The Early Days of Computer Shopping: A 1994 Betacam SP Video

Back in 1994, I was working for the famous Silicon Valley startup General Magic. One night, my team and I decided to go into a local computer store in Palo Alto California and watch people buying computers. At the time, I considered the results of this shoot boring and put the Beta SP videotape in my archive. But today, all these years later, it is history for sure. All of my viewers who were around at that time will remember what computers and printers and keyboards and screens were like and how excited we were just to have a bit more memory. For my younger viewers, I do hope that this seems like ancient history, which in a way, it is. I particularly like the scene where the customer sees early video on a computer screen. I can still remember the thrill at seeing that moving image with sound coming over the Internet. Everything you saw in the store you wanted to buy. The speakers! The keyboards! Audio attachments! A mouse pad! An Apple. A Bigger screen! And as shown in this old Betacam SP video, salespeople knew what they were talking about. And they certainly knew more than most customers did. Except for the geeks and they were wonderful geeks in Palo Alto who had been with computers for a long time by the time this was filmed.
#ComputerHistory #SiliconValleyStartups #PaloAlto #EarlyComputers #VintageTechnology #RetroTech

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Another great 1995 computer store experience - kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3a7dGeogpuIpac

[@rareblues78daddy]

Wow. Everybody was squashed and widescreen in 1994 / 1995. Don't remember it that way, but... okay.

[@casenix]

H😅😅😅😅😅

[@devynhale1623]

Being told in 1995 that apple is the most user-friendly is the biggest lie

[@jeremyfield4148]

A year later everyone was kicking themselves when Windows 95 came out and they just bought a new computer

[@vincentlopez3094]

This was recorded in 1994 yet has better quality than 99% of UFO sightings.

[@jonathanrubino2577]

Legit

[@esmeraldagems9487]

So freakishly true 😂

[@SuperiorNo1]

Bigfoot you mean 🦍

[@alloallo1977]

True :) but this is recorded at a 1-2 metre distance (with max camera zoom), not 100+ metre UFO distance ;)

[@karthick4442]

lol

[@nattystrongman4925]

I love how the cameraman just randomly zooms in everyone's face and hats

[@nem._]

First

[@Concavelens]

He was legit zooming on someone who was poking their nose-

[@andrewgodly5739]

This was a monumental turning point in the great history of man. He was brilliantly capturing the impactful emotion they and their hat's were expressing

[@VoiVoiGaming]

😂😂

[@steuk6510]

Can old technology used to make hoax calls to police

[@Biend]

- 19 hundred dollars for this!? - it comes with a mouse and keyboard oh that cracked me up

[@bimapringgo]

2021: it doesn't come with power cable

[@eaglevision993]

@@bimapringgo And if you want a stand for it that will be 1k extra.

[@Norwegian733]

Thats salesmanship

[@ericastier1646]

Why you millenial are all parrots ????

[@Haider-Ali76436]

😁... But what a beautiful and simple era that was...

[@Cocolix]

Nice to see Mario selling computers.

[@johnelway76]

this comment is underrated

[@rashidhumine]

You mean Luigi as his tall and thin.

[@josefish5193]

More like Freddie Mercury LOL!

[@aroundtheglobe945]

@@josefish5193 LOL Plot twist Mario is Freddie Mercury

[@johnelway76]

@R A R you know hating on a comment won’t get you anywhere

[@arseniyonline1234555]

The guy sounds like he has travelled back in time and is asking all these questions sarcastically.

[@FatalChaz33]

I thought that too!

[@user-gq9gm2en4g]

He probably is

[@michaelorourke5848]

I laughed out loud at this

[@eddenrabin9583]

Yes. Like he knows about so many things that he doesnt know

[@trojan403]

Hahaha

[@captainobvious49]

I feel like the old ladies in this understood computers better than old ladies now

[@Justin1020304]

Ikr

[@brodycain9613]

Fr tho

[@FernandoSanchez-ec1di]

Every new generation losing a couple IQ points. Stay Woke.

[@darkbrandon8431]

Yeah like these people in their late 60s or 70s. Nowadays its just rare to find.

[@djalilgsf6845]

No fast food at that time thaats why

[@jerickstudios596]

I love how now, my computer is about the same price or a bit more, and yet, compared to those computers, its a super computer. We get so much more now for so much less.

[@pbrazil6277]

The second guy is just trying to help his customers and is so genuine. You’d hope all sales people you encounter were like that.

[@gj8683]

Customer: "$1,900 just for this?" Salesman: "It comes with a mouse and a keyboard."

[@siriusgd4753]

"It's an Apple Sir. The PC's are $699.99"

[@owndapwn]

About $3400 in today's money.

[@agentsmidt3209]

Legit question. Apple has been ripping people off for a while now.

[@gj8683]

Wow, 139 likes and I didn't even create anything. It's true: Good artists copy, and great artists steal.

[@TheTruthlady]

😀

[@patronustrip]

"The kids, they adapt." When you realize you are one of the kids he was talking about.

[@NaturalManifestation]

Literally thought "hell yea we do" when he said that, lol.

[@lanceobe6801]

I remember having to adapt from being a long time dos user to the new confusing windows.

[@isla2416]

Changing from windowsxp to windows 10 is hella confusing, for a few days

[@vintageshed965]

'97 kid right here, grew up on 433MHz Pentium. As a 9 year old I completely disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and reinstalled that bad boy. Kids these days doesn't even know what command prompt is, I can't even remember how many times "diskpart" saved my ass.

[@shubhankardasgupta4777]

@@vintageshed965 print('Our LORD')

[@danceswithmetroids162]

Wow, this was almost 30 years ago, and those ladies at the end are asking him the same question old ladies ask me at my job. That's crazy.

