What Happened to the Beige Box? | Nostalgia Nerd

Visit buyraycon.com/nostalgianerd for 15% off your order! Enjoy a quality product at an even more affordable price. Brought to you by Raycon!.... Computers! They're amazing, right? But they have changed over the years. At one point they were a beige box that sat under the monitor, and now, they're not. Where did all the beige boxes go?
Thanks to Wrestling with Gaming for his voice over skills - / hunterusf go sub!
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[@luigi55125]

"What happened to the beige box?" It turned yellow.

[@michaelxdrift]

The end.

[@doubtful_seer]

The real reason for moving away from beige

[@KJohansson]

Retrobright it ;)

[@Dargonhuman]

@@KJohansson Legend says The 8-Bit Guy isn't allowed within 200 feet of retro computer museums and displays if he has a large bottle of peroxide with him.

[@VolcanoEarth]

IKR? Then you'd upgrade with a new drive and it'd stick out like a sore thumb against the yellowing case. Also can we just be thankful that no computer manufacturer ever went full-on 1970s and cased their machines in imitation wood grain plastic?

[@chrisgurney2467]

I seem to remember when black started to come in it was seen as an "executive" choice XD

[@leland818]

I do too! Felt it was a status symbol when I got my first one for some reason

[@SomeGuy_GRM]

@Cade our first black one was built by my brother and I.

[@rogehmarbi]

@Cade ours was an IBM, I think it was a thinkpad

[@pugmanick]

1:05 - Love the backwards walking... some people will do anything to get in a video... ;)

[@dbfi01]

Litterally walking back in time... On so many lvls....

[@PaulGreeve]

Is walking backwards a symptom of the UK variant of the coronavirus?

[@ThePizzaByte]

@@PaulGreeve Don't be silly, they are simply part of the Ministry of Silly Walks here in the UK. Search for it on Google and learn all about them :)

[@PaulGreeve]

Gareth Colquhoun 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 Sorry. You’re right. Really didn’t think that comment through. Do you want me to delete it?

[@fffUUUUUU]

@@PaulGreeve this was filmed in Holland

[@psammiad]

Couple of other reasons they were beige: beige paints are the cheapest, and also it means you could buy a PC and monitor from different suppliers and they'd still match, essential for the clone era.

[@aeonjoey3d]

you're forgetting the most common piece of office equipment - copy machines (xerox) set the beige standard.

[@herrbonk3635]

And before that, type writers, mechanical calculators and other office equipment of the 1950s and 60s were light grey. (The older ones tended to be dark green, sometimes deep metalic red, and even older machines were usually black. At least here in Europe.)

[@38911bytefree]

shhhhhhhh APPLE patented it LOL

[@0raffie0]

@@38911bytefree 'Steve Jobs knew what he was doing" LOL fanboy detected

[@vylbird8014]

I always liked the beige boxes. They were honest - they didn't try to show off, or flash their brand around, and weren't covered in bling. A beige box says "I have a job, and I will do it without fuss." Plus they all had nice flat surfaces you could pile more equipment on top of. In my case (Or on my case), that usually meant a pile of empty cups that formerly held tea, waiting to be collected and returned to the washing-up pile.

[@christopheroliver148]

I don't think the metal Optiplex enclosures are that un-business; the rise of RGB do-dads on the other hand...

[@numbers9to0]

The most important day in my personal computer history was: When my screen was finally wider than my keyboard.

[@tolga1cool]

Mine, to this day, is not wider then my keyboard. Just as wide is just fine tbh

[@myMotoring]

Get a laptop

[@TheGreatAtario]

For me that was day one. Atari 8-bits are not that wide, and 19" CRT TVs are pretty large

[@victorchan8859]

Back in 2002.. my laptop screen is already wider than its keyboard.

[@dowekeller]

My Unicomp PC 122 is quite a bit wider than my screen.

[@TV---kn2rl]

12:06 "This design was so striking" I think you mean terrifying. That thing looks like it's contemplating world domination.

[@ian_b]

@i dd Are you a supervillain? Just asking.

[@Kalvinjj]

That's what makes it so cool tho

[@MirekFe]

@@ian_b I know I am a villain. And I'll buy this beauty (places tip of pinky at edge of mouth)...for _1 million dollars._

[@afrog2666]

omg that`s so racist

[@MJ-uk6lu]

It looks really sexy

[@NeovanGoth]

German here. I actually had an ergonomics auditor complaining about my iMac's black front and black keys in the late 2000s.

[@Jason-ye4vy]

"ergonomics auditor"

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

Ergonomics includes color? Did he think it wasn't ergonomic for your eyes?

[@NeovanGoth]

@@dickJohnsonpeter Yes, because of contrast. He told me I should use a) a bright keyboard, b) a screen with bright borders and c) a terminal app with bright background. Absolutely ridiculous. As far as I remember it had something to do with insurance. He also complained about us devs not wearing safe shoes (?) like our colleagues in the warehouse.

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

@@NeovanGoth wow, I thought about it and realized it wasn't that ridiculous to have the ergonomics guy in charge of making sure the office isn't too hard on the eyes, I'm sure there's plenty of studies on how certain color schemes effect productivity along with lighting, layout, etc. etc. but that guy seems like he took his job a little too seriously. I was a software dev too but did big data analysis and It's one of the many reasons I hate working for large companies.

[@jeremyandrews3292]

I don't know what it is about Germany, but the society there has always seemed very harsh and authoritarian to me in some way. There's a tendency to dogmatically adhere to a set of rules and come down hard on anyone who isn't doing what they should be doing. There's not even a pretense of "live and let live." Does Germany just stand out to me in this way because I'm American, or do other Europeans also think Germany tends to be severe and overeager in creating and enforcing rules, often taking the enforcement of them a bit too far?

