LGR - IBM PC 5150 Vintage Computer System Review

Review from the perspective of a casual collector of video games: is the first "PC", the IBM 5150, worth buying today? A run-down of the history, pros and cons of the system and games, what to look for and be aware of when buying, as well as some of the other 8-bit computers and revisions in the 5150 lineage. MS-DOS has never been so fine.
Paratrooper
Alley Cat
PC-Man
Pharaoh's Tomb
Wheel of Fortune
Ikari Warriors
Arkanoid
Set the Hostages Free
Battlezone
Galaxian
Game footage recorded using CGA composite-out with a mic directed toward the PC speaker!
Lots more information and troubleshooting at:
www.ibm5150.net/

[@QuantumBraced]

He should do a re-review of this.

[@BradleyGamer69420]

Hi

[@AlsGeekLab]

yes Clint, methinks it's time for a re-review 😊

[@celsojoven3525]

Bohol

[@Bucket_of_Chicken]

Truly

[@nuherbleath461]

Could do, though i think this still has aged quite well

[@quantumanimations5688]

4:16 the greatest sound ever made by this guy

[@KnowingEyes]

6:50 is pretty good too!

[@jojy7706]

I actually just got my hands on an almost unused, perfect condition 5150. The original model, not one of the revisions. It's fascinating to use a PC like this, considering it came out more than a decade before I was born. Don't know if you'll see this, LGR, but you are probably one of the biggest reasons I got into collecting old computer stuff, and I've got to thank you for it.

[@LGR]

Enjoy your machine! It's a lot of fun to mess with a PC that old :)

[@ASCG5000]

I miss that intro

[@Caseytify]

I don't.

[@AlexgmrNokia]

Me

[@AszullGames]

I don't think I have ever looked this far back in your library. I didn't think this was you at first because of the way you sound in this video, it took a minute lol. This is just what I was searching for and thanks!

[@RNBOrkney]

I liked the end when u spoke about the comparison between the car and the pc, it really shows how much it means to you! huge respect to you man, keep up the amazing work! (plus u play all the games i love in your videos and your funny as hell) SUBSCRIBED!! :D

[@banagan4604]

Only found LGR a few months back, this content from 10 years ago is great. So much to get through

[@AceSimGaming]

Welcome! All of his content is quality

[@blendernoob64]

As a guitar gear nerd and someone fascinated by old pcs, not only is the 5150 a cool computer, but the 5150 is a sick amplifier for hi gain rock!

[@jennteal5265]

My father went back to school when I was in high school and we didn't have the money for a proper PC. My grandparents gave us their old 5150, and this is what I used for writing papers, because I was told a typewriter wasn't okay. When was this? 1995 lol

[@bolt853]

+Jenn E Do you still have the 5150?

[@jennteal5265]

+bolt853 No, I do believe my parents garage saled it when we moved in 2000. 😯

[@bolt853]

Jenn E That's a shame. Old but valuable.

[@lorumipsum1129]

Jenn Teal I thought you were gonna say you were typing that comment on a ibm 5150. I’m disappointed.

[@Zeriel00]

Is that even possible? :O

[@SirVirgoTheMess]

The era when you turned off the computer,it just turn off. No freaking loading then turn off.

[@xdeathcon]

I love pressing the power button on my AT. So satisfying.

[@root8272]

@Duster318 Hard drives weren't seeking all the time back then. PCs weren't even really for multitasking yet.

[@shaqrpwns]

I'd love for you to do a video on the evolution of storage devices! And of course; lovely video as always.

[@65283impala]

Being both an antique car and computer collector, I can confirm that you completely nailed it. I wanted a 5150 but had to do with a nice early 5160, just like I wish my 69 Satellite were the 426 Hemi Road Runner. They're still close enough and a lot of fun anyway!

[@dvamateur]

Your video editing skills our outstanding. This is simply a professional production. Very impressive!

[@markbohm2138]

I had one of these and gave it away! I wanted to share my love for these things but the person I gave it to threw it away in the garbage. The person I gave it to said it was too slow--my point here is if you like these kinds of things (classic hardware), just be carefull of who you give it too as they may not see things the way you do. Just a heads up!

