Packard Bell Corner Computer: One of 1995's Strangest PCs

[@yellowcrescent]

oh man. this is triggering "fond" memories as a kid in middle/high school. going to some lady's house to fix her computer, and there's a Packard Bell in the back corner of some dank room-- desktop completely covered in icons and permanently burned in to the blurry 14" CRT, the color scheme is changed to dark cyan and pink with cat noises for all of the notification sounds, an expired version of McAfee antivirus and Norton both running, Internet Explorer with 20 toolbars... oh god...

[@NorthStarBlue1]

Oh man, does that ever sound familiar! I think all of us who were the neighborhood "computer kid" back in the day has a horror story similar to that. That and being asked to fix a printer that got nuked by a power surge.

[@jhunter7912]

Those were the days 97 to 2005

[@colombianguy8194]

This is very similar in an international level: I'm from Colombia, and of course i was the computer guy in the neighborhood. Not so many families had a computer back then, for a poor/middle class, mid 90's Colombian family that was a BIG investment. So, I was the only kid who had the power to delete viruses, crap software and make everything back to normal when the neighbors "creative hands" were to work lol!

[@davelazenby77255]

I had a very similar experience, helping a lady who bred dogs build a website, she was a teachers assistant at my school, nice lady, she paid me $100, that would of been about 1997.

[@oz_jones]

There are worse fates than death....

[@Jossandoval]

8:07 Ah, a lot of people talk about nostalgic disk sounds, but for me is the degaussing of a good 90s CRT that bring back the memories. That small feeling of fear at touching the monitor, the tiny shocking sensation of static electricity, and the degaussing sound that you can swear just gave hiccups to the fridge.

[@sHuRuLuNi]

Mmmmmm ....

[@crestofhonor2349]

I don’t have nostalgia for that because my family was actively using a CRT up until 2019 despite having a LG 4K tv in another room. I still have the CRTs but they’re now in my basement

[@ahandsomefridge]

plonggggg

[@FuglyFatt]

And the x-ray of my upper body on the wall opposite of my PC desk after de-gaussing a 21 inch Viewsonic CRT

[@quackman]

I loooooooooved Degaussing. Every monitor made its own unique sounds and visuals. And one of the best parts is you had to wait for whatever to build up after at least 10+ minutes or so. the longer you wait, the sweeter the degauss!

[@MrPeteykins]

"The idea was sound; the execution was Packard Bell" perfectly sums this up, LOL.

[@CaptainApathetic]

It seems like the name "Packard" is bad luck. HP is one of the worst PC manufacturers today, their laptops are mostly junk

[@TacosAreWizard]

@@CaptainApathetic They work pretty good for me, especially for gaming.

[@AdamIsUrqed]

I dunno. I bought an HP with an AMD A8 with 8 gigs RAM (shared video) back in 2011 in celebration of my son's birth. Still going strong, even after coffee was spilled ALL over it. Just disassembled and cleaned to fix. Then again, that was 8 years ago, and build quality is in constant flux in the computer world.

[@thaiboypsp3000]

CaptainApathetic I means don’t think HP is that bad. They’re not the premier brand but hey, it works.

[@Nukle0n]

@@CaptainApathetic Their laptops are fine. Compared to someone like MSI or Toshiba (RIP) who made absolute shit.

[@mduff94]

Clint: removes the gray monitor circle stand Me: exe.exe has stopped working

[@Cristofre]

I was so disappointed. Some of the magic went out of the computer at that point.

[@Keranu]

Two things I love about LGR: his expressive first-person hand gestures, and when his voice goes into Mr. Burns mode.

[@louistournas120]

Mr Burns? I thought it was Duke Nukem.

[@GSungaila]

Duke Nukem

[@Keranu]

@@louistournas120 Noo noo no, it's not the Duke Nukem voice he often does. Maybe he's trying to go Duke Nukem but the voice registers differently. There's definitely times he sounds more like Mr Burns than Duke.

[@ericherrera5018]

I’d sound like mr.burns too if i was in the presence of a $2,300 computer

[@broddajanes6910]

It reminds me of that corner computer in the Black Mesa lobby. 'Get away from there, Freeman! I'm expecting a really important message!'

[@NathanPa-xo3zj]

Terrible he lost all files man

[@PowerUpT]

*Presses button*

[@pleasedontwatchthese9593]

I like how that quote makes freeman sound like a cluts

[@totallynotyosuke8660]

i just started playing half life for the first time. always feels weird playing games that came out before you were born

[@pleasedontwatchthese9593]

@@totallynotyosuke8660 I'm surprised you care about these old computers any.

[@cbw56]

Billy Coore is such a genuinely amazing person. First connected with him in 2010 and realized I wasn't the only Packard Bell fanatic in the world. Great video, Clint!

[@Mineav]

So you could accidentally reset the PC by pressing what you think is the eject button on the fake CD tray outlay on the left side? Cool.