[@LeftoverBeefcake]

I've always loved the look of the late 90's Sony Vaio machines with their purpley grayish blues.

[@neoasura]

Same here, Sony Vaio was one of the first brands that actually started going for a little style.

[@NortelGeek]

Ah yes, very similar to the platinum and purple Super Nintendo colors.

[@rpeetz]

Early days : make computers not intruding Today: Shove RGB LED on anything.

[@retrogamer33]

That's the way I like it, not boring beige boxes.

[@Stoney3K]

That is mostly driven by the video game market and advertised to teenagers though. Nobody wants an office machine which lights up like a night club.

[@SomeBlokeOrWhatever]

Speak for yourself, my rig is a black metal box of non-intrusiveness. I don't want to look at it, I want it to work for me.

[@Ezyasnos]

Today: DISCO!

[@Ezyasnos]

@@SomeBlokeOrWhatever Amen to that!

[@mrdummy_nl]

You forgot many beige cases can turn in more yellowish color, due UV reaction from Sun on some cases. Old desktops near window will have some sunlight causing some will have more yellowish color. This might one of the reasons why some factories go for blackish or greyish color. They will not turn so fast in other color if placed under sunlight. It's harder to see after many years the color changed a bit. If you don't want see old stuff have yellowish color, you must protect them with UV layer or put UV filter on windows. (That goes same for some PVC figures you have in home, they have slight pink / beige color, and will turn more yellowish due UV reaction on PVC.)

[@gerrycrisostomo6571]

Not all beige plastic cases turned yellow. If you will look at the original IBM XT and early AT beige cases and keyboards, you will see that the color of those cases remain the same for more than 3 decades. It is made of high grade plastic materials that is hardly affected by UV light.

[@hacktheplanet.]

@@gerrycrisostomo6571 It's the fire retardant compound that yellows, it has nothing to do with the plastic. Hence why 'retro brighting' works.

[@outtheredude]

I was one who hated it when computers lost their sleek futuristic black, silver, and laser/neon streaks and blocks of colour, and became uniformly boring beige from about the mid '80s onwards. Loved the look of machines like the Amstrad CPC 464, hated the look of the 464 Plus for instance. So for myself, the thought of beige making a comeback over cyberpunk RGB enhanced glass and sleek black metal fills me with horror! Saying that though, an alternative style I would like to see come round is having machines once more made with solid wood, glass & shiny brass, which is much more steampunk. ;-)

[@MattMcIrvin]

That was the sign that the market was switching from targeting home users primarily interested in video games, to targeting office sales. Though it's complicated, come to think of it. Many of the earliest computers aimed at the mass home market were beige, probably following the Apple II's lead, like the Atari 400/800 and the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore 64. I think part of it was that in those days, the pitch was that they weren't just game machines--they were supposed to be useful and educational, so they couldn't look too much like game consoles. (Atari then switched to a flashy black, off-white and silver scheme in the '80s, then switched again to pale gray a couple of years later after being broken up and sold to the former head of Commodore.)

[@neppy-chan9297]

Personally I hate the RGB glass panel look, I think it's super tacky. The beige boxes are nostalgic for me, and I do like that look, but honestly all I want is a slick, flat black case, something like a Corsair Carbide 200R.

[@AnthonyFlack]

@@MattMcIrvin - not in the case (ha!) of the CPC+ it wasn't; they were just trying to make it look more like an Amiga 500. Misguidedly I think.

[@alaeriia01]

I would love a water-cooled setup with copper pipes and fittings and brass accents. Preferably with little decorative valves and knobs all over.

[@bzdirt]

That. Wood. We need more wood panels! Hey you could even market that as more "ecological" as it's a renewable resource. :)

[@guerillagrueplays6301]

I'm not gonna lie: my "dream PC" would be built in a classic horizontal beige box re-fitted to hold a modern gaming powerhouse. They might have spoke of conformity or of simplicity at the time, but nowadays the image of an old beige PC case brings about a different message, at least to me: one of comfort. I want a beige box, with two 5 1/4 inch drive bay covers and a big clunky orange switch. And I want to fill it with parts that will feel as powerful and expectation-defying as the first beige box I ever played on felt when I would watch it, in all its CGA glory, playing solitaire and gold box games and more.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Desktop cases are still build. Yes, most seem to follow the modern black aesthetic, but pretty sure someone makes some in beige or grey or white.

[@mieszkogulinski168]

So you want to build a "sleeper PC" - a computer with modern components in an old case?

[@guerillagrueplays6301]

@@mieszkogulinski168 Pretty much, yes. I love the concept of sleepers, of something that looks vintage/unmodified from (most of) the outside but inside is something much more than it seems. One day I shall have one. One day . . . .

[@Sundog1985]

I love it, I'm with you!

[@retroretiree2086]

@@mieszkogulinski168 : We call it a wolf in sheep''s clothing

[@stefanavic6630]

Beige had it's own alluring scent. Remember the computer room with the computer desk and the computer smell? Yeah, you 'member.

[@holdtehmayo]

stefanavic Remember the satisfying click of the power button, followed by the ’wrrrrrrrrr’ and gentle tic tic tic tic .... *windows logo appears* tiiiiiiiiiiiiiic.

[@stefanavic6630]

​@@holdtehmayo The funny little noise of the RAM counting up. The fact it counted up slow enough to see. Each boot drive buzzing in sequence. Magic.

[@aquapendulum]

And everybody was using mechanical keyboard back then too. Everybody.

[@Richie016]

qwerty.....@!# Nostalgic indeed.