[@Stargazzer811]

Proof that some things never change.

[@JollyBotox]

-War... War- Old lady... old lady never changes

[@MrRahimhosein]

This is actually interesting to see the older generation getting into computers when it was new. Imagine how futuristic it was to them and for them to be able to buy it. I was born in the 80s and it was new to me but it wasn’t a culture shock as it was to them. Cool video

[@prospectnyc]

I remember when the iPad first came out and the Apple Stores started to have them on display - most of the people demoing them whenever I visited the stores were older folks.

[@DiogenesOfCa]

I was born in '63 and the information age was no culture shock for me or anyone I know. It didn't happen overnight, it just snuck up on all of us.

[@purple.9919]

I think at this point, late 2022, our technology is so different than the computers in this video. Some aspects are easier, but many times there's so much customization and so many different ways to do the same task. If I were an older person, I probably wouldn't be too I interested in messing with it all because it isn't as simple as what I would be accustomed to.

[@aodinaz11]

@@DiogenesOfCa I was born in '58. Same here. I bought a tiny Sinclair in 1981 and never looked back. ; )

[@PhilMoskowitz]

People were becoming familiar with home computers since the early 1980s. It didn't seem "futuristic" because the idea of computers had already been around for nearly 20 years.

[@SilentMemer]

Little did they know apple would sell a monitor stand for 1k$

[@knightriderfan1]

And Mac Pro wheels for $699

[@ohhellno8759]

Ur mom

[@angeloplus4]

@@knightriderfan1 imagine putting those wheels underneath your desk chair

[@harsh9558]

Lol

[@kilmentvoroshilov2827]

Then don’t buy it

[@BigDaddyDelliott]

“This bad boy right here can store up to 100 megabytes”

[@user-km5to9np3r]

+ its had 2 mb of ram edit : Thanks for the likes. This is first time i get more than a hundred likes. edit Thanks for @real cartoon girl for correcting me.

[@alacarte_32]

@@user-km5to9np3r 😂

[@LightningShiva1]

@@user-km5to9np3r 😂😂

[@euugh8877]

@@user-km5to9np3r 😂😂😂

[@Kazeon]

And 30-50 years later people will laugh at our current technology today

[@ravocean]

The second seller is the type of a person I wish I could buy things from wherever I go. He's just so relaxed, knows his products and wants to know his customers, and no pressure at all

[@trojanhorse2003]

nobody: Cameraman : Let's zoom a little into their nose.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

The cameraman was me. I was using a Betacam SP camera which did not have a lowlight capability. The store was badly lit. I had to zoom in all the time to focus. Normally of course, I would cut that stuff out. But for this video post, I left all of it in. That is the reason for the zooms. David Hoffman filmmaker

[@trojanhorse2003]

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker Nothing against it sir, but I've seen in most of the old videos they always zoom into the face.

[@kenyonhuppe]

1:42

[@Eric-xh9ee]

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker that's really interesting thanks for the insight

[@Eric-xh9ee]

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker so did you film all of the videos on your channel? I love your channel. It's really interesting. Did you recently find old film and decided to upload it to the internet? It seems like it could be a very time consuming process. I'm just curious. Good work! I think we all appreciate your videos. It's nice to reminisce about our childhood and gives us something to show our children in the future. It's really cool so thank you!

[@k1ngN0rk]

Men: Knows zero about computers Seller: Proceed talking about megahertz frequency and ram megabytes

[@sebastianzx6r]

That was the best part,when the seller was describing the specs and the buyer was just smiling and nodding like he knew what it meant.

[@Lancer2004]

@arcanesage except when you don't know what a megahertz was XD

[@sethreign8103]

Loved that haha

[@jordanmatthews8351]

Lmaoooooooo

[@GyoubuMasataka]

He just read the brochure all right 😹

[@rebeccaquin6198]

"Computers are a passing trend, they won't be around long" - My Neighbor 1989

[@theNotoriousBFM]

"Internet startups aren't a thing" -- My classmate to zuckerberg when he flew out to personally recruit the guy to be employee no. 9

[@NextScamdemic]

“We have all the technology that can ever be invented right now- we have the CD, we have video tapes, what else is there to invent?”- Scott, a guy I knew in 1989

[@Lucidleo-li8yu]

When I was a kid I wanted a computer in the worst way and my parents were like "why would anyone need a computer at home???" I saved up my lawn mowing / leaf raking / snow shoveling money and bought a Commodore 128 from a guy my dad worked with. It came with two 1571 drives, an 80 column color monitor, a color printer and two huge boxes of hundreds of software disks and cartridges. I taught myself how to program on that thing in numerous languages and used it all the way through high school before upgrading to an Amiga 500+ in college. Commodores were the best computers on the market and the most advanced machines available at the time. I had been saving my money for a shiny new Amiga 4000 with advanced AGA graphics and a 486 bridge card before Commodore disappeared from the market. If Commodore hadn't gone bankrupt, I bet Macs would be a long ago memory by now.

[@hughey22]

@@Lucidleo-li8yu I had the Amiga 1000 loved it so much.

[@wmtrader]

You sure that was 1989? The first mass produced home computers came out in 1977 (Apple II, TRS-80, Commodore PET 2001), the first computer to take over the business market came out in 1981 (IBM 5150), by 1983 a line of home computers for kids where on the market (TRS-80 Color Computer, Commodore 64, Atari 800XL), and by 1986 computers had made inroads with music and graphic arts (Amiga, SGI). I think maybe this event with your neighbor happened earlier than 1989 or it didn't happen at all?