[@pleasedontwatchthese9593]

I was thinking like they knew it would freeze a lot so make the reset button easy

[@Flashy7]

you will only do it for a few times until you either learn not to do that or throw the computer out :D

[@TheMichigami]

yup, and this was the days before "hold the button down so the computer can make sure you want to do the thing even though the thing might be stupid" for both the reset and the power button, so when you bumped it, or little fingers poking all the things they shouldn't found the buttons, or even the cat headbutting the case because you're spending more time on solitaire than cat time, SURPRISE!

[@donwebber7034]

I worked for Packard Bell in R&D in 1995. There where many stupid decisions made by marketing where they never consulted us first. Like the Pizza cabinet , and weird color palette snap on wavy trim pieces.

[@jetcheneau5811]

it's funny how we're nostalgic for em now, everyone i know who had to use one back then Hated them

[@MegaZeta]

@@jetcheneau5811Nostalgia is partially defined by inaccurate or incomplete memory (and sometimes by no real memory at all behind it). This will help you understand a great deal of people's opinions on the Internet.

[@willpitts5223]

​@@MegaZeta This comment should genuinely be framed on a wall somewhere.

[@brandonquinto4852]

@@jetcheneau5811 Kitsch always seems better when its no longer being directly sold to you

[@jetcheneau5811]

@@brandonquinto4852 It's like mid-2000s Dells. Objectively dogshit products, but it's what we had.

[@MichaelRichardson-bw5xh]

Ah the memories. I was selling Packard Bell computers around when this came out. What a weird and wonderful time for desktops.

[@joshuabrown3525]

As a kid, I remember how hideously unreliable they were which is why you don't see them being sold in the United States anymore. (You can, to my knowledge, buy one new in the UK which is absolutely weird to me). When I was a kid, I remember hearing these computers were more known for blowing chip sets, power supply failures, processor issues, and using used parts in new computers which created a real scandal in its time. This brings me back to other computers like eMachine, the gray old Dells, blackberries, beepers, and those old Palm pilots.

[@theenhancer]

"The mouse is like fondling a potato chip." Sold.

[@danielberrett2179]

My Favorite line of the video

[@nslouka90]

Ruffled for her pleasure

[@conyo985]

I wish it tasted and smelled like a potato chip.

[@kewoshk]

I came across this comment just at that part lol

[@philbertchow5425]

Ain’t nothing wrong with fondling chips.

[@jmvsic]

I very vividly recall the one and only time I was able to use one of these. It was 1996. I was a just about to be a freshman in high school and our neighbors paid me 250$ for the month of July to water their plants and feed the cat while they went on vacation. The husband had just installed The Day of the Tentacle before they left, and I spent the next few weeks playing that game while sitting in the corner of their kitchen... which is exactly where they decided to put it. Good times.

[@oz_jones]

Still one of my favorite games. Amazing writing and the art style still holds up.

[@P3HOBBIT01]

I had that exact computer when I was 13. I was able to convince my Dad when they started offering free VCRs with the purchase (I think because it was "Multimedia"... I was 13, I only cared I was getting it. It lasted me about 3 years before I ran out of ways to upgrade it, and I finally built a proper PC... so this was my first and last pre-built /tear

[@stevethepocket]

What VCR brand were they partnered with?

[@glaucorocha1281]

One thing I really love about Clint is how he's so enthusiastic about the sheer/raw cheesiness of '90s design choices, especially for user interfaces, because that's literally me. I mean, look at this Packard Bell Nav thing: it's like basing your user interface aesthetics on a visit you took to your grandparents' house. And that's EXACTLY what I love about it, plus the cluelessness of designers back in the day.

[@olivercharles2930]

personally don't like it, but I 'get' the charm.

[@RoseTintedSpectrum]

I spent so many hours reorganising my virtual house in Packard Bell Explorer, only to then just go back to using Windows because it was better.

[@Texeyevideo]

My first was a PB, my brother talked me into taking it back and getting an Acer.

[@chinchilla505]

Someone's needs to create the Packard ball "home" in real life

[@pozloadescobar]

I love the Packard Bell Explorer. It harkens back to when computing was new and exciting and confounding. Windows was actually good back then

[@tsm688]

@@pozloadescobar When you didn't need 8 fucking gigabytes to sit there and do nothing... only 16 megabytes to sit there and do nothing LOL

[@pozloadescobar]

@@tsm688 You are right on the money! My generation grew up spoiled with all that extra RAM. Our newbie engineers often write memory leaks just because they've never felt any serious memory constraints

[@zzstoner]

I always like the captions, especially when focusing on sound bites... [types of typing being typed] and [CRT degaussing]

[@TheGreatCodeholio]

17:00 Everything had a sound effect in the 1990s. Having a sound card was still kind of new and novel up until the mid 1990s. Besides, how can you call it a multimedia PC if it isn't making dorky sound effects for everything to prove it :)

[@wordart_guian]

I particularly love the microsoft money sound effect

[@louistournas120]

It's important to have a color monitor, sound card, CD or DVD drive, USB ports and speakers, 3D video card. I love my multimedia PC!

[@kbhasi]

I'm already thinking of the background music that played in the first-time setup for Windows XP and the installer for some versions of MSN Internet Access.