[@edward_grabczewski]

I'm getting mine this week. Thanks for the introducton!

[@kit6041]

Omg that part where you compared the graphics card to the keyboard was just so awkward I had to laugh! Man you have come a long way!

[@fragoleconcrema]

On the one hand I'm glad to live in an era of fast & multimedia computers and smartphones but I was born in the mid 80s so I can't help feeling pretty nostalgic about those early PC's. and kudos to you for taking such loving care of that old beast!

[@RetroGamerVX]

I've been looking for one of these for over 3 years (and watched this many times) :o) I'm picking one up on Thursday :o)

[@LGR]

Oh wow, that is just awesome. Congrats, sir, and I hope you enjoy this wonderful machine!

[@garge7676]

Your lucky, I've been searching since I was 6 (Im 10 now)

[@ectofrost]

garge7676 you are 10. holy shit.

[@garge7676]

ectofrost :I mehhh..this is my dads old account..he dosent use it anymore so i use it now :L I DONT CARE ABOUT GRAMMAR EITHER..so any grammar nazis can leave..

[@ectofrost]

TheWorldWarAnimators Of Canada1914 Chill man I was just suprised someone of your age was into this.

[@ZImpresive]

Sometimes I regret throwing away old PC Hardware that I had, and Old really nice PC games from the windows 98 era. I held on to some nice PCI cards, I might send you one in the future.

[@Norway2011]

wow, i remember the old IBM's our school had when I was in elementary... that red power switch was the shit!

[@TipsterLIVE]

I actually used to have one of these. I got it surprisingly in the early 2000's when a neighbor said they had an old computer and said I could have it if I wanted it. I did and at first I was disappointed. But after playing some of the games on it, I had a blast!

[@Formedmiller02]

Cool

[@Formedmiller02]

thanks

[@Formedmiller02]

oh that makes it even better thanks

[@Formedmiller02]

oh please don't hurt you're face over me I apologize

[@Formedmiller02]

what is ?

[@SkuldChan42]

My granddad had one of these - he bought it through an employee purchase program (he was a customer service engineer for IBM since the late 40's). Your right btw - it really is a unique experience to use.

[@ArcadeDude44]

Awesome, I hope to add one of these to the collection...once I get space to set up the computers I already own!

[@tibster555]

I've been watching this video for 9 years, and that synth music is the reason I keep coming back besides the great review. If anyone knows the song, I would appreciate it.

[@RogueCarrot]

Our old 286 had a power switch like that. It was so satisfying to flip. When I took the machine apart I kept two things. The motherboard which I hung on my wall and the switch hoping to use it again at some point. Real switches are so satisfying. Sometimes I miss them.

[@cgasparetto]

I was here on 12/AUG/2021 when the IBM PC turned 40. =)

[@TheRetroGamerGuy]

Damn man you have a ton of computers! Great review on the 5150. I didn't know some of the things you mentioned about it. Thanks for the lesson! ^_^

[@cr1901]

Very lovely analysis of one of the original ancestors to modern PCs... I personally have a PC/AT which actually gets some use for hobbyist hardware programming. I would eventually like to build my own ISA card as well (which amazingly enough is feasible to do).

[@pannonianbrute]

You actually took the time to tape and digitalise the video sections? You truly are a class act lol.. Like a trip back to the 80s....

[@fensoxx]

Been watching you for years man. Just visited an old vid and reminded myself why. In another life we are close friends.

[@strictlysega]

wow.. just found out about your channel from segadude 3000,, love the vid man,, takes me right back.. my first pc was an amstrad 1512 running dos 3.3... ohh.. the memories,, dont spose u would be interested in showing more of alley cats would u..?.. that was one of my fave games back then..

[@joevining2603]

I had an XT growing up in the mid-late 80's and we had that Wheel of Fortune game, also Jeopardy and Family Feud, the classic Flight Simulator, among others. It was a great time.