[@fredbarron8582]

I remember well, a bunch of Dads standing around looking confused or trying to haggle on things when they had no idea what they even were. Good times.

[@c.lstrife2829]

Crazy to think I was born around this time you filmed this and now I'm commenting on your video using my phone 27ish years later.

[@tonyj9931]

Never knew that Freddie Mercury would be a computer salesman.

[@Zucksz]

Eeeeeooo

[@unknownwolf4046]

I was 4 years old when Computer 💻 came out thats how i lost my friends 😭

[@pete9369]

I came to the comments to see how long it would be til someone brought up Freddie Mercury. It was the third comment.

[@MrAledro84]

Another one bytes the dust I'll see myself out

[@user-pf4zb6bv9e]

I wanted to write exactly the same comment...i guess I don t have to. Like from me!

[@zacharybybee8953]

Didn't realize Freddie Mercury sold computers.

[@pascalotto5790]

i searched for this comment 😅

[@darwinfromjupiter5817]

@@pascalotto5790 lmao

[@soybalmory]

:V

[@natecw4164]

Pressure. Pressing down on me, by this new PC right now. No pressure but this is soon to be outdated technology by Fall. It's the terror of buying something you know nothing about, and watching your good friend say "Check that out!" My wallet will be emmmmpttyyyy (cause we know jack squat about PCs) (Falsetto) Browsing around on the web, these are the days of trucker caps on men. Dedodilo, dedadedahdee, de do dah, dialup. (Ok I'll stop)

[@logannosleep5]

@@pascalotto5790 same

[@SuperChicken13]

Betacam SP has aged like fine wine. This footage is incredible.

[@Leo9ine]

More than anything I miss how average people could be so fascinated by things they now take for granted.

[@cantcomeupwithausern]

I'm guessing the camera guy just got the ability to use zoom when he decided to film this.

[@jvon3885]

He was going to school for dermatology and moonlighting as a cameraman.

[@Schnids1655]

HAHAHA!!! No kidding! he was all over that dudes beak at 1:40!

[@Somethingdiffe]

Such an office vibe

[@Xorberax]

Camcorders had amazing zoom capabilities back then. Everybody was zooming lol!

[@frmacleod]

It looks like this was being recorded for a news piece or documentary which means the camera operator isn't shooting in a style meant to be consumed as one continuous shot. They are just shooting what's called "b-roll" to cover the narrator's voiceover in the finished product. So when they're shooting all those tight shots they aren't expecting someone to ever see the raw un-edited footage. It's just something that would've been used for a few seconds before they cut to the next shot in the story.

[@JuankQuinteroMejia]

when he says "32 Megahertz" he should also say: "32 MILLION operations per second" now that sounds more impressive

[@festerkarlsson]

@Al Castill that's bad ass!

[@FerDeAlmeida]

@Al Castill whoa! 2Gb was a lot!!!

[@vinapocalypse]

32 million operations per second would be inaccurate though. It's the clock signal that goes 32 million times a second. Lowendmac says the Performa 600 ran at 6.5 MIPS (million instructions per second)

[@shNECful]

This would sound more impressive only for you, compared to today's almost 5ghz. Then? it was twice as much as 16mhz. Its' goddamn impressive

[@adisharr]

@@vinapocalypse Yeah like the farmer is going to call him out for that :)

[@sebebse9094]

the last sales rep is weirdly comforting, he just sounds like a likeable guy

[@rashidhumine]

Yh, I hope he's doing well today :)

[@jordanhedlund]

Nah f the guy pushing the IBM

[@ZoeThomson00]

"You're gonna hate yourself, you really will." "That's a true statement." LMAOOOOOOOOOO WHAT

[@samdenham5991]

You couldn't say that now, they would be crying for the manager lmao

[@kenyonhuppe]

3:51

[@gauravjha8938]

When you buy Apple...🙆🏻‍♂️

[@kasplatz553]

Salesman: "It comes with 160 meg hard drive and 4 megabytes of memory." Dad: "hmm" slight smile. Dad internally: "I have no idea what that means."

[@jcasetnl]

I bought my first computer in '94 and it had a 540 MB hard drive, which was pretty middle-of-the-road at the time. I wonder if this was '93.

[@tinhinnh]

jcasetnl you got a good memory

[@daver9643]

Our smart watches have 10 times more power

[@sergiootero5904]

"Son, do you speak English? I don't speak Chinese or Japanese, a little Korean because I was in the war but I use a fork to eat"

[@crashpal]

@@jcasetnl even 540 was a huge deal for 1994.

[@FlipLaScript]

That salesman at the end was really engaged. Since its 94, I can only imagine how hard it must have been to explain computing to a generation that lived during WW2.

[@athayphom3551]

Nah he was quite calm and intelligent, but never enraged

[@supercooled]

@@castles990 Don't feel bad, I don't even know 99% of celebrities nowadays.

[@Erraticfox]

Honestly those older ladies acted a lot more intelligent and less ignorant to try and learn it than the current older generation. Now when you explain it to old people, I feel they a lot of time, just simply don't want to.

[@dumplinglover8042]

@@athayphom3551 i read enraged at first but yea its ENGAGED

[@dumplinglover8042]

@@Erraticfox Because they cant keep up with the current generation they've learned enough and theyre old

[@AwSamWeston]

This is so cool. Thanks for shooting this, thanks for having the foresight to back it all up, and thanks for sharing it now, more than 25 years later!

[@hiker64]

I was a consultant selling many people and families their first computers, building them to their specifications. The most important part of the sale was the two or three hours you spent with them after setting it up answering their questions during and afterward. Being able to display short video files was like performing magic and once Windows 95 came out you could show them the demo videos that came on the install disk and it was pretty fun to watch their faces. - Good times. A lot of hard work, but good times and good money.