[@The_Keeper]

@@aquapendulum That could be deafening when in a room full of other people typing though...

[@WrestlingWithGaming]

Man, who knew something like this could be so interesting? Great job as always and thanks for letting me be a small part of this video.

[@Nostalgianerd]

Thanks for helping out dude! Much appreciated.

[@rizkaarifiandi5670]

People of the 70s : "we must think of color that not offended people and blended right in with the furniture and house or office enviroment" Gamers nowadays "NOT ENOUGH RGB !"

[@JohnDoe-yf9wk]

It blows my mind that it took so long for black cases and computers in general to catch on. They look sexy they've always looked sexy.

[@RywokastDarkstar5000]

@@JohnDoe-yf9wk people used to be weird... 30 years ago pretty much everything was hideous lmao

[@dragonicbladex7574]

@@RywokastDarkstar5000 I think the beige colouring is actually quite nice

[@RywokastDarkstar5000]

@@dragonicbladex7574 to me, its the most hideous thing i have ever seen xD

[@dragonicbladex7574]

@@RywokastDarkstar5000 to each their own I guess

[@Erdenichtspricht]

2:07 For a moment there I seriously thought you said "getting a little Bajor."

[@stevenjlovelace]

Let's not go down that wormhole. :D

[@FlippytheMasterofPie]

Thank the prophets!

[@Dustie1984]

In late 90s any computer equipment in BLACK was exotic and expensive. Laptops were the most common and when I saw black computers in TV shows and movies I was glued to the screen instantly. And then almost with a touch of magic wand everything went black...

[@stefanavic6630]

"Beige is good, beige is reliable. If it doesn't work you can always hit them with it."

[@danielmaheu7786]

I remember one of the early attempts at going against the computer color grain when Acer launched their new Aspire line in 1995 with the bold color of Emerald Green and featuring purple accents. Definitely stood out.

[@raven4k998]

they were living on the edge with that model🤣

[@frestkd]

I painted my beige 22 CRT monitor's front bezel black for less eye strain.

[@ponyboycurtis007]

Hah I did the same way back when. Except I also glued model car parts like rims to it for the lulz. Plus I stuck apple stickers all over my dilapidated case with missing panels.. Which was painted black and yellow

[@happysmash27]

I was recently trying to figure out why the style of casings of technology have changed the way they have, and especially why everything seems to be made of black plastic now, which is getting a bit boring. It is nice to see a recent recommended video about exactly what I was wondering about.

[@JohnnyWednesday]

All my computers were charcoal black - they weren't supposed to be of course, I spent a lot of time digging in the garden for treasure.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Why. Just play Dig Dug on the machine itself.

[@nightcat7741]

It's nostalgic seeing the beige computers here but personally I won't have the color for my computers because even as a kid I always thought the color is just so drab.

[@TheAnkMan]

Things change. Similar with radio tuners. Until the 65s they were hidden in a wooden box, part of the furniture. In the 60s they had parts of wood green. Big change came in the 70s when they were usually silver, boasting with knobs ("Look at all my knobs!" But don't dare touching them, only daddy was allowed to) and switches. In the 80 they had a black finish, which still is the case until today.

[@christopherwaller2798]

"something that could now transform our lives and our businesses" Well, Tim Berners-Lee used a Next Cube as the first web server, so that's probably an understatement

[@frankowalker4662]

I still use an XP horizontal grey box for messing about with audio.

[@hmm5396]

I love doing gaming PC build outs with these old dinousours and yes it's possible

[@mikebailey783]

At 1:05, the people outside were so excited by the IBM PC, they did a groovy backward-then-forward dance along the street! (Timed nicely with the music too)

[@jeffreyhebert5604]

When you said beige box.. I seriously thought you were talking about basic beige boxing in the phone phreaking world.. lol.. actually beige boxing was lame.. two alligator clips to your neighbors phone lines..tip and Ring..also simple electronics to block there line then you knew they were on the line..LOD.. OLD SCHOOL.. CHEERS

[@jamess1787]

Thank you! That's what I came here for!

[@freeculture]

And guess who made the better "blue" boxes, talk about funny connections...

[@Tall_Order]

These days everything is a black box of some kind.... Just as boring. My next PC case is probably gonna be unique. Even if I have to pay extra to have it custom made. I know LGR prefers wood grain. I could see doing that, and making it so the front panel is brushed aluminum to look like a stereo system from the 70s. If there is one positive thing to say about black, it doesn't yellow with age. The plastic still degrades but it's not visible until it cracks.

[@Tall_Order]

@@kingonduty2825 Are you talking about building my own Case? Because I do build computers, just not cases. If you meant case I could give that a shot eventually. Maybe make one out of wood. I'll have to wait till the current crisis is over before I go buying any wood though.

[@null-sweat]

I was tired of black cases as well, so I bought a white NZXT, it's beatiful...

[@Jewsh]

The very few PC peripherials that are still made nowadays with beige plastic cases (like some mechanical keyboards) also won't yellow with age, because modern plastics have improved the chemistry so this process doesn’t happen. I think it's reasonable to believe that, if there ever was a reappearance of beige plastic PC cases in any noticable capacity, they won't have that same problem plaguing the old cases.

[@alaeriia01]

Go for a hot rod build. Imagine a huge intake on the top like a Roots blower, with chrome trim and a V16 badge on the front for the Ryzen 9 16-core CPU!

[@SPNKr16]

> ... brushed aluminum to look like a stereo system from the 70s. Yep, you've got taste. Also black can age, have a layer of yellowness on top so it's almost 3D on certain surfaces. Or the black can discolour at the same rate the yellow shows up. But it's rare vs. beige and the latter off white like Packard Bell and Compaqs. Actually, our Compaq laptop from 1996/7 was so cool in its dark gray appearance. Panasonic Toughbooks at the time were even darker, VERY cool!

