Packard Bell was kind of a joke in the US when it stopped selling, would anybody remember it now and WANT to buy one?

Well personally I had one until about 2008 and I never had a problem with it. Also my main retro PC is a Packard Bell and I know there are others in these forums that remember them fondly also so I'd say... YES.

Now personally though I would only buy one if...

1.) The old mid 90's Face of Technology logo was used
2.) The computers were not generic black and silver Chinese computers with a sticker on it
3.) If they were a good buy for the components you were getting. I mean if I could buy a reasonably priced gaming PC that had a cool Packard Bell case I might.
4.) If the chosen hardware is Linux friendly.

Personally I have mixed feelings about the return of Packard Bell. Yes they were not awe-inspiring, yet I learned most of what I know about computers on a Legend 486 that could take punishment like no other; it would be interesting to see them make a comeback. Still, something tells me the new owners just want to capitalize on their newest acquisition.

If PB would reenter the US market with a desktop PC that somehow resembles this Multimedia D160, they would definitely get my attention:

Unfortunately it's more likely that this will probably be one of their new offerings, an imedia S series:

Only time will tell.......

Hmm... I'm not sure what to think of this. On the one hand, Packard Bell systems were famous for being inexpensive yet impressively powerful for the price, coming with loads of software to make using computers easier for the less educated. One the other hand, they were notorious for compatibility issues due to the cheaper components being used and much of the software included was useless for power-users.

I think the company who's bought the name is planning to go strictly by name recognition in the hopes that the name itself will spark interest and sales, in which case, the products they produce probably won't be anything special. :P

King_Corduroy wrote:

a company known as JMM Lee Properties

This is eerily similar to the Joe McMillan character and his actor Lee Pace from Halt and Catch Fire.

Realistically, beige computers won't sell in this market. The number of computer enthusiasts who would buy a beige computer is already low, but the general public? No way!

And from a brand that was never known for quality?

No offense, but some of you need to take off your rose-tinted glasses here and be realistic... if the brand gets revived, it will be generic products made to a price point. PC and tablet sales are way down and falling, it's the only way for a company to survive.

The only Packard Bell I ever owned was retrieved from a nearby trash disposal site. It was a Pentium-133 with an MMX capable board, produced at a time when the Pentium-2 was on the market. It had to be the cheapest computer anybody could buy at that point.

That machine used perfectly good parts. Nothing wrong with it at all. Had a hardware ISA modem / Sound Blaster combo card which worked very well - I swapped it into my nephew's first PC back then. It was better than the junk PCI sound/modem cards he had.
Intel 430VX motherboard, overclocked easily and still passed memtest86 doing so. Onboard S3 Virge or Trio64 graphics, don't remember which. Perfectly good machine as far as I could tell, better quality parts than most of the junk people tended to build for themselves back then.
I threw out the case because I didn't want to store it and it was LPX, but still have the board.
I don't know what machines tarnished Packard Bell's reputation, but surely it wasn't that one.

Anyway, I doubt the new "Packard Bell" will have any relation to anything in the past, it will just be another name.

I have a PB Multimedia M400 running windows 95. Pentium 166 MMX, made in 1997, 16 original mb ram, etc. Its a decent computer and everything on it works. I don't know if I'll buy any of their new PC's because I mostly build my new PC's.

Personally I own three Pacakard Bell computers:

My main retro PC is a 1996 Packard Bell Platinum 55 that I upgraded to a P200MMX and 16MB of RAM, it's also got a real SB16, a Voodoo2 card and a 5 port USB PCI card.

The second Packard Bell I rescued was a 1995 Legend 812CD, I had to replace the PSU when I got it as well as the HDD (which was the original Quantum drive) and I upgraded the RAM to 16mb also. It's running Windows 95 version C.

The third Packard Bell I picked up was bought for 15$ and it's a 486SX (forget the rest of the details) and I think I left the original Aztech combo card in it. It's running Windows for Workgroups 3.1.

I also have the original manual for this computer. 😁

So yeah like I said I'd be pretty happy to own a new Packard Bell computer provided it was a cool looking machine and good value for the price. 😜

Many PB desktops have annoying battery issues from what I recall. That is why I stick with IBM and Magnavox. 😀 The Pentium era and beyond does not really appeal that much to me anyway.

Anyway: PB will sell because it is an established no hassle consumer grade PC brand. 😀

Not that I've run into, in fact all my Packard Bell computers still have original CR2032 batteries in them (not sure about the Legend 2000 Plus Multimedia, it might have a barrel battery but I know it's still in perfect working order.)

Does the Packard Bell label still have much brand recognition in the US? It has been fifteen years since machines were last sold and had a lot of bad PR because its budget performance, used parts usage and poor user satisfaction. Windows 95 displaced the Packard Bell Navigator, perhaps the most unique software feature of the brand. No one wants wavy plastic, but the Corner Desktop was something unique and the Designer Tower with its large base was also unusual then and since. Of course today cases come in all shapes and sizes.

I kind of thought the same thing, I think it might to my generation (people in their mid 20's) but definitely to the older generation it only means trouble. I think Packard Bell definitely got a bad deal though PR wise because like I said I own three of their computers and I couldn't love them more they are all great systems. I don't know if the new generation knows the name at all, I doubt it. I mean kids these days don't even know what a Floppy diskette is...

Personally I think it would be awesome to have a modern take on the old cases with some new designs in the old mid 90's style, I know this will never happen though but if it did I would probably throw my money at them for a basic computer just so I could have my main PC be a real Packard Bell computer. To me owning a Packard Bell is just as much about the name as it is anything else, it's like owning an Amiga. People still get excited when they hear Amiga, some people like me grew up using Packard Bells so we get excited about those. 🤣

I was pleasantly surprised that after Lenovo was sold to China the quality didn't drop significantly. Not counting the dirt cheap laptops the rest of the range seem pretty reliable and that's all I care about in a business machine which was always Lenovo key market.

I've was less then impressed with Compaqs short return with the logo that looks like a Q Came across a few PC's and laptops and the build quality was cheap.

So this could go either way, No strong feelings for Packard Bell either way but wish them luck. Its a tough market out there and surprised someone new is trying to break in

Well, when you consider that Acer, which mostly makes junk has a brand that was even worse... I remember checking out new PB laptops 10 years ago and the flexing in the case and keyboard was just amazing! I seriously doubt any of them lasted a year in regular use.

The article makes it sound like the brand has a new owner though not acer so maybe they won't be such shit products, but yeah those acer machines were terrible.

PeterLI wrote:

Many PB desktops have annoying battery issues from what I recall. That is why I stick with IBM and Magnavox. 😀 The Pentium era and beyond does not really appeal that much to me anyway.

Anyway: PB will sell because it is an established no hassle consumer grade PC brand. 😀

I've had other brands of PC's/Motherboards and their battery dies after a long time. My PB 386sx has that problem, however my PB Pentium MMX does not. I've had ASUS, HP, Biostar, etc. mobo's with dead batteries too. So probably its just a crap-shoot most of the time, whether your battery will die or not.

Packard Bell was bottom of the market when they were here. I'm not sure if the name would have any value so many years later.

Can't that brand just die? And take Acer and Msi with them? That would be nice.... 🤣