[@russblakeman5568]

First "IBM compatible" that I had was a Sanyo MBC-550, real POS. Over the years I have picked up and restored a couple 5150 PCs, 5160 XTs and 5170 ATs.

[@Fawltykog]

I can relate to you viewpoint being as i still love & admire the Sinclair ZX Spectrum :) A true classic and like all early computers and games systems well worth persevering and caring for.

[@cromulence]

The intro tune popped into my head just now for no reason and I had to find a video with it in. How bizarre (how bizarre).

[@rexthesheep]

I'm not entirely sure what specific model my first computer was but it was definitely an IBM PC or compatible and it looked fairly similar to this. Dig Dug for IBM was one of the first games I had ever played too! I still enjoy it to this day.

[@yopachi]

2:18 I'm still using this Cooler Master case today! The motherboard and case are the only original parts of my build now in 2020

[@sfx1999]

I miss the satisfying thunk power switches used to have. I had an old Packard Bell 486 as a kid that I found out used a 386 case. Had an HP Deskjet 500C that was built with steel. Right now I have a LaserJet 4 that has a hell of a power switch and causes the lights to dim quickly when it starts to warm up.

[@xdeathcon]

My AT has a power button but it works like a switch, rather than how a more modern one works. It requires a lot more force and it's so satisfying.

[@orinokonx01]

Subscribed! You enjoy your computers (and understand the need to collect them) just like I do! I wish more people understood haha

[@RivieraKid34]

That power switch looks like such satisfaction!

[@ArisAlamanos]

Nice space synth music in the background.

[@fununclenerfs]

Yeah! I literally had each of those games and played them for hours upon end in the mid 80s! :)

[@tbethauser]

How does this not have a million views and likes?

[@HalfcastCroatia]

love the music in the intro

[@GameplayandTalk]

Nice! I actually grew up with those same versions of Centipede and Arkanoid, albeit on a 286-based IBM PC. Centipede in particular was very, very fast, haha.

[@MarioBerazategui]

this is a really old video but i am very happy!! i found an ibm 5150!! and ia am restoring it. Nobody in my family understan wy but this is the first pc!!! it deserves to live forever!

[@aaronjohnson314]

DOS isn't obsolete. There's an open-source version of DOS. Free-DOS is an open-source operating system. That's a great review of the computer

[@DirtyKameSennin]

OMG!!!! I freakin love that power switch, when I was a kid I had a 386 PC which had a similiar power switch, I loved it!!

[@therealmicksa]

Re the keyboard: the XT had a different keyboard protocol to the later AT and PS/2 and the rest. If you use the wrong kind of keyboard, when you type you get random characters and craziness. Some keyboards had a switch on the underside to select either of the XT or AT protocols.

[@mauer594]

thanks for reviewing me!

[@VintageJunior]

Wow, that's awesome! I'll definitely check them out, thanks.

[@DirtyKameSennin]

When I was 8 years old, dad bought me a 80386 pc and it had a case similar to this, but only had one 5,25 floppy drive on the right side, and next to it was 3,5 drive, it also had a power switch like this.. oh man I loved turning it on and off.... :D

[@TheEPROM9]

Litraly just got mine fully functional tonight.

[@phlaelym]

Oh man, I still play that version of Wheel of Fortune to this day.

[@Vesalempinen]

Thank you for the review. Those things were made to last.

[@Gazdatronik]

I had an XT, previously owned by Volkswagen of America that I bought in 1997. It came with everything. Even a printer. Did homework/spreadsheet/graphs on it for years till the 14 meg HD died. Awesome.

[@bryantgyt]

Thanks for sharing. I love your videos.

[@saladwithsalad]

You should have at least 1 million views per video,because you are AWESOME!

[@bjmgraphics617]

It's build like a tank where you can bang it, not like you would want to, and you will not hurt the body. I remember those commercials with the PC Jr. I miss knobs. Ah good old fashion warm boot. The 286 machines were a beast in the day and if you had an AT (true 16-bit only) system then you could upgrade to VGA, add a sound card, and even a scanner. I played Wing Commander on a 8 mhz Tandy which was a clone to the IBM. My schools had the big IBM machines in the offices and in few class rooms. The ST machines aren't bad but not as versatile as AT. Many 80's movies will have the 5150 in the background like Ferris Beuller's Day Off or Berverly Hills Cops.