[@tessjdt]

I loved the Apteva design. The Workstation class Intelistation took on a very similar look. I had a dual Xeon model at work that ended up becoming the same machine I had at home. Bad boy rocked a Matrox G400 16mb. Worked great with OS/2 Warp e-Business It was saweet.

[@Administrator_O-5]

This is depressing! 😭 I lived / worked through it all! I remember how "cool" it was when the 1st Dell OptiPlex started coming in black, they were still CRTs & bulky towers (P4) but it was cool, then the Flat screens came out literally the next year & the boxes cut in 1/2! It was an awesome time back then, but not as fun as the Vodoo 3DFx days 🤔, now those were the real golden years of computer geeks! SoundBlaster AWE 32, Cyrix 6x86, Diamond Shotgun modem (you had to have 2 phone lines & it would combine both dial up connections into 1 for 2X the speed!)...I wanna go back!!! This sucks!!! I love technology & living on the bleeding edge, but nothing can ever be like those days were...I'm 43 BTW...

[@SomePotato]

Well, there were 6 years between Wolfenstein 3D and Half-Life & Unreal. Another 6 years later was Half-Life 2 & Doom 3. And when you look 6 years before Wolfenstein, the contrast would be even bigger. When I look back at games from 2014, the contrast isn't nearly as stark today. Technology matures, progress becomes slower.

[@SPNKr16]

@@SomePotato >And when you look 6 years before Wolfenstein, the contrast would be even bigger. 😯

[@mycosys]

You missed so many things in this. I cant believe you didnt mention the stunning Silicon Graphics Workstations of the mid-late 80s and early 90s. Everyone in the industry wanted a machine that looked like that, they looked incredibly premium. Also it was this time that studio professional electronics moved from silver to black, and domestic small electronics followed suit. Televisions and stereos that had been silver in wood tone boxes were suddenly black boxes, both for cost and fashion. Increasingly the beige box just didnt fit in, either ta home or at work.

[@deathsyth8888]

"An office can have a computer in any color that they want as long as it's beige." - German workplace regulations (Probably)

[@schlafschafweb]

No. :-) I am German and I am surprised about how much this video is talking about German's working place regulation influence of the WORLDWIDE design of computer cases. Germany was a quite small market in comparison to USA, UK, CAN, etc. at that time. The reason for beige was probably a question of cost effectiveness and compatibility with the design tastes of people WORLDWIDE, not Germans alone. BTW: The German regulation based on working ergonomics these days said AFAIK, that the environment shouldn't have extrem "popping" colors. White, Black, etc would be OK. Popping red, orange and so would have a problem, maybe. But I am not sure

[@disnonn]

@@schlafschafweb Depends. We have Fujitsu boxes which come in black with this red stripe. And I have seen G3 iMacs in offices. Guess it depends on the size and layout of the office, the Großraumbüros I worked in were far stricter than the Einzelbüros.

[@seraphina985]

@@schlafschafweb Probably a lot of companies were producing a single model to EEC standards that was meant to be marketed to all EEC countries including the UK maybe even one model for the world producing multiple models cost more especially when the market was a lot smaller so there was not the economies of scale to produce many models at a competitive price.

[@MrMattumbo]

@@schlafschafweb I wouldn't sell Germany short, they were and are a very large market. Plastic molds and manufacturing is very expensive, at a time of intense competition in the personal computer industry no one is going to exclude themselves from the German market (and according to the video several other western European and Scandanavian countries) just to buck the trend, nor are they going to produce a second color of casing and have to deal with the extra costs and logistics of having two separate versions of their product. The EU today loves to flex its regulatory muscle for the same reasons, if they can force compliance within Europe they usually get companies to standardize that for all other markets. Unless there are significant cost penalties for following the regulation then they will fulfill the strictest regulation as the default standard to preserve economy of scale and simplify logistics.

[@roepi]

@@schlafschafweb Even back then, if you wanted to sell anything in the EEG you better conformed to all regulations of the individual members and Germany was easily the most conservative (still is in many ways). It's a lot easyer to just conform to the most stuck up conservative rules laywers in the market then to make different versions for each market in a market that isn't all that big. It's the same with movies being made to not offend the US census and videogames made to not offend the Chinese communist party. There was (is) also the problem that personell gets jellousy issues when someone gets to work on a newer more modern piece of equipment. By making every version with the same boring nondescript look you make it a lot less overt and you get less problems with petty behaviour. (Though imo, those people who do display such behaviour need to be removed from the company as the behaviour is very bad for company wide performance but that would require managers to pay attention to such matters and pull their heads out of their asses wich all to few can for some reason.)

[@WesleyNixon]

Your pronunciation of Cuisinart (Cuisine-Art) is the first time I've ever heard it like that, and it made me realize what the name meant. Here in the states we say quease-in-art. Weird huh?

[@nowthatsjustducky]

I've always pronounced it quizz-in-art.

[@nthgth]

Yeah, I also never realized it's a portmanteau until he pronounced it like that lol

[@Jivvi]

He said it wrong, but yeah, the clue is in the spelling too.

[@robertknight4672]

That brand name I try not to say especially if I'm talking about a food processor. Cuisinart makes many things and other companies make food processors many people often call Cuisinarts.

[@chrispycs54]

Cuisinart pronounces it quease-in-art. British speakers tend to come up with their own incorrect interpretations. Look how long they refused to pronounce Barack Obama's name correctly, i.e Bare-ick.

