgrade monitor a few years after the system. The system was beige with 1-5.25" and 1-3.5" front bay.
Is that 1x1?

I didn't buy one but I recall back in the day PB offered plastics kits for some models to change the color of the case plastic parts between beige, grey and black.
.

SW-SSG wrote:

croton64 wrote:

Found this Pentium MMX too... but it seems somebody has grinded the cooler, is it some way to remove it without breaking the cpu?

🤣, ouch. It's possible to remove the cooler (it's attached using a superstrong adhesive), but with the amount of trouble you will have removing it, you may as well just find another chip.

I bet the original fan died and they ground it down so they could mount a regular heatsink on top. Betting it will work just fine as long as you lower the tension on the heatsink clip so it doesn't break the socket.

PCBONEZ wrote:

Nope. I bought the upgrade monitor a few years after the system. The system was beige with 1-5.25" and 1-3.5" front bay. Is that […]
Show full quote

King_Corduroy wrote:

Woah really? The computer was black also? I'm in a group that collects Packard Bell machines on Facebook and they only have one photo of a Black Packard Bell and it's a Packard Bell Pro 66TV. 🤣

This computer and a case style they call the 2x2 are basically mythical legends. 🤣 No one owns one, I'm the only one in the group with any part of the uber rare Black computers. 🤣

Nope. I bought the upgrade monitor a few years after the system. The system was beige with 1-5.25" and 1-3.5" front bay.
Is that 1x1?

I didn't buy one but I recall back in the day PB offered plastics kits for some models to change the color of the case plastic parts between beige, grey and black.
.

You sure you aren't confusing it with the base bezel kits? I know they offered those, my father got one for free since the grey bezel on ours was broken in the box. You could change that grey part on the lower half of the cases to Green, Blue or Red iirc. He used a red one I think. 🤣

This is what the bezel kit looked like:

King_Corduroy wrote:

PCBONEZ wrote:

Nope. I bought the upgrade monitor a few years after the system. The system was beige with 1-5.25" and 1-3.5" front bay. Is that […]
Show full quote

King_Corduroy wrote:

Woah really? The computer was black also? I'm in a group that collects Packard Bell machines on Facebook and they only have one photo of a Black Packard Bell and it's a Packard Bell Pro 66TV. 🤣

This computer and a case style they call the 2x2 are basically mythical legends. 🤣 No one owns one, I'm the only one in the group with any part of the uber rare Black computers. 🤣

Nope. I bought the upgrade monitor a few years after the system. The system was beige with 1-5.25" and 1-3.5" front bay.
Is that 1x1?

I didn't buy one but I recall back in the day PB offered plastics kits for some models to change the color of the case plastic parts between beige, grey and black.
.

You sure you aren't confusing it with the base bezel kits? I know they offered those, my father got one for free since the grey bezel on ours was broken in the box. You could change that grey part on the lower half of the cases to Green, Blue or Red iirc. He used a red one I think. 🤣

Where I saw had that kit plus the whole front bezel. It was in two parts though. Not one kit for everything.

That Packard Bell monitor is sweet but it is in dire need of Skeletor.

PCBONEZ wrote:

Where I saw had that kit plus the whole front bezel. It was in two parts though. Not one kit for everything.

Interesting! I'm going to have to ask around and see if we can find any more info on this. Thanks! 😁

King_Corduroy wrote:

PCBONEZ wrote:

Where I saw had that kit plus the whole front bezel. It was in two parts though. Not one kit for everything.

Interesting! I'm going to have to ask around and see if we can find any more info on this. Thanks! 😁

So you, being extremely into Packard Bell equipment, must have the rare DVD copy of Westwood's Blade Runner game that was only bundled with certain Packard Bell machines? I had two copies. One was thrown out (I'm an asshat, don't ask) and the other I gave to The Strong. As you know Blade Runner was only released on four CDs for the PC, but Packard Bell had it in one of their hardware bundles on DVD. This of course makes it much more convenient to install off of one DVD. From what I can tell it was only released in Europe because both copies I had came from there.

Here is the copy I sent to The Strong:

No I don't actually! That's pretty cool, but must have been pretty late in the cycle to be on DVD. When was that distributed?

Being a fan of the original point and click Leisure Suit Larry's, and of course the Blade Runner movie.... I totally loved this!

I think I remember it having quite a few CD's though, switching between each one depending what stage in the game you were.

King_Corduroy wrote:

No I don't actually! That's pretty cool, but must have been pretty late in the cycle to be on DVD. When was that distributed?

I actually don't. I don't even know what Packard Bell hardware bundle it came with. I am guessing it was within a year or two of the original release to be relevant and a draw to the bundle. I only found out about it because I saw it at a garage sale in Florida and thought it was strange the Blade Runner PC game was on a DVD and it looked official. Found out the family selling it lived in Europe for awhile and came back to the States with all their software. I bought it for a buck. I then cleaned out my apartment a year later and ended up throwing it out not realizing its rarity. Fast forward a year or two later and I wanted it again and I thought they were common and looked for it on Ebay. Found only one copy and it was around $52 from the UK I believe. I thought, "I'm an idiot for throwing that out!". Paid the $50, played it again and then sent it off to The Strong.

Anyway, since you collect all these Packard Bell systems I thought you might want a heads up on this so you can keep a lookout for it. It's a neat version of the game because you don't have to do all that CD flipping when playing the game and of course it has Packard Bell printed at the top of the DVD. Otherwise its exactly the same as the original four CD PC version. My first copy that I threw out came with a black and white copy of the manual which was in the bundle. It looked like Packard Bell just produced photo copied versions of the Blade Runner game manual.

If I ever see it before you do in my travels or retro hunting I'll pick it up for you if it's cheap or just give you a heads up if it's online.

Nice! Yeah I would appreciate it, I had no idea that such a thing was even out there. Very cool! 😁 Thanks!