[@thcollegestudent]

"Computers used to come installed with bloat" Haha, glad those days are over! Now if you'll excuse me I have to go uninstall candy crush and Skype from my windows 10 install.

[@danem2215]

Still can't get over Microsoft bundled 10 with so much pay to pay shit. Even Solitaire. Such garbage

[@naneek2]

Why won't windows 10 work? it never ever does what you expect it to based on every previous version of windows. And why are they trying to neuter the functionality of windows by relegating basic functions and settings to "apps"?

[@LRM12o8]

@@naneek2 noone knows. Control panel worked perfectly fine...

[@LRM12o8]

I'm still wondering why there hasn't been a sea of lawsuits against Microsoft yet for installing proprietary third-party software on windows PCs without the user's knowledge and consent nor a way for the user to opt out of it. At least in the EU there should be massive lawsuits, as this violates the GDPR in every way possible! Also, last time I booted my mom's laptop, immediately when it got to the desktop it showed a giant banner advertising the new chromium-based Edge browser, begging me the set is as default. Wasn't that exactly how Microsoft got a Million dollar antitrust fine in the nineties?

[@wordart_guian]

@@danem2215 the thing with solitaire is it OUGHT to be bundled, but they have made it too freemium-ey for solitaire. I've reinstalled the vista one personally.

[@MsWaverly]

I had this! what a miraculous rememberance into childhood. The sound of our printer will never leave my soul. Thank you LGR!

[@hkoizumi3134]

Back in the 90s when you turn on you PC to hear that startup, it always made me wonder "what new things will I discover today?" Anyone had that feeling before? Everything we take for granted today was brand new back then. God I missed those days.

[@omgnoi]

I miss how the 90s felt full of possibilities

[@marccaselle8108]

Me as well, I miss when exploring what windows 95 could do felt like an adventure.

[@countvronsky4025]

"What new Twitter nonsense will I discover today?"

[@JohnDoe-le7ml]

1:50 is this the "Heart Shaped Box" that Kurt Cobain was talking about? Hey! Wait! I got a new complaint! This thing doesn't fit in the corner like it was supposed to.

[@Whipster-Old]

No. You could use it to store hearts though. HEARTS OF YOUR ENEMIES.

[@benn454]

I bet the inside smells like teen spirit.

[@raywt3237]

Only a negative creep would buy this monstrosity

[@LRM12o8]

@@Whipster-Old hearts is pre-installed

[@Doobie3010]

So it’s a broken-heart,shaped box?

[@AaronDislikes]

I remember playing with display models of this computer both at the mall and at staples as kid. It is crazy how forgotten and rare it has become.

[@joshfatal]

I remember lining up canyon.mid on a number of machines all at once

[@Gatorade69]

I would always go into paint and draw stupid pictures and change them to the desktop wallpaper.

[@RandallFrequentFlyerFlagg]

3:27 Oh no, the QA seal was broken. I hope that didn’t void the warranty.

[@Doobie3010]

Truly a ‘seal of quality’.

[@phoenixsixxrising]

Packard Bell: This is interesting, what was your thought process here? Systems Engineer: Cocaine's a helluva drug

[@SpiderCollector000]

Packard Bells were one of the largest sources of work, when I got into IT as a 16 year old teen. Many of them unfortunately had hardware issues, but they were priced in a very competitive fashion and you could get them cheaper than the majority of the others that were out there.

[@nthgth]

Cheap, but broke a lot. So basically the Kia (esp at the time) of PCs. Or maybe the Yugo.

[@jetcheneau5811]

@@nthgth The thing is, unlike a cheap piece of shit PC made today, you Can fix a Packard Bell with minimal difficulty if you're willing to sit down and read.

[@a_perfect_human_being]

This is a weird comment, but I just gotta commend LGR on his audio quality. Between almost all of the videos, the levels and volume are nearly uniform and impressively consistent. Only reason I noticed is because when I developed massive tinnitus a few years back, I needed to fill my sleeping environment with a lot of ambient sounds. These videos are perfect because, as everyone knows, Clint’s got a very smooth and calming voice. His videos are calming and entertaining, and, with no negativity meant whatsoever, have helped me fall asleep for the first few years of hellish ringing.

[@ProtoMario]

It honestly seems like a good idea if the just did something with the cords, my God what were they thinking?

[@Broken_Yugo]

​@Aidan Slobodian Packaging, you could push the mobo forward and have a cable cabinet but there's no room to do the same for the PSU so it can breathe and allow cables to go that way. You'd be looking at an expensive proprietary PSU or making the whole case several inches larger, both non starters.

[@patrickelliott2169]

@@Broken_Yugo Hmm. True, I still would have considered making it a tad "taller", then placing an existing "back plate", or something like, "under" the thing, with guides, to allow you to also have venting for air.

[@andrive]

Yep

[@Marc83Aus]

It needs the space at the back for exhaust anyway.

[@forkless]

In the category "My God what were they thinking?" also goes their practice of enabling retailers -- to keep a good relation with them, never mind the customer -- re-selling 2nd hand/refurbished product as brand new. I remember having to support customers that were 4th or 5th owners of a "brand spanking new" PB.