[@bazzyg]

When I was 12, I got an Ambra 486X 32MHZ with 4Mb memory and Windows 3.1 and DOS 5.1, later upgraded to 6.0. It was the best thing I had ever seen in my life.

[@telesniper2]

you've had a very shitty life then

[@curvingfyre6810]

we're definitely seeing beige again in keyboards, and to be honest, whites and pearl-grays never really left. I dont necessarily think they'll ever be in the "box" style again though, at least not commonly. Too many people want to see their hardware (transparent windows), and for those who don't, they're probably concerned enough about raw non-aesthetic performance to want the airflow of a tower case, plus fans on the side panels. These days, most people have more than one monitor too, certainly those who use pcs professionally, so there'd be no way to have both on a box even if that did still make sense.

[@Vanessa_Santillan]

Thank you for mentioning Tamiko Thiel! I hardly hear about women in tech stuff. Great video! 💾💖

[@1sonyzz]

3:34 they had 8K resolution back in late 70's so we are like 40 years late

[@mieszkogulinski168]

That Connection Machine looks awesomely futuristic, or at least retro-futuristic :)

[@deeiks12]

We had an Aptiva S series on show at our computer saloon/botique in early 2000s. It was pretty awesome that you could hide the tower so that it doesn't need to be accessed. The power button and cd and floppy drives were all in the monitor stands. Although the monitor alone was still way bigger than an imac.

[@SolarMechanic]

For those not from the UK, I feel it necessary to inform you this is not how we all say the word "Beige" with that awful, hard "ge". This man is a freak.

[@64kram]

Baidge?

[@dobygillis2720]

Get over it ffs.

[@vcolinc]

He's always pronouncing things weirdly. I think it's like that "CoolWhip" thing with Stewie and Brian in Family Guy.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

There's nothing wrong with "je" at the end.

[@SpeccyHorace]

At least it isn't "bibicee"

[@RetroJackal]

The only thing that I would call a negative to beige boxes are that they yellow - other than that, I'd happily take them over what is released nowadays.

[@Seatux]

Funny how hard yellowing hits plastics, the metal outer panels are usually fine, unless placed next to a window, so it looks like a old white car.

[@6581punk]

@@Seatux it's to do with a flame retardant added to the plastic. Bromide I think.

[@maweitao]

ABS plastic in particular is susceptible to yellowing. There are plastics that are much more resistant, like PBT. The problem is that other plastics might not be suitable for computer cases. Even with viable alternatives, I don't think any manufacturer has an incentive to offer a case that will still look good in 15-20 years.

[@CommodoreFan64]

lets also not forget that things in beige/white in general can tend to get dirty looking much faster then other colors. I recently restored my first laptop a Zenith Data Systems 286e Supersport(only runs on AC now, but I have the housing for the batteries working as a pass threw for the PSU if I want the complete look), and only after a month, or so of using it as my writing computer with Letter Perfect since it's B/W backlit screen is still really good, and it offers no modern distraction, but I had to clean it again with the oils on my hands, and such just from use. Yes that also happens on my modernish black/red lid Lenovo Thinkpad X140e, but not near as much by a long shot.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Lots of good stuff out there though. If you look beyond the "gaming" boxes there is a lot to like for anyone out there. Good times

[@gallimead]

A very informative, and throughly researched video. My first baydge PC was a Viglen. 486dx2, with a blistering 250mb HDD. Took up a lot of space on my little student desk, in 93. Brought back a lot of memories

[@Ndlanding]

That was quite informative, I must say, and answered some questions I had never really asked. Actually, all my PCs were beige until 2011, when I bought the black case I'm still using. I remember the pain of having to replace the DVD drive because beige in a black case is just impossible to live with. All black everything now, and happy!

[@hisham_hm]

Computers are now silver and black like the TRS80. I would say _that_ color scheme aged well.

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

I would say that the resurgence of the silver-and-black colour scheme of the '00s is already passé

[@compzac]

@@FindecanorNotGmail Well the black certainly hasnt, and neither has shades of silver, looking at best buy before the whole stay at home thing started tons of machines were forms of either silver or black, usually with a mix in them too. My Monitor today even has both silver and black in it.

[@nowthatsjustducky]

I still love the black and battleship gray color scheme of the TRS-80, and especially our TI-99/4a systems. In fact, if our TI Peripheral Expansion Boxes weren't still perfectly operational, it would be tempting to make one into a modern PC case.

[@carso1500]

@@compzac black is still going as strong as never, i just buyed a new PC and yeah it was black, my laptop is silver thou that seems to be the preferable color for those little guys

[@DaGleese]

Remember in the early 2000's when all tech (TVs, HiFi Systems, DVD Players, PCs, little robotic dogs etc) were made out of that cheap tacky silver plastic? That look really didn't age well at all. It seemed very modern at the time, though. They even made tacky silver TV stands that fitted the profile of a wide screen CRT TV. My parents still use one with a modern black 4K smart TV and it just looks rediculous.

[@McShave]

That plastic silver period was truly awful, but what was worse was the very brief period (1999 - 2003ish) where PC case makers really didn't want to ditch the beige colors but instead made half and half ones. Sometimes with translucent colored plastic or black, but the half beige half silver cases were utterly monstrous.

[@theX24968Z]

and nowadays we're in the age of bleak bland minimalism where computer cases look like painted cardboard boxes. hopefully it will pass soon.

[@McShave]

@@theX24968Z RGB painted cardboard boxes lol, I still refuse to own any case that doesn't have drive bays.

[@sebastianlabusch465]

I am currently sitting in front of a Dell Precision workstation from about 2010 (although only the case, power supply, and drives are still from this era). The front is silver, and I think it is worse: it is painted silver. So when the paint gets scratched, it reveals a different shade of gray...