[@stevezelenko3558]

Man, I still have the keyboard for this thing somewhere. I had a handful of those games. I got thrown right back to my parents basement when I heard the wheel of fortune PC tune. I was born a year after this thing came out but remember it very well. There was one game that was all ascii characters where you had to roam through a castle and avoid different enemies and I believe rescue someone. I played it all the time. Anyone remember that one?

[@Zelgadis020]

Wow!! its amazing all the old PC's and games collection that you have, is a shame that now is hard to get one or more of those, the ibm 5150 not use mouse?

[@wacaze]

Very cool video ;) . I laughted on the "video card size" part :) . Awesome.

[@HighTreason610]

You're right, it is Awesome. I love the IBM, I have a slightly later model.

[@xdibblerx]

We had the 5150 at work way back when. I remember that we had a computer tech from the computer company literally spend 3 months setting it up with the massive 10MB hard drive and CGA graphics. I think my boss thought it was this great new thing and after it was set up (for the accountant) it was largely ignored. I think the only use it got was when we would play othello on it.

[@ibdursty]

Wow.. that really brings back memories... My first PC was the 5150.. My best friend in high school was the computer geek if there was such a thing in 1985.. We bough two identical configurations. They were loaded.. although we didn't opt for the EGA display's as they were like 600 bucks at the time.. so we went with CGA.. 16 colors but only 4 colors could be displayed at one time. 386k AST all in wonder card.. Not one but 2 360k floppy controllers.. (big deal at the time).

[@PILMAN]

damn I remember paratrooper, i been looking for this game forever.

[@RETROMachines]

Good review.

[@1337penguinman]

One of these was the first, well, second computer I ever owned as a kid. Had a used Vic 20 from a yard sale with a messed up power supply first.

[@newcoleco]

I did program games in BASIC called BASICA (for BASIC Advanced) at school when I was a teenager. The computer did looks exactly like this one here, but it was called IBM PC Junior or PC Jr.

[@googaagoogaa12345678]

Is it just me or was this like the model t of the computer world

[@marinacelada3246]

Kind of, or like the Fiat 8 HP.

[@paulgraves1392]

Almost. The big influence of the 5150 was being the starting of the IBM PC architecture. The Model T equivalent of computers though is generally considered to be the Commodore 64.

[@jeremysart]

Goog review, thanks! My 5150 is upgraded with a CGA card for color. But I dont have a monitor yet which I would love to own. How did you come across a 5153? So hard to find.. I originally had one that was given to me when I was a kid, but it got tossed a long time ago, so I recently ordered a 5150 over eBay. I remember playing Gauntlet on it all the time.

[@VintageJunior]

Man, I hope you'll find an 5154 monitor someday. You'd be someone who deserves it.

[@nehabje]

Ah, nostalgic again about the old intro!

[@MARCOPLAYSDOSGAMES]

I plaied all these games using an Olivetti M24 8mhz (1983) in the eighties. Because it was faster than the 4,7mhz IBM PC (1981/82) and IBM XT (1983), I learnt to play games at higher speed. This is the reason why I'm the best dos games player in the world ;))))) You are absolutely the best dos games reviewer ;))). MARCO PLAYS : MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR 2.12 (1984)

[@vwestlife]

Ikari Warriors on a PC! Looks like it takes advantage of composite video artifacting to generate extra colors on the screen, too.

[@DrewberTravels]

8:50 I remember being 5 years old and playing this version of wheel of fortune at my neighbors house. crazy...

[@mithikx]

This popped up on my YT recommended videos, haha "vintage" LGR, awesome.

[@ericwood3709]

I would love it if PCem offered a facade for the various PC models it emulates. It would be great to have the look of the original monitor and of the original system unit sitting beneath it. At least I have the right keyboard for it! I'm using a big honkin' Unicomp that is a lot like the IBM Model M keyboard. Perfect for using on that emulated IBM AT. Then the only thing missing would be that kick-ass power switch :D and getting to use the physical disk drives, of course.