[@joj.]

6:54 - "Packard Bell: Clint grew up typing on us. He Still Does."

[@lee4hmz]

At least this one is rubber-dome; the Packard Bell I had back in 1993 had the foam-and-foil BTC keyboard, and that was no fun at all to type on.

[@jessethoe2351]

We had one of these, I think we still have it in a closet somewhere. I spent many, many hours playing Sim City 2000, TES: Daggerfall, and my dad was into sim/aerial combat games like Jane's AH-64D Longbow. The "corner" aspect wasn't a factor, I just thought it was a strange case design. We set it up on a table against the flat middle part of a wall and called it good once the keyboard and mouse were positioned comfortably. Ours came with a 120mhz processor, which was eventually upgraded to a 200mhz one, and some kind of video card was added. I want to say a Diamond something-or-other, but it's been too long. Thanks for the trip down memory lane Clint!

[@TsunamiSephi]

Are you me??!! Thank you so much for doing a review on a Packard Bell! Mine wasn’t the corner model, but looked exactly like this computer otherwise, and had the exact same software. I grew up playing Duke3d, Transport Tycoon, Nascar Racing, XCom, etc.. I remember getting LEGO Island for Christmas only to find out my Packard Bell didn’t have the right graphics chip. I could never get it to run, and I still haven’t played Lego Island to this day, despite fawning over it for a year as a kid before it came out.

[@TheInternetHelpdeskPlays]

It'd go perfectly with that "ergonomic" split keyboard thing Microsoft did in the 90s.

[@ozguroyus]

Yeeessss

[@TheXev]

The Microsoft "Natural" keyboard is still one of my all time favorite keyboards. If they were made with modern gaming switches, I guarantee I'd own one. Those things were super comfy to type on once you got used to them.

[@tech6hutch]

They’re still making keyboards with that shape, y’know

[@thesteelrodent1796]

MS weren't/aren't the only ones to make those keyboards. There are still companies that make them, as well as keyboards that come apart in the middle

[@thesledgehammerblog]

I was working in Windows 95 tech support back in 1996 (just barely out of high school), and Packard Bells like this thing were the bane of my existence. Especially if something like that combination soundcard/faxmodem monstrosity was acting up you could pretty much kiss your SLAs for the day goodbye. And if they had a Winmodem, well that was pretty much "Abandon all hope ye who enter here" territory.

[@jeffjackelen744]

SLA?

[@ajblack2410]

Service level agreement

[@JeffreyPiatt]

IBM invented that combo sound card fax modem ironically for there PS/2 and Eduquest systems. They sucked so hard that IBM ended up dumping them on the Eduquest line to clear the stock.

[@Popk1ller]

sad they missed the opportunity to use the Packard Bell Logo in the middle as power Button

[@Yomom12388]

The whole idea of trying to run games only a slight few years newer and having the hardware basically shit the bed brings up some interesting thoughts. Sure, it was super cool back in the day when you could go buy a new video card and slap it in and immediately double your performance. That being said, if you were the kind of person who wants to stay on the cutting edge, you better have been prepared to buy computer hardware like every couple months. Things moved so quickly and were not at all cheap. These days you can usually wait a few years between upgrades, all the while never really having to worry that you won’t be able to run something. Even when you do upgrade the improvement you see isn’t nearly as drastic as it was when I was a kid. So on one hand I like being able to keep hardware longer and therefore spend a lot less while not really sacrificing much at all. On the other hand it was so damn cool back in the day when you got some shiny new stuff that made your games run 3x as fast at a higher resolution, but everything was so expensive and tech moved so fast that your new gear was probably obsolete by the time you got in the PC and booted it up. Tough call for me.

[@fridaycaliforniaa236]

I agree so much with this

[@MOS6582]

Great observation. You could put your name on it. It’d become Lastname’s Dilemma then you could drop anonymous references to it around social media and start a thing.

[@kantraa]

@@MOS6582 "The Obsolution Dilenma" "A dilenma mainly PC enthusiasts had in the 90s. A consequence of technology moving so fast that by the time you bought a new PC part, put it in your computer and booted it up, it would already become obsolete."

[@Sashazur]

“My new computer's got the clocks, it rocks But it was obsolete before I opened the box You say you've had your desktop for over a week? Throw that junk away, man, it's an antique! Your laptop is a month old? Well that's great If you could use a nice, heavy paperweight” - Weird Al Yankovic

[@SimmerJonny]

This was the first PC my family ever bought!!! My my, the memories! I remember it struggling like hell to play The Sims 1 and Rollercoaster Tycoon.

[@jasonblalock4429]

"Click to start Prodigy." Man, I'd love to see LGR do a video on Prodigy someday. It always tends to be forgotten when people talk about dial-up private networks from that time, the middle child overlooked between Compuserve and AOL.

[@glenncaughey5044]

What? No geos?

[@Wilus0]

CHANGE MY PITCH UP, SMACK MY BITCH UP

[@laowhy86]

Juno

[@falconpaladinsc2]

@@laowhy86 Juno had FREE e-mail! No ISP required. Ad-supported, and yep, you could also sign up for their ISP eventually, if I remember right.