[@SPNKr16]

@@McShave Yep our 2005 tower was half silver/gray and bright beige. I thought it was cooler than the off white Packard Bell because it was not "branded" anymore. We were venturing away from corporate bundled PCs and custom building our own. We haven't actually bought a ready to go PC "with a name" since then. I don't miss the firmware locking of the motherboard but the nice boot screens I kind of do miss. Panasonic Toughbook though is a glorious boot screen. There's a BIOS option to disable it. Best laptop in the world (when you're not looking for raw power and performance).

[@ryke_masters]

14:33 I had that exact model black Aptiva for a good while as a kid! My father worked for IBM at the time, so of course we always had IBM computers. I remember very early on we had a PS/1 that stayed in the family for a long time, I'd still mess with it whenever I visited my grandparents until they got rid of it probably around 2010 or something. I was obviously not particularly knowledgeable about the tech back then (I would have been around 5 or 6 when we got that Aptiva) and only recognize the PS/1 from it having been around in the family for so long and being such a widespread, recogniseable model, but the black Aptiva was completely discarded after several years and I'm not sure I'd ever have remembered what specific type of computer it was if it wasn't for the image in that video. Little weird suddenly remembering a little piece of family history.

[@carking0138]

The 'Beige Box' computers eventually were made into black to avoid yellowing and our modern-day laptops still do resemble the monitors put on the 'Beige Box' computers.

[@TheTurnipKing]

There was a period of beige tower cases too, though very short lived compared to the under monitor slab. Beige, more particularly, didn't really clash with most big office decor of the time.

[@ian_b]

Machines I've owned: PS/2 Model 60, beige massive tower case (1987 vintage, bought second hand) 486DX2, built by a friend in IT, Midi beige tower (1993/4) Pentium II self build, ATX beige full tower (1998) Athlon XP 1.8 self build, ATX beige full tower (2002) Shuttle XPC (not a tower, not beige, hated the little case TBH) My mum also had a system built by a builder, late 90s, beige midi tower My dad had two machines by another builder, both beige towers. They were pretty common over a long period of time.

[@Nostalgianerd]

Absolutely. But the desktop seemed far more common.

[@TheTurnipKing]

@@Nostalgianerd horizontal case was around a lot longer, but the tower case boom coincided with the arrival of Windows 95 and the Internet in the home, which was a period of enormous growth.

[@saratov99]

By 1994 desktops were gone. My first PC - 486DX2 was midi beige tower and so was everybody's i knew from then on for a long time.

[@GreyHulk2156]

"Its simplicity. Its angular lines. Its industrial office appearance. It is people walking backwards outside." :P

[@Nostalgianerd]

It was filmed in the Netherlands. What do you expect?

[@GrahamAtDesk]

@@Nostalgianerd People cycling backwards!

[@timmooney7528]

Choice of peripheral colors also held back adoption of other colors. Having a blackor gray pc case looked silly when your mouse, crt, and keyboard were still beige. In 1997 I was working at a small pc shop, and we had trouble moving cases in colors without matching accessories. Even though they were pieced together clones, they didn't want that appearance.

[@looneyburgmusic]

Epson also bucked the beige trend back in the early 90's, I have several Epson 486 based PC's sitting in a closet somewhere, several laptops and one Epson badged desktop, which are somewhere between a Dark-Grey and Blueish-Grey.

[@SabretoothBarnacle]

I had no idea until beige cases were still for sale until this video triggered me to do a search... there's loads of old skool vertical and horizontal options out there. I'm getting the urge to give my Pentium II bits a new cosy home 💻

[@spicemasterii6775]

Germany: we take the fun out of everything. Germany: our whole country is beige and gray

[@mariusberger3297]

Spice Master II German here. It's true.

[@arpcpro]

That is so true!

[@livefreeprintguns]

It was only briefly mentioned, but the Lisp language is such a powerful tool... most people wouldn't be able to grasp just how integral and important it was in *all advancements* of modern technology; *especially* in A.I. and search engines.

[@Yep6803]

JUST A THING: Here in Italy in '90 verticals were mostly common(even if in home) because were homemade and second hand so easily to manage and less difficult to broke.🙂 I have a Compaq with Olivetti mouse and keyboard, Compaq display...it was handmade and it was second hand. It was Windows 98 and my mom didn't wanted spend money for pc so when i was kid(at 13 years old my mom bought adsl, italian Alice) so we used modem and the phone! I still remember it, lucky a friend of my mom gift her a Nokia because at that time we were quite poor(but happier honestly because we had enjoyed everything new). It wasn't beige but something might way from beige and white. I remember the client mail...probably my mom used Rocketmail(after Yahoo!)! I still remember that whole was illegal! 🤣 Is funny because actually is cheaper and legal...but surely it was greater, nothing was obviously so having a pc like that felt you great. I still have a usb from that period(is one of the greater as quality despite is 1gb). I didn't have audio and we bought speakers was weird for me, still I usually mute my pc(now i own a mac and mom a laptop). I still remember tha crashes of Windows, Wordart and Explorer(we used the basic because my mom worked with pc but never really believed in them and she still doesn't really believe in this).

[@RPKGameVids]

I'm watching this on a 1998 beige CRT monitor.

[@Locutus]

Cool story.

[@dovic2293]

watching this on a 2002 Compaq 7020 flat screen monitor

[@Locutus]

@@dovic2293 Cooler story.

[@horrorkesh]

Earbuds get really uncomfortable and even to the point that they start hurting my ears

[@MirekFe]

Don't forget about the ear fat, that makes your earbuds all oily.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Yeah, clean them from time time.