[@HiltTilt]

Those two older ladies at the end seemed surprisingly open to cutting edge tech for their age

[@mizark2029]

They are dead now

[@bobo42024]

Its most likely for their children / grand children.

[@Javierriveraab]

They are dead now ... The guy is also dead . The laser printer is alive

[@Erraticfox]

I was gonna say the same. They didn't seem the least confused when he explained something. And that's saying something because even people in their 20-30s get confused if I was to explain something like that to them. Let alone, back then, when everything was brand new to society

[@abadazadytgaming7200]

@@mizark2029 what does them being dead got to do with the initial post??

[@lucasmontec]

"you can take a movie, put it on the hard drive and watch it again?" And so it begins.

[@erdemcelik9260]

1:23

[@pranoychow3808]

We all know what he watched on his computer afterwards

[@cesarcueto1995]

@@pranoychow3808 cat videos

[@cattysplat]

Postage sized video clips that lasted like 12 seconds. Was still enough to download fail vids and girls doing "stuff" on a dialup at about an hour a video. The struggle was real back then.

[@lga7758]

yeah they are laughing that it is even a thing, now im laughing at the crap quality

[@ShahidKhan-ke8fe]

Buying a PC really felt like buying something important back then. It was a big thing and you were proud of it - even though the processing power and memory was a tiny fraction of what you carry on your phone today.

[@william678910]

Back in the day...when people knew why they bought a certain brand...it was not about what was trending but about utility.

[@balkrushnakadam7082]

Imagine a time traveller walking there with a smartphone in his hands.

[@BulkyHealthyCat]

I'd walk and say don't buy it will be for 5 dollars in future

[@joemama8403]

those macintoshes are worth a lot now

[@mrlion9404]

The time when someone could really time travel smartphone will be a vintage antique for him.

[@tonyv1796]

it would be little more than the value of a calculator back then without any cell reception.

[@thriquinox]

@@tonyv1796 depends on who you sell it to.

[@phalikobject6348]

“You can watch a movie!?”

[@wxste8248]

‌

[@Dooshanche]

get outa here!

[@armandguillen6149]

No wayy

[@robloxtipshelper]

@@wxste8248 I agree in a way, but the fact is, yeah no, shove off with your bad opinion

[@Stefan-]

@@timhornswaggle1243 He wasnt talking about DVDs at least since it wasnt availble yet....

[@comms9803]

This looks like it was just recorded. It's amazing how pristine this video is. Outstanding job!

[@thefluroaussie1004]

I was so lucky getting to play with early PCs at high school..spending a life watching all of this development through to today....each time something groundbreaking happens, you think, that has to be it, what else can they possibly come up with....then they do.... great nostalgic video..thank you

[@firefish1837]

Little did they know 2m people watching this in a hand-sized computer.

[@eagle25311]

Yea when I was a kid I never thought a phone would turn into a computer. I'm glad it did though very convenient.

[@hughverespinoza3926]

Damn

[@EthanH1]

Probably more like 1.5m. Some people are probably watching on a regular computer.

[@DonAle_97]

Imagine, the PC processor velocity was 33MHz, nowadays an iPhone has more power than the most powerful pc of that era

[@LightningShiva1]

And a much much powerful device

[@QuinctiliusVarus]

If I were a time traveler I would have told that farmer “instead of spending 2K on the computer, buy 2K of Apple stock”. It would be worth about 12 Million today.

[@Sahadi420]

Look into this company called "Amazon River" or something like that.

[@WizzRacing]

@@Sahadi420 Amazon did not make a profit for 20 years...As you needed high speed bandwidth. In Consumers hands.. At an affordable price. Which has only been around for the last 10 years. Yet the United States is behind most 3rd world countries. As most are stuck with cable. So forget about dividends checks every year... Why Varus is right. Had you invested $2,000.00 In Apple in 1994... Today you would have $12 Million in return...As Apple was floundering till Steve Jobs come back and saved it. You could have bought Apple stock so cheap. It was stupid crazy... This is a time when people were spending $20,000.00 on car.

[@bensondentalassociates8690]

He’s dead...

[@azoutdoors2344]

It would be nice to travel back to 1994 and meet up with my 18 year old self and say "stop spending all of your money on weed and beer and buy Apple stock" lol.

[@WizzRacing]

@@bensondentalassociates8690 Apple is not.. The kids raised in schools on Apple Products. Will be the next consumers. And they will be buying Apple Products... Why Apple was the first $1 trillion dollar company. And with their new custom built chip. It will be first to $2 Trillion market cap..So I would still be buying Apple Stock. If I was 20 again...As you can roll over your dividends payments for more stock or take the payout. Which is 5% as letting your money sit n a bank doing nothing. That charges you too bank there are long gone...Either your money works for you or your work to send every dime you earn. To someone else. That doesn't give a shit about you... Thomas Sowell, Basic Economies...

[@Kris.G]

I remember getting my first computer in 1998. Windows 98SE. Pentium III. Fantastic memories.

[@kimp880]

I just love how everyone is so humane and friendly about everything. People in '94 were so cool and awesome no matter who it was - everyone looks so happy. I wish we could learn from these videos.

[@hypn0298]

It’s still like this in canada (well it was before covid anyway)

[@jacobmorris7532]

You know the old saying technology destroys and creates lazy

[@1Buttonmasher]

First of all, they're on camera. Secondly, this is a very very small sample of people. I highly doubt every interaction was this cordial. Idealising the past is a mistake.

[@makearunat]

This is such a naive take on society at the time from a video that's barely 4 minutes long.