[@Charlesb88]

How about a video on GEnie, the dial-up online service from General Electronic Information Services that served as a cheaper CompuServe competitor starting in 1985 before AOL and Prodigy were even a thing. GEnie was initially a text-only service like CompuServe and thus could be used on any platform with a modem and terminal program (PC, Mac, C64, Tandy CoCo 3, etc, etc.). It stuck around until 1999, when it closed for good due to the Y2K problem (and a dwindling user base due to the rise of the internet. A couple other online service worth doing a video on are: Apple eWorld - This was Apple’s attempt to get into the dial-up online service market and was Mac only and the Microsoft Network (later renamed MSN Internet Access then Microsoft Dial-up) , which started out as propriety dial-up online service that required special software from Microsoft to access and I believe was Windows 95 only at first (i.e. No Mac or Win 3.1 compatibility). Whit the rise of the public internet/Public ISP’s, Microsoft switched the Microsoft Network towards to standard dial-up service renaming it Microsoft Internet Access then Microsoft Dial-up which still exists today though with only a small user base I imagine. For anyone reading this too young to know what what a dial-up Online Service was, well here’s an explanation: Before the internet was easily publicly accessible (early internet access was for University/Educational, Governmental, and some corperate use only) but this all change as laws/regs governing the network change allowing public ISP’s to spring up around 1995. Before then there was something know as an dial-up Online Service Provider you could access via a dial-up modem. These where basically wall gardens where you could access various services on proprietary networks. At first they where simply text-based services (examples: CompuServe and GEnie) but later gained GUI front ends and graphical based services, thought some Online Service providers like AOL started with GUI interfaces from the get-go. The types of services they offered include message boards, shareware/freeware software downloads, information access including reference sources like dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc., chat services, online shopping, technical support from major hardware and software companies who had a presence on these networks, and in-network email services (Some like CompuServe offered limited email sending between other online service providers eventually gaining full internet email access). Gradually, starting around 1995, online services started to offer internet services such web access, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) access, and full email access causing them to gradually discontinue their proprietary services in favor web-based alternatives or TCP-IP based alternatives that used their own stand-a-alone software like AOL’s AIM instant messaging software or a stand-alone email client. Many of the them eventually lost too many custermers to standard dial-up ISP’s that they closed shop entirely or switched to being just a standard Dial-up ISP.shutting down their proprietary servers and services. AOL is one that continued it proprietary services as a whole longer then others towards then end most had shuttered or moved to the web. They still exists but only as an eMail provider and Dial-up ISP for the few who still use it (and yes, some people still use dial-up ISP’s in 2020 for various reasons such as cost or being rural users without easy broadband access). They were partly a victim of the rise in broadband internet in the late 90’s of which they as a dial-up online service/Dial-up ISP couldn’t compete with since not just anyone can offer broadband internet service unlike dial-up which operates over standard POTS/copper telephone lines. Given that AOL was unable to offer little in the way of desirable proprietary services by the 2000’s you couldn’t get via a standard TCP-IP connection, there was little incentive for AOL users to get a broadband connection and then pay for AOL on top of that so most dropped AOL unless they were sticking with dial-up and AOL made the one remaining AOL service that some former AOL customers turned broadband user had kept AOL for (email) free to use for everyone much like Gmail, Yahoo mail, etc.

[@srh76able]

The centre corrugated piece reminds me of a good old Aussie water tank.

[@Vasharan]

Or outhouse.

[@troyquigg4411]

Here is some fun factoid. I worked at PB in the early 90s (Chatsworth & West Lake). I was given that mouse design to test. As part of my testing, I let it fall off my desk (drop test), which of course broke it. Little did I know was that the mouse was a prototype engineering sample (ie, only a few existed) until I took the broken one back to the engineers and they gave me an earful for destroying it. LOL!

[@johnnyblaze9217]

Hahaha it sure is a shitty mouse i'll say that

[@LRM12o8]

Lmao, stupid engineers! You should've given them shit for a) building a crappy mouse that doesn't even survive a single drop and b) not telling you that it isn't ready for durability testing just yet XD

[@quarterburnt]

20:27 This was exactly me. I never played a PC game before so walking around in a (pseudo) 3D sci-fi environment with full voice and sound effects was crazy. And it was the full game, not some demo. All I need is Babylon 5 on the TV in the background and my 90's nostalgia would be complete.

[@radeakins]

I remember my local college having dozens of these in 95 for a good while after. They had them in the computer library back when going to the library/college to use the internet was a family evening out. A few years later, these were packed into computer labs for beginners computer courses.

[@theothertonydutch]

I had a friend whose dad was a pastor and he referred to Packard Bell as Packard Hell.

[@Dosgamert]

Haven't we all xD

[@richardestes6499]

I think those of us that came in contact with them in their heyday that had one die expressed identical sentiment.

[@marccaselle8108]

I've always heard it as Packard bell or packed in hell My Packard bell never died on me.

[@XMguy]

My first computer was a “custom” from a computer store in 1996. I was allowed to use it. But I always got jumped for changing anything my mother thought could break it. Which was everything.