[@computethis7128]

Can't stand them and his ad even sounded really forced and fake.

[@woooweee]

@@MirekFe airpod/earpod design is best for that reason, deeper seal silicon tips are gross

[@MirekFe]

@@woooweee My ears aren't just oily in my ear canals. So I still think it's gross. 😷

[@cowboybob7093]

I've got some of those ancient "A" devices and cables. Notably an AOL camera with a proprietary A-A cable and a neato USB 1.1 A-A data transfer cable that really did connect two hosts and came up mounted as drive letters in each. And lots of failed Micro B connections, so flimsy. Thanks for another great post NN.

[@REALSlutHunter]

1:11 *LOL* The People in the Background

[@fffUUUUUU]

5:46 period: 19602 Aha! Time travel confirmed!

[@TheJamieRamone]

Oooo, the NeXT machines! Do I c a future video documentary sumwhere in there ;-)

[@sbalogh53]

3:06 I look at all my apartment walls..... Beige! I once had a black CD drive in my beige computer box and it looked out of place.

[@mytech6779]

I started with a pearl grey tower in 1991 ... around 1999 got a tower more like a jukebox, total gaudy RGB overkill, clear panels, fans in all sides, color shifting light pipes, etc. Now black, black monitors, black keyboard(really I would like light grey), even a dark theme virtual desktop. My 2002 era flatbed scanner is silver(like paint, not polished metal) with strange textured translucent panels. My 2008 laptop is flat medium grey outside and black inside.

[@bigstackD]

Great upload matey👌🏻. Very informative I loved it ! I been here since 8k subs 👊🏻

[@fridaycaliforniaa236]

Heyyy, the serial melter ! ^^

[@neoasura]

Man, everything was beige in the 90s here in America. Computers, cars, houses, cargo shorts. It was, and still is a terrible trend.

[@j.d.6915]

And pants. Target/Walmart/KMart all had beige pants/khaki for employees.

[@cassandralyris4918]

Agreed. Nostalgic for PC's, sure, but nothing else. Do not miss it.

[@houstonhelicoptertours1006]

Not really. As a (former) artist and illustrator I find fruity colors with no rhyme or reason even more insulting, especially in professional environments.

[@CarnorJast1138]

I got my first computer in 1982, a Tandy Color Computer Model One. My second one was an Atari 800XL. After that I got the computer I miss the most: The Atari 520ST. What a wonderful computer. Then, in the late 80's, I sold my ST and got me a PC. A beige box with a beige monitor and keyboard. All of my PC's that I built were based on this design. I went to a beige tower, made by ARC Corp., with a fantastic ARC Mechanical keyboard. Then my next tower was also beige. The very first time I went to a non-beige setup was in the early 2000's when I upgraded to Windows XP, from 98SE, and got a black mid-tower. From there it's always been a black tower of some kind. So for me, it's always been beige(from the Atari ST days), until I went XP.

[@ebridgewater]

I'm 33 (born 1986) and my first proper PC was a Packard Bell in 1997-8 or so (almost exactly the same as the one at 02:17). It was more cream than beige and that was bad enough. I'm definitely glad beige / cream cases are gone. Nostalgia or not, they were ugly and indicate a slow, noisy machine that can't hack it these days.

[@rigurat]

I take a shot every time he says "beige".

[@Jivvi]

If you take a shot every time he pronounces it correctly, you'll still be ok to drive.

[@p_mouse8676]

The good old days. When you had to (spray) paint your own color.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

When having a window meant getting out the dremel and watercooling required a visit to the hardware store and getting aquarium parts. Oh and uv reactive parts.

[@RetroSegaDev]

Your documentary style videos are always my faves 👍 really enjoyed this 😁

[@GrahamGibsonUK]

My first PC was an Olivetti Envision which came in black. It was designed to fit into a living room environment with the main box styled so that it didn't look out of place next to other living room tech like a VCR or stacking hi-fi units. At the time ('95/'96) it was certainly uncommon to see a PC in black. Made trying to find matching PC speakers harder than it should have been as they mostly came in beige or other varients of off white to match the majority of computers available at the time. Props to Olivetti for trying something different and thinking about home users.

[@vaultdweller966]

Waiting for that beige revival.

[@WegrennerX]

Manu B me too

[@NigelDraycott]

What was old will be new again. But personally, no thanks.

[@Slaterking2010]

It's all about the RGB this day and age. I liked the beige box, it was simple and out of the way, now computer are like "Yeah look at me in my many different colours".

[@jaysoosbeans]

I'm quite fond of beige as well. Nowadays all cases have RGB to the point that I see all of them as generic and beige oddly enough is unique again.

[@Rentta]

My favorite case is still my Antec AMG line case that was sorta gunmetal grey. It looked both, business and sorta futuristic at the same time. Also it was built like a tank.

[@girlsdrinkfeck]

black is the best colour for any PC or furnishing, black goes with anything ,compaq in the 90s made black systems and looked so modern

[@BertGrink]

I have a black Lian Li case for my PC, but i would NEVER install RGB lights; for one reason i find too many lights distracting, and for another, RGB doesn't improve the performance, hence i think it's a waste of money. But hey, that's just my opinion.

[@SlavTiger]

By far one of my favorite shows on the platform. Very informative and entertaining at other times. Always feels like a proper documentary when you narrate.

[@SlavTiger]

Between you, LGR, 8 bit, and Akbkuku, it's hard to pick a favorite. You are all so talented.

[@garywidom]

1:14 reversing the video than going forward to lengthen the shot. Nice. The people walking.

[@Slash0mega]

hah, my wireless headphones can last well over 8 hours, and they are in one piece so i don't have to worry about losing one half in a random couch cushion or bus seat!