[@cbodall]

The 90s were the best

[@rdross80]

I'm actually surprised by how well the two elderly ladies are keeping up with all of the salesman's computer talk. My grandma would be totally lost.

[@dougrogan379]

They are dead now

[@rdross80]

@G G you saying my grandma is lazy?!

[@rdross80]

@G G I'm just messin with ya. 😛

[@user-vi4xy1jw7e]

@@dougrogan379 They could still be alive if they're like 70 years old in this video.

[@ersia87]

@G G You actually managed to complain about elderly people and do a "It was better in the good ol' days" in the same sentence. xD

[@audiquattros-rf1of]

the video that was recorded 27 years ago, yet still better than bank security cameras.

[@fakehoneypictures]

That camera was probably sony betacam sp. around $150k with lens lol

[@Barakeh]

@@fakehoneypictures a camera that costs more than a house and furniture

[@fakehoneypictures]

@@Barakeh That's how it used to be:) Good times now!

[@ThaFuzzwood]

The banks don't actually want thieves to be caught.

[@hypn0298]

It was a decent film camera. Films with better than 8K quality has existed since way before this video!

[@Brian6587]

Wow, this is pretty cool and neat to see! Thanks for sharing! Born in 87 but my first computer was a IBM PS/2 from my uncle. Very impressed with that last salesman in the video too. Extremely knowledgable and relates well.

[@OfficialTrashPanda]

Who knew that almost everything in that store would someday fit in your back pocket

[@Dfpijgyt564s65sgt]

Let me know what printer and desktop computer fits in your pocket.

[@OfficialTrashPanda]

@@Dfpijgyt564s65sgt almost everything

[@masterofpuppets5072]

@@Dfpijgyt564s65sgt it's in your cell phone

[@brucewayne3141]

and the funny thing is that the thing that fits in your back pocket has more computing power than everything in that store combined.

[@gauravjha8938]

@@brucewayne3141 yaa..like how many PC's & MAC's would be required to get the combined specifications of a smartphone today is just amazing..🙆🏻‍♂️

[@Neceros]

Bro that last dude knows how to talk to people unacquainted with technology.

[@heyimgoingtoplaysomegames]

That's because he was raised in an era where people still truly valued human interaction. We've swayed so far far as a society, that we're all just like candles drifting miles apart in an endless ocean.

[@celestemoreno4030]

heyimgoingtoplaysomegames lol

[@charliestout2815]

Hard to believe that guy is probably in his 50s+ and those women are long since passed. I wonder what that guy does today

[@heyimgoingtoplaysomegames]

@@celestemoreno4030 And social media is supposed to make us feel like we're close. Stupid. Social media is pure poison.

[@hallermytimbits]

25 years later and the explained advice is still 100% true to date.

[@madarchermoto4955]

I didn’t know Freddy Mercury started selling computers in the 90’s.

[@basedjay4351]

Bro I came to the comments to say this lol

[@freddieh5539]

The very first person to have a computer was Eve, in the Garden of Eden. She had an apple in one hand and a wang in the other.

[@TheFrenchPug]

Hahahaha

[@ltkenbo]

I was about the write the same, or Borat haha

[@larryroyovitz7829]

I was going to say John Oates.

[@RRL110]

I remember these computer shows back in Los Angeles. The tech was developing so fast, every month the systems would be faster. Stuff was obsolete in weeks.

[@SylvainValmyJr]

It feels like the cameraman comes from the future and knows exactly what all of this is going to be in 25 years and he's recording people reaction

[@christopheroliver148]

Well, at Xerox PARC, they knew what is was going to be like back in the late 70s.

[@gauravjha8938]

A Reaction Video of times way before KZbin existed...🙆🏻‍♂️

[@bendova3440]

Freddie Mercury sold computers? "Momma, just sold this man..."

[@FreezyPop]

Kidnapped his wife and ate his kids 🎵

[@judgedredd1399]

Put a pen against his hand Signed this contract Left for farmland. Momma the day just began And now I've got to sale my whole shift through!

[@TheFamousRleon]

Lmao so true

[@rafaelbuenafe1032]

Tf HAHAHAHAHA

[@Dummerbrella987]

Ffff John Mayer at the end too.

[@HexxedOfficial]

This camera quality is actually amazing and the voices were so clearly heard

[@DoubleAAce]

And there is probable some editing.

[@psychepancake]

yea

[@chrisposhy9322]

Yeahn it came from Hollywood big camera lens

[@jetercanda9661]

Of course pathetic

[@SuperSalvaJor]

thats analog footage baby

[@matthewadams3438]

25 years ago a guy at Circuit City told me a 2gig hard drive was the most I would ever need.

[@ralphw7950]

25 years ago a 2gig hard drive was huge and pretty much unheard of. 100MB was large

[@matthewadams3438]

@Sherry Anderson absolutely he was. I coulda loaded every title

[@mr.mysteriousyt6118]

@@ralphw7950 now my phone has 128gb

[@Hastur876]

He had no way of knowing how much porn we would have today. Back then all we had were Marina Sirtis gifs. Anna Kournikova hadn't even been invented yet.

[@jayvalentin7179]

@@Hastur876 SIMP LOSER

[@KotatkoVonDrapek]

this footage is ridiculously high quality for the time...

[@fungames8098]

*"This bad boy right here has 2mb of ram"*

[@crimsoncarp6877]

Laughs in 64 gigabytes of ram

[@catwithabat7609]

@@crimsoncarp6877 in ten years i hope someone comments "Laughs In 500 Terabytes Of Ram"

[@crimsoncarp6877]

@@catwithabat7609 I don't think anyone would ever need 500 terabytes of 🐏

[@cartersanchez7533]

@@crimsoncarp6877 that 700th update to war zone is going to need it

[@maiamaya6083]

Jajajajaja

[@pajamieez]

I feel like old people buying computers hasn't changed in 25 years.