[@samss108]

The virtual home artwork and aesthetics were awesome that mid 90s feel is great

[@WalcomS7]

Holy crap, whatever that Spiderman Cartoon Maker program is based off of; I had one exactly like that as a kid without said Spiderman stuff. I cannot imagine how much time I spent making animations and stuff, you could record voice overs and everything. The immediate nostalgia when you started drawing with the Rainbow Pen and that bubbling sound effect was unreal. I was waiting for it to pop up in your video, glad it finally did in a sense.

[@nothingissacrosanct]

maybe windows movie maker is the other one you're thinking of?

[@kbhasi]

Maybe you were thinking of Microsoft 3D Movie Maker, or some other similar product from Knowledge Adventure?

[@no.no.4680]

Knowledge Adventure had those sound effects on Jumpstart, I think. Possibly all of their games with a painting minigame.

[@MNT1416]

Was it Kid Pix Deluxe? That’s what I thought of when he started painting lol

[@stephenkamenar]

i strongly remember the rainbow pen sound effect too. but idk why

[@sedrosken831]

Man, all those crunchy hard drive noises take me back more than I thought they would. My SD adapter is worlds faster, bigger capacity and more convenient, but I can’t help but feel like I’m missing something all these years later. I can still hear my 486 “thinking” because of the bus whine coming through my speakers, so at least there’s that.

[@PowerUpT]

2:51 "Looks cutting edge" More like looks like they cut the edge, right?

[@Jossandoval]

Damn you, punny human. I now can't unread this!

[@themanwithnoname4385]

Boo

[@Whipster-Old]

They cut something, but it was not the edge.

[@RegularCupOfJoe]

@@Whipster-Old the cheese?

[@geoffreyreuther5260]

Little did the public realize, there was actually a cutting edge on the inside, and it forced many a techs to bleed when they installed RAM. Seriously, though. Most PC makers didn't roll the edges of the steel inside their chassis until after 2000, and if something gave way unexpectedly when you were working on, you earned a new scar.

[@SheKnives]

Really digging the design.

[@andrive]

Those cables tho

[@calebthedoomguy2730]

Oh shit, i didn't expect you here

[@overdriver99]

I love this design. it way ahead of its time.

[@tylerkunz5490]

Most packard bells from mid 90s had same color sceme and design elements

[@Wii1235number2]

Yes you are right

[@connorburton1009]

I've been waiting for LGR to talk about Navigator since his video on BOB and I'm glad it finally made an appearance.

[@TheMegaross91]

I had a Packard bell tower from 1995 for my birthday back in the early 2000's. That wavy grey plastic design invokes many happy memories

[@vedde7309]

I'm pretty sure I have you and 8bit guy to thank for getting me into retro computing. As it stands I've got a nice little collection of computer-y goodness from the mid 80s and early 90s!

[@4Wilko]

Sometimes I listen to jazz music and think, "This isn't as angular as I'd like it to be."

[@dunbrine47]

This reminds me. When we getting the "Strangest Computer Designs of the 2010's "video?

[@spillingvoid1]

I remember hoping to find one of these in a dumpster so I could swap my computer bits into it. I also remember being underwhelmed when I finally found a gutted one in a dumpster.

[@spillingvoid1]

@mike h In the 90s companies still chucked their computer stuff in the dumpster. Att dumpster I found my first Pentium, a 75 MHz. While dumpster diving was the first time I got my hands on a scsi raid card and over time the hard drives for the raid. It was an easy way to get parts and about the only way for me to get ahold of server type parts. Dumpster diving is what sparked this individual's imagination setting me on the pathway to go from a family of migrant workers to an engineering manager for one of the premier cpu design/manufacturing corporations. You do what you need to do to succeed & follow your dreams.

[@nickjones9867]

I just love how Clints voice seamlessly goes from somewhat nerdy computer entheusiast complete with the laugh of somone having a blast to Cool AF Duke-esque at the drop of a hat.

[@romefox]

They really.... cornered the market with this one. Sorry. Ill see myself out

[@zvndmvn]

Blast from the past right here. I didn't have this particular model, but I had the vertical tower equivalent which came with the same software package. I forgot about Packard Bell Navigator! Such fond memories of Spider-Man Cartoon Maker and Journeyman Project Turbo... I also remember a point & click submarine simulator called Silent Steel. Good times!

[@SlavicCelery]

Hearing old computer boots is a sound that's perfection in it's horrible way.

[@Doobie3010]

Bet someone modded an SSD sound effect with that! You just know someone has to have,

[@josephcote6120]

Kind of goes with the modem handshaking sound. Nostalgic, but you kinda don't want to hear it too much.

[@SlavicCelery]

@@josephcote6120 Similarly, hearing the old modem dial tones is fantastic. I don't want to hear it every time I get on the internet.

[@Doobie3010]

@@josephcote6120 Quite,like chalk across a board.Nostalgia should only take in so much! I think the ‘Amiga Forever’ software had a disk-drive sound option,if memory serves.

[@mgtroyas]

@@Doobie3010 The WinUAE amiga emulator, yes.