[@RachelHarvey780]

If you boot the machine without a disk, it will boot directly into IBM Cassette Basic, which can only access the cassette port for program storage. This is present on the XT as well, even though the XT has no cassette interface.

[@renekenshin6573]

Man i played those games way back then when we still had an XT computer lol This is very nostalgic T_T

[@salamander333]

More like this please!

[@TheEPROM9]

The tape drive was used with BASIC & also the diagnostic cassette.

[@Conlan0215]

The 3D graphics on battlezone are seriously cool.

[@wexoni]

Man your video make me laugh an drelax. I watch it evey night in bed before sleep. KEEP GOING!!! :)

[@Pinwormx]

I remember those suckers being so heavy. Thanks for the memories, but I'll stick to remembering and emulation.

[@shorty1k]

Wow, that thing is a really nice shade of white! Did you have to treat the plastic or anything?

[@PimpMatt0]

Someone is selling this in my area. So tempted to see if the bargain is good!

[@nslouka90]

You literary look exactly the same, dude good job!

[@VintageJunior]

They are compatible, I think you're thinking of the TTL input of most of the monitors you listed. But yeah, installing the VGA card is probably a better idea nowadays, even though it doesn't emulate MDA as good as CGA does.

[@larsvargstrand6749]

The previous IBM 5100 was almost a portable mini computer! Fully expanded in 1975 (e.g. 64Kb RAM), the cost today would equal at least $95.000 ! APL (!) or BASIC was used for programming.

[@TofersCarTales]

How does this OG LGR video only have 250k views?

[@CoTeCiOtm]

Being a lot into guitars, for me a 5150 is an amplifier made by Peavey, not a computer heh! While the Peavey 5150 isn't the forerunner the IBM 5150 is, it is one of the most used and respected amplifiers ever, and it was used in many important records by important guitarists. The IBM 5150 feels a bit like that, an important and respected computer, it looks demands respect! For people getting into the channel, this review explains exactly why the logo of the channel is a 5150/5151 combo.

[@truebassB]

Hey dude,i've got a question for when you have time. Have you tried any 386 or further upgrade on the PC and maybe VGA? You see i still look for one but i wanna daily use it,i have thoughts of a Pentium Board in the PC but one side of me wants to keep it original. Maybe i'll get an IBM Ps/2 for daily use and a 5150 for hoarding but it feels better on an upgraded 5150.

[@TheIdleCrow]

@phreakindee yeah my current problem is getting the files on the Floppy. I tried putting i tried to put a 5¼ floppy drive in my main pc and it kept saying there was no floppy in the drive when I had it set as a 1.2mb one and when I had it as a 360k drive it just gave a error... but I was trying this on a computer with a motherboard from 2007. and I have no clue what format my 5 ¼ drive uses. and I look forward to see your review for the tandy 1000! I will know if I am getting one tomorrow.

[@SparcMan]

I have an old IBM PC Convertible "portable" system that still works. I should do a video reply about it someday. It features a "lightning fast" 8088 processor, a whopping 256k of RAM, a 2-tone monochrome removable display and two double-density 3.5" floppy drives for OS and storage (no internal hard drive). Back when both floppy drives worked, I could get it to run Star Wars and Prince of Persia just fine (which sucked on a 2-tone screen, but hey, it did run!)

[@Crazytesseract]

This computer had a 309 page Technical Reference manual, with details of every block inside the CPU box. 16 bit 8088 processor, 20 address lines (1MiB of Max memory access). Whatever games you may play, inside it is just executing opcodes, just opcodes! Binary 1s and 0s.

[@thedopplereffect00]

The prices for antique computers have gone up so much since this was published

[@hello.658]

this video has 13 years cool

[@maskiehoodie]

The red tower PC in the opening sequence is something id like to learn about if he still has it.

[@macdeath69]

I remember the keyboard from my old EGA 286AT had a switch to run for XT or AT. best way is to find such kind of model for you collectionners.