[@sl-br4rm]

They still call it the Apple. Hasn’t changed a bit.

[@MF175mp]

They buy apples only from the grocery store, just like everyone should

[@moistgirth5625]

They are all dead now

[@TestSubjectize]

nothings changed, apple still overpriced, normal people still in awe of the prices, religious idiots still defending apple products while cashing out for 299$ earbuds...

[@sl-br4rm]

@@TestSubjectize Compared to other wireless earbuds airpods are pretty fairly priced. AirPods Pro are the best truly wireless earbuds on the market and even though they are 300$ they are better than other brands of that price range. At that point you might as well get some noise canceling headphones though.

[@Octamed]

This type of raw footage with no voice overs is great. It's hard to find real life stuff that isn't 2 seconds and heavily edited with music and commentary. Btw I really think 4:3 aspect should be posted as is. Maybe KZbin did the stretching?

[@DoctorWhom]

KZbin only does square pixels. If you've got a video file on your hard drive you can have it be a resolution of 1280x720 and then just tell the player to display that at 4:3. If the video doesn't specify a proper aspect ratio, software like vlc (video lan client) can be used to view videos at a user specified aspect ratio. basically the analog lines of video don't really have a pixel count, so why not sample more pixels on each line?

[@AquaWaterMouse]

Thanks so much for sharing this with us! So cool to see how it was back then :0

[@netkosent1620]

1994: "What 1900 for just this?" 2020: "What 1900 for just this?"

[@pavanmanglore4495]

It comes with a mouse and a keyboard!

[@netkosent1620]

But iPhone's got what humans crave. It's got electrolytes.

[@trapsarentgay4195]

@Johnny Irenchi no, you’re wrong

[@harshavardhanirugu3594]

Lol that's true

[@MA-qz1sd]

Value of 1900 dropped too

[@pyrrhuscunanan5292]

Times when sellers knows what they are talking about Edit: thanks for the likes

[@Bluecolty]

And consumers too. The seller actually threw down ram capacity and the speed of the processor

[@HumanShield88]

You gotta go to Micro Center

[@briendownie]

I was just going to say... I used to sell computers at CompUSA, and nobody knew a darned thing. We would read the card and that was about the extent of our knowledge.

[@classiquecg5253]

All they want these days is for sales employees to sell, selling requires knowledge of, you know, what you’re selling! Speaking of which, sales associates are possibly replaced every other week, they go through people like underwear.

[@josemontes715]

*times when salespeople knew what they were talking about

[@joatmofa0405]

In 1994, my business partner & I, opened a computer shop. I knew NOTHING (but had the gift of the gab); he knew all the technical stuff. That was the quickest and most concise training exercise I ever underwent!!!! We did extremely well!!!

[@Clairemewsic]

I really love videos like that, it's like a time machine, thank you.

[@antonv.]

Imagine if housing prices changed similarly to computers.

[@shaggymason8415]

Ha I wish

[@gj8683]

The houses wouldn't be any faster, but the rate of refinancing would. Whew!

[@lucidarik]

They soon will. Have you seen this economy?

[@mattirwin463]

@@billb.7346 highly debatable

[@trevorlafave]

Bill B. Have you never used a computer for work or school?

[@petercdavidson]

I love how thrilled he is with playing back the video file!

[@EpicKate]

I seriously just left the video to check the comment section to see who else enjoyed this part!

[@BTin416]

And the excitement of watching a low resolution 200x180 moving set of pictures felt in that time and day. LOL I do remember those days, and later in the 90's with the excitement of RealPlayer videos online, often moving at 1 frame per second max, over a 33.6-56k modem connection? It was the dawn of a new era.

[@coolspot18]

@TrashPanda Raccoon The bouncing ball was Amigas claim to fame. The Amiga team was fixing the bouncing ball demo minutes before it was showcased to the world ...

[@mikeha]

it was a revelation back then to see postage stamp video playing on a computer screen. a modern day miracle

[@TheGreatSatan_]

@140p

[@mjkpolo7313]

I love this. the last guy is such a good salesman

[@niceguy391987]

There's a certain nostalgia about 90s computers that I can't really put my finger on.

[@iBlagg8]

The guy in PC world told my parents it was "future proof" because we could upgrade from 4MB ram to 16MB!

[@patmacrotch5611]

and only for like $800 too!

[@Josh101]

never obsolete

[@moonboy5851]

How’s that going for them?

[@d.ferrell9978]

In 1994, if you had 16 MB you were a king! :) My first PC in 95 - Packard Bell 486 only had 4 MG. When I went up to 8 I was ecstatic!

[@username19237]

Future proof. The near future.

[@Appalachianpyro]

Customer: "So you can buy speakers for it too??" Clerk: "Uh huh" Customer: SHOCK AND AWE

[@christianmendoza7085]

He looked out in the distance “What else will they come up next” 😂

[@Kshea44ify]

We have it very easy these days. We take for granted the amount of information and media we have at our hands instantly.

[@unwantedpeople368]

The good old days....before computers

[@alvarez321]

@Skylar Martin i would say 25 actually. I've talked to plenty of people under 25 and most of them didn't even know about floppy disks.

[@myles432]

@@Kshea44ify lol

[@babesofwrestling8463]

God I love watching videos like this anything from 80s 90s about technology or whatever it was such a great era before and a great time to be alive

[@paletobay1017]

I really like how respectful the worker is the interaction is actually oddly entertaining to watch

[@izzard]

“The kids are very easily manip… err you know, they adapt.”