[@funghazi]

Oh man I loved this design, I would have wanted it more if Packard Bell hadn't had such an awful reputation.

[@mattb154]

Perfectly period-appropriate avatar.

[@CanDriveSoon]

I grew up with a non-corner Packard Bell in the 90s. Man what trip down memory lane it was hearing and seeing it all again! Never got too far with Journeyman but had lots of fun with the other games, playing with the sound rack and MIDI files.

[@jonathanwolf9336]

When you fired up journeyman, that took me back to 1996 when my parents got the first family computer.

[@Jeffmetal42]

same, I remember playing Journeyman and the Spiderman Cartoon Maker. I spent a ridiculous amount of time making crappy cartoons.

[@jonathanwolf9336]

@@Jeffmetal42 totally forgot about that spiderman cartoon maker. That was amazing for its time though.

[@BillJobs01]

19:13 "The year is 2318" " ᶦᵗ'ˢ ᵗʳᵘᵉ "

[@Thekinggamelon]

18:59 Oh man! The Journeyman Project! Finally! It's not a review, but that's ok, I'm still happy you're finally playing the game of my childhood, thanks man!

[@RadicalDreamer85]

I can't wait for him to do a full review of the series, or at least the first game.

[@jasonblalock4429]

I got so nostalgic hearing that little flute ditty while wandering around the apartment. I never got very far in the game, but it sure was amazing to play at the time, when CD drives were new. It was the very first CD-ROM game I ever saw in action.

[@blunderingfool]

I only ever had a demo of J3 which came with a copy of Ryvn I think. I should play it some day.

[@RadicalDreamer85]

@@jasonblalock4429 It was included in a bundle with the computer my family bought in the mid 90s. The music and atmosphere was magical. Took me forever to actually beat it.

[@duckwerksofficial]

"the idea was sound, the execution was packard bell"

[@BakedKipling]

You're a legend for these videos, this is time traveling for many of us, soo great to hear and see these old machines in action after all these years

[@e11aguru]

If BOSE made computers in the 90s that's what it would look like.

[@JAD-dz3kt]

It's placed in the corner because 90% of your computing is reflected from the walls.

[@dlinkster]

“You may also begin by taking a quick lesson on using the mouse.” “I would rather not!” Lol I love this man!

[@getoffamylan6844]

Back on the tech support lines we used to call the Navigator "Aggrevator"; it was buggy and obnoxious and yes it was VERY much a selling point.

[@pacershark452]

LGR: "I think I've about talked myself into a corner" I see what you did there😁.

[@chobocops]

My first computer was a Packard Bell Platinum I which was essentially this in a tower form factor. The included Encarta carried me through high school lol.

[@toystorylover5257]

Nothing better than classic 90's PCs. I remember my Grandma had a Gateway in the Sun Room at her house and I would play Solitaire and other games on it like Paint. Ahh...the memories. Unfortunately, my grandmother died from covid-19 this year. I will miss her so much. I'm excited about seeing her in Heaven though. Anyway, I had a great time watching this video. Thanks for sharing all your computers with us!

[@TsunamiSephi]

SPIDERMAN CARTOON MAKER 🤯 OMG this rocks. Thank you for the nostalgia trip

[@petenielsen6683]

A couple years after this came out I was working on the assembly line at IEC Electronics - then a New York supplier of motherboards for Packard Bell. We pumped out 3000 mobos per day for the Pentium 2 just from the main plant and that was just the day shift. The night shift did just as many. Now IEC makes parts for the medical field and military and no longer makes parts for PC makers, but the motherboard in the corner PC could have been before PB pulled out of the contract.

[@colombianguy8194]

Awesome, did the company still have the assembly line in the US?

[@jdatlas4668]

Oh it's that weird corner PC! I always wondered what they were thinking given that you can't actually put it in a corner because connections...

[@SoleaGalilei]

Hey let's make a "corner" version of something that is already square and fits in a corner! Brilliant!

[@slobodanmitic1354]

When you think about it, all those techs back in the '90s and a bit later, actually climaxed with smart TVs. And they are pretty much controlled by a remote, just like this one, although this computer is a bit clunky. Great video!

[@Yaotzin51]

We can always count on Clint to mute the background music to enjoy all those juicy sounds of 90's computer booting up. Great job once again!

[@Zellio2011]

All they had to do is reverse the design and have that cutout be where the cords go (Or add another cutout) and then it would function perfectly....

[@hardlyworgen71]

"The idea was sound. The execution was Packard Bell." Perfect.

[@thejackal007]

I... have never even seen this model before... Also, seeing JPT being played on a Packard Bell really took me back to my growing up as well.

[@silixtuhibiski95]

I'm 22 and most of the games and technologies featured in LGR are older than me or before my time. However, I've been watching LGR since middle school and I have about as much nostalgia for Clint's nostalgic things as I do my own.

[@matt.604]

I bought one of those PB remote controls and receiver to use on my generic PC. With the help of remote software I could map remote buttons to key presses or macros/actions. Worked great with a TV tuner card.