[@Cache_outtt]

😨

[@mattsupertramp6506]

Hahaha good save

[@WilliamKnifeman88]

Hes CIA

[@R0MA1]

Suspect 😶

[@Lilliz91]

Lmao best part 😂😂

[@LetsChess1]

Freddy Mercury is a terrible salesman. Good thing he went into music.

[@flyingtofu8074]

and he succes

[@bruhmonument4208]

ight dude i been laughing for about 7 minutes now 😂

[@johnstarks65]

Facts

[@whiteknight012]

"There is NOTHING more offensive to a good salesman than having to listen to a bad salesman." - Michael Scott

[@reedhanigan519]

I’ve never laughed at a comment so hard

[@samw1937]

It’s crazy how proud the staff were to talk about these products and you can see how excited they are to be teaching people about this new technology, you go into an entertainment store or apple and theirs no passion at all.

[@sovietunion7643]

it lost its magic because it became mundane. it went from something new, cutting edge and very intriguing to people of the time to learn, to just something that everyone uses frantically, in fact uses too much to the point of mental sickness in many cases. hell the same happened with cars, and before that trains. the new technology of the era at first is severely intriguing and seems mystical at first but give it a generation its just something new and uninteresting. the first time some caveman used a bow and arrow they were like "holy shit now i can kill things from safety and get way more food" and a week later he found hunting to be a chore.

[@davetate1155]

A sales person who actually gives solid advice, wow how times have changed.

[@WarpedPerception]

Thanks to all the guys, girls and Farmers like him who bought computers back then, gave the market traction and pushed the movement forward that much faster.

[@rpospeedwagon]

Having grown up on a farm, people would be shocked at the number of early adopter farmers. Now, it's seriously mind-blowing.

[@Tombombadillo999]

“Thanks to the cavemen that created flint points we are we we are today”..what do you mean with ur statement? Do you also think mindless consummerism is a good thing?

[@korosensei4384]

@@Tombombadillo999 Fire is a free discovery that just spread because of its usefulness. I know where you are comming from with ur statement, but without "mindless consumerism", we wouldnt be writing these comments. Unfortunately, thats the core of our society and I wish it werent so, as planned obsolescence is something I despise from the bottom of my heart.

[@new_filler]

gianni arnoldons >making up a bullshit analogy to suit your baseless argument

[@WarpedPerception]

@@rpospeedwagon makes perfect sense that farmers would be early adopters, when your trying to streamline workflow, increase productivity and yield and reduce losses your always looking for creative ways to innovate.

[@JustinY.]

This man would have a heart attack if he found out how much Apple products cost 25 years down the line.

[@YuralRock]

you know that algorithm works when you see Justin in the comment section)

[@captainpointlez]

In 2020: Mac Pro: 24 000$

[@user-zf8yy7nj4w]

The earliest iv’e ever been to a justin y comment

[@Slackful]

4th, hi Justin! 39 minutes in

[@noah321]

The legendary Justin Y is back

[@txtpeer5179]

1994 and the quality of the video is absolutely amazing

[@emsss78]

I'm Glad I witnessed the 80's and 90's era....best days ever...I'd pay to get back to these days :(

[@Mariofan7]

Woman: "Apple its the easiest, most user friendly" Cameraman: *HARD FOCUS ON HER FACE*

[@thelucylucifer]

😂😂😂

[@HRFCTS]

Look how smug she is. Gold.

[@M.N.9]

I love how the cameraman was playing with the zoom lmao

[@StrawberryRaine]

As someone born in 2003, this is super interesting and something I don't even think about very often. Very cool to see how people reacted to such a huge shift in technology, I can't even imagine what it must of been like to live through.

[@2-da3333]

good old days, i remember, what a time to buy a computer.

[@shadyganem5448]

That was back in the days when people used to socialize with the sales person.

[@Joey-dl6nm]

Yep. Thank goodness for online shopping :DDDDD

[@bigfirepop]

That was back in the days when the sales person spoke English to an understandable degree, was competent and knowledgeable in their field, and had a respectable, approachable demeanor.

[@twinlurker270]

@@bigfirepop Lmao. Racist much? The main difference for me now, is that I know more than any associate. Now they just want to make a sale, they don't care about your needs at all.

[@bigfirepop]

​ @twinlurker Really.. Racist? Because I mentioned English speaking?... You don't know my background well enough to assume I'm a racist in any way. My comment has nothing to do with racism either, shows where your mind is, and how experienced you are in life in general, if that's the first thing you jump to. If you can't have a conversation without resorting to labels and name calling, please don't @ me again. But also, to clarify my comment's context: the op was stating a generalization and I was just replying with an equally egregious [within context] remark.

[@omarrodriguez4237]

@@twinlurker270 Way to jump to conclusions, pretty sure he meant the employees were more eloquent, educated on what they were selling and could explian the specs of the product in simple terms. Nowadays you get some dickhead teenager with an attitude who knows even less than you about the product and cant finish a sentence without "like". Last time I had to speak to some idiot at Best Buy about electronics he had an attitude right off the bat and didnt help at all.

[@jayeshgajbhar]

The cameraman was just fascinated by the technology he was holding in his hand

[@trapgod95xxx63]

🤣😂

[@luigi55125]

Love how he kept zooming in on their faces lol

[@gmcubed]

Back then you didn't use a camcorder without abusing the zoom. It was physically impossible to resist.

[@Flight737]

Yes he was very interested in zooming in on people’s faces

[@Dobviews]

One of my first jobs out of HS was building towers for Mouse's Pad Computer store. Most people who worked around or with computers could also code. We were the generation that grew up with computers and not only could use them but also knew how to build, repair and write code.