[@scherge]

The remote is awesome, when you dont own a wireless mouse and want to watch a movie on the TV that is connected to the PC via s-video, while lying on the bed. That is exactly what I did with a Sharp projector remote that had a sensor with a COM1 connector. The perfect way to operate PowerDVD under the afforementioned circumstances ^^

[@oz_jones]

Oh man, living the life.

[@neoasura]

Oh man, that Packard Bell mouse, I remember playing on my uncles Packard Bell computer for hours every time I would visit him in the 90s. He was the only one with a PC at the time. All of us kids loved playing games on it.

[@Doobie3010]

Proto-puck mouse!

[@LiloVLOG]

Building a modern PC with this gabinet. Hmmm...

[@the_holy_forestfairy]

You mean Sleeper-PC? Nice Idea!

[@suspeh]

@@the_holy_forestfairyi think the same, cool idea, but he need to cut the cabinet, the pc is unique...

[@nandulalkrishna923]

It's possible with a mATX board , low profile cooler , swap the 3.5/5.25 bays with a modern I/O USB3+Card reader doodad , use an SFX PSU That'll be a great project if you can find this specific case

[@zwz.zdenek]

@@nandulalkrishna923 It's not as easy. The entire IO area would need to be re-made. A rectangular hole for the I/O shield and the card riser area replaced with a standard low-profile grill - or use PCI-E extensions for everything.

[@GROENAASMusic]

I was thinking the same thing. :D

[@framerateuk]

Had a P75 version of this for Christmas in 1996. Loved it at the time! I remember the 'Navigator' software that came with it, and it gave me my first experience of 'Decent'.

[@QuaaludeCharlie]

I Remember when Billy got that , Cool he lent it to you LGR , I Love seeing it :) QC

[@futurepastnow]

I remember seeing these in ads at the time and thinking it was a very cool design. Alas, I was not in charge of family PC purchases then.

[@tundraportal]

Great to see Billy Coore getting recognition!

[@gamophyte]

I was going to say congrats Billy! Awesome shout-out and collab

[@joejoe3011]

SpiderMan Cartoon Maker was a staple of my childhood. A couple of my friends had it and we'd always try to make each other laugh. Pretty sure every cartoon ended with a character farting and blowing up the galaxy

[@Gatorade69]

Similar to my friends and I and a game we had called Hollywood.

[@IcedOmega13]

For some reason the part where you made the animations woke up some deep recessed memories of this software I use to use as a kid called "3d movie maker." You should totally try to find it.

[@chainlightning58]

My family’s first computer was a Packard Bell from around ‘95. I remember apps like Packard Bell Navigator. Thanks LGR for taking me back 🙂

[@micahvanella2938]

Re: Journeyman Project Turbo. There's a part in the beginning of the game where it requires a code that's supposed to be in the manual, but either my parents threw it out when they unboxed the PC or it never came with it, so I ended up just brute forcing it and then memorizing the code every time I played. Those game sounds are so nostalgic.

[@RMPANDA964]

Lol you could have saved time looking it up online. There was a Geocities page that had it.

[@teapurveyor]

Man just once I wish you'd explore the old versions of programs like Quicken or Microsoft Works. More than games. I realize the channel is about gaming. But it doesn't stop my wish.

[@gentrol1630]

I bet a video on how to do your taxes in the 90's would do well on here haha.

[@wordart_guian]

@@gentrol1630 hey you could do your taxes with music jingles and clipart

[@Gappasaurus]

19:41 Guy in Future Toilet: “I said I needed a PLUNGER not a FLANGER!” 😅

[@gohanmoka]

this is why I love this channel. this is my childhood. I grew up with a PB MMX200 with windows 95. I used to love the kids desktop and litlle howie

[@JCally83]

Ahh the nostalgia of seeing the Packard bell logo along with that Mouse.. takes me back to the 90s playing Strategy PC games with my best mate, great times

[@TruckingShooter]

The only way this could be more mid 90s nostalgia to me is to run sim city 2000 on this thing.

[@GodsMemeTV]

8:07 - ASMR for the 90s geeks 😂👌👍

[@EvilishDem0nic8732WhatItDo]

Always and its funny for us old-school fans

[@ZachariaZuehlke]

Gave me chills lol

[@leetymcleet6490]

😂How funny. I sometimes run chkdsk or defrag on my retro computers for that exact reason. It's just so relaxing! 🤓

[@andresbravo2003]

I'll tell my friends how I haven't remember the old Packard Bell Corner... But Hey! I know that Guy from The Nostalgia Mall!

[@jimgallagher6310]

This brings back a lot of memories. My first computer was a Packard Bell 75mhz Pentium with 8m of ram and a 14.4 fax modem running Windows 95. Learned to use the computer using the Packard Bell Navigator. Thanks for the great video!!!

[@rossblomkamp9190]

Oh man, I clearly remember being mesmerized by Packard Bell Navigator during the flashy, multi-media rich mid-90's. These corner computers would be on display at our local computer store and were just amazing at the time. I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the software and tried looking it up a while back for nostalgic effect to no avail. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Love your videos. Keep up the good work, dude!