[@marinadela1361]

This was before 1995 which was the year when the revolutionary standard operating system for the industry Windows 95 was released. What a huge difference.

[@BGTech1]

1994: “It has a 32 MHz processor” 2020: “it has a 5000 MHz processor”

[@Salsuero]

5 GHz... right.

[@Tevon93]

@@Salsuero 5 GHz processors are not rare. Especially if you know how to overclock

[@ArcanePath360]

@@Salsuero They existed a couple years ago. Nowadays they seem to be going backwards because GHZ isn't the speed factor so much anymore as other dedicated chips and architecture. I have a 4.4ghz 6 core processor, but the PS5 has something like 3ghz approx, but can do real time raytracing.

[@Salsuero]

@@Tevon93 Overclocking doesn't count.

[@Salsuero]

@@ArcanePath360 I don't debate their existence. But they're hardly mainstream enough to be a direct competitor with what this video portrays. That's like comparing a Bugatti Veyron to a Honda Civic. Sure, you can get them... but it's not really an apples to apples comparison. And if you need to overclock to get there... if you can even do so stably... I don't really consider that a 5 GHz processor. I consider that a 4.x GHz processor that someone is pushing over its limits. Someone overclocks a 32 MHz processor to 48 MHz and you don't call it a 48 MHz processor... in MY opinion. Of course, anyone is free to do whatever they want. But I just laughed at the comparison is all as if 5 GHz is mainstream the way a 32 MHz processor was. I don't even think 5 GHz will ever become mainstream, nor does it need to as you stated. Increased clock speeds are no longer the "only" means by which we achieve great computing power. I'm just nitpicking at the "joke" he made is all. No need to pay me this much attention about it.

[@rando8228]

My first job as a teenager in 1994 was repairing and selling computers. Those were the good old days. I remember when the Pentium came out, we were all blown away. We stayed after hours all the time to play DOOM on the demo machines.

[@tonymonette486]

Going to find out if Dos Box will work on Win 10 and maybe do Doom again. Still tons of wads out there on the web.

[@tigersgedanken1246]

@@tonymonette486 of course it works

[@TheCuratorIsHere]

Wolfestein 3D

[@sandwichbreath0]

Dude, yeah, owning a Pentium was the dream haha. I was on a 386 when that dropped and I felt like I was third-world.

[@mitjed]

I was still a child back then, and would come to my mothers workplace, they even had a very old computers with a very large floppy disks. I would go there and play the prince of persia computer game.

[@grantgudmann272]

God damn, I'm really glad you saved that. Thanks for everything

[@boogiedownnyc]

I remember these days, everything was so new and exciting.

[@littleredcorvette4491]

"$1,900 for this thing?!?!?!" "Sir, I just work here."

[@imluvinyourmum]

You work here?

[@Aakash.Singh1]

And now $1500 for a Phone

[@frosty4513]

@@Aakash.Singh1 lol their max starts at 1099 and samsungs ultra starts at 1399 who is a bitch now

[@dav1208]

@@Aakash.Singh1 Value of $1900 in 1994 is nearly $3500 nowadays.

[@Aakash.Singh1]

@@frosty4513 Not everyone lives in the USA mate. The prices you quoted are for USA. In Canada, iPhone 12 Pro max starts at $1300. In India at $1650

[@Uvisir]

farmer wants to buy the computer but don't trust the computer, classic

[@KraitoKrombongus]

this is pure awesomeness!

[@Jagerleaf]

David Hoffman truly captured history with his videos. Thank you sir.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you for your comment. Please consider joining the David Hoffman KZbin Community to receive daily photo posts and monthly entertaining and provocative Livestreams. Click the join button on my channel homepage - upper right corner. David Hoffman Filmmaker

[@ellmatic]

How the hell did David Hoffman know all of this mundane nonsense would be the most entertaining and valuable material on the internet in the future?!

[@road_king_dude]

🤣🤣🤣👍

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Truth be told. I didn't. I did realize that I was recording history from a very young age. But this particular sequence seemed to me like boring nonsense. But believing that history is made one second after it is recorded, I kept the tape and here we are, and history it is. David Hoffman - filmmaker

[@billhicks8]

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker You should've signed off as "boring" filmmaker, turned "entertaining" clairvoyant, haha

[@aronteklu4355]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Good job sir I throw my hat

[@jonnywishbone4805]

Is there any more of this?

[@amjan]

Everybody back then wanted a printer because it was the only device they understood the purpose of. The rest was intangible. Also the monitor would be taken for the computer, as the actual computer felt like some additional thingy of unknown purpose.

[@JuankQuinteroMejia]

It had to be adverticed as "you can put movies on it and reproduce them in the monitor, and with sound also!"

[@Arkandos42]

A large portion of people today don't understand that the monitor is not the computer. The amount of horrorstories of people disconnecting their computer and then complaining that the monitor doesn't work.

[@hoppy6437]

It's because the world still ran on paper so a printer was essential. The closest thing most people had to a network was dialing an electronic bulletin board at 2048 baud. About the only places with Internet access in 1994 were the library, university, or the military.

[@Muslim11234]

Hoppy ! Damn your old. Like me

[@greg_216]

Yup. If you couldn't print it out, it wasn't worth a tinker's dam. On top of that, I'm sure a lot of farmers understood the value of spreadsheets. Even back then, computer bookkeeping wasn't just for Wall Street.

[@joshuag.4873]

I remember when my older brother got his first computer back in the mid-90s. He was glued to that thing alllllll the time and now has had a very successful computer-related career. I stayed as far away from it as I could. Still do, just use the computer to type "pages" docs, check emails, and have music playing in the background.