[@iamsemjaza]

Waiting for woodgrain cases to be the norm.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

LGR to the rescue!

[@bsiccs]

Vintage pc purples and teals/greens are what get me going, almost as much as the beige itself! Although the computer I played the most as a kid was off-white, and laptops I played on were metallic gray. Lol. My personal rig is white and my sleeper rig is beige. Fun stuff.

[@tracexl]

The Age of Beige. I do remember that. If you were really snazzy, you had a black case. But your style options were very limited. The real pizazz was what showed up on your monitor.

[@PaulReed]

Something about the way you say "beige" really bothers me. "Bayj" feels wrong when it's "beyzh".

[@afrog2666]

Never heard a single person say "beyzh", blaayyzhlppflrlr..

[@dobygillis2720]

You're an idiot then.

[@TassieLorenzo]

But the Nostalgia Nerd is British and Britain has many dialects and accents... how would expect him to say it? :)

[@nrocirpactar5697]

@@TassieLorenzo lindybeige is british and says it right at the end of every video. Google "how to pronounce beige" brings up a google widget where you can even choose between american and british and they are both sounding similar. And if you are still in doubt you can google for the french original pronounciation.

[@BillyMartin4Life]

Even though I grew up in the late 90's with IBM tower PCs and Macs at school, I actually would love a computer like the Atari ST with the keyboard being the computer itself. But that's just me

[@tyrgoossens]

There've been some attempts, like that pc built into a C64-like case a couple years ago, but I don't think that style is coming back any time soon.

[@MistaMaddog247]

The home computers with the sandwich style cases had way more personality than the boring PC clones...but they were a bitch to upgrade.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

There are projects online about putting itx boards in amigas and commodores and atari's etc. Doesn't have to be that hard or expensive either, nice kind of project to do in these times. With all the time spending at home and all. I did a nes build a few years ago. Good fun. Might actually dig it out now and see if i can upgrade it or something. Good idea ;)

[@Thelango99]

isn't the motherboard being inside keyboard what laptops became?

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@Thelango99 no not really. They where more a different interpretation of what a personal computer can be.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

19:14 I think that picture illustrates the fact that not all beiges are equal. When the drives are a different shade of beige from the case, it looks like a very low-key, very discreet design train-wreck.

[@p0k314COM]

Very interesting material. And yes: black colour is *much* worse then white at office, even more - it is proofed that white border monitors are definitely better for eyes.

[@Thornskade]

Nostalgia Nerd: "Bureau Lenn Shaft" Me, a German: "What?" Nostalgia Nerd: "Office Landscape" Me: "Oh. He meant to say "Bürolandschaft". =)

[@thomasraahauge5231]

This is a case for Mülder und Skully! Or at least Trixie from DontTrustTheRabbit :-D

[@petermoller4610]

Office landscape, the German vengeance for losing wwii

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

He did say cuisine-art so I guess he just pronounces things the way he wants.

[@shayneoneill1506]

15:00 , you don't have to like apple to see that the tranclucent iMacs where some of the most beautiful machines ever made. Those translucent computers looked so damn amazing. I'd love to see apple do something as radical again, to break out of the boring aluminium and black keys rut

[@Ezyasnos]

I never liked that translucent iMac-design, but I loved that later sleek computer-in-screen design. Back then I called these translucent iMacs chewing gum balls (though I was glad the pc having some competition).

[@jonathanellis6097]

They looked like kids toys.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Not much you can do with a flatscreen panel with a mobo behind it though. Unless you make it bulky for no reason. Should not be the goal i think.

[@pokepress]

Translucent plastic was a thing in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Nintendo did a fair bit with it in that era.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@pokepress it was everywhere in the 90s.

[@vintageMIDI]

Well done retrospective. I remember our magazine department replacing 400+ beige Macs with colorful iMacs and G3 blue & white towers in '99. Those were the days. Keep going NN!

[@JonRogne]

Looking at pictures of electric typewriters from the 79s and 80s, although there were a variety of colors available, many of them also were beige. The aesthetics of those typewriters was continued with the computers, to blend with the existing office equipment.

[@willman85]

Interesting that you pronounce 'beige' with a /j/ rather than a /zh/.

[@PixelatedH2O]

The pronunciation of Cuisinart was also one I'd not heard before

[@Locutus]

How he pronounces beige is correct - that's the way I've always herd it be pronounced.

[@chetpomeroy1399]

The argument can be made that the author of this video was speaking to his audience in *English,* from the nation where the language we speak originated, with proper pronunciation and diction.

[@willman85]

I'm English too.

[@willman85]

In fact, if you click on the little speaker icon here you can hear it pronounced correctly *in an English accent* www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=beige

[@TaswcmT]

Germany has rarely taken ANYTHING less than seriously. They want beige, they get beige.

[@schlafschafweb]

Do you really thin that these days the German market was huge enough to dictate the design of business machines WORLDWIDE? I do not think so. And the German regulations do not say beige or white or so. Popping colors should be avoided for working place ergonomics.

[@geomidia8998]

@@schlafschafweb why? what's the deal against colors? geez

[@cappaculla]

Excellent work... Many thanks for this.. Really interesting, awesome research.

[@Peteman81]

Just got to the black PCs in here - I look around and every part of my PC is black - tower, monitors, mouse and keyboard!! Back in the 90s every part of the family (tower) PC was beige.

[@korrdxl]

How about "What Happened to the Horizontal Computer Case?"

[@simonj48]

The paperless office. As desks has a set of draws built in to them for files and such, even floppy disks at a later date... they were soon swapped out when businesses realised they didn't need those draws anymore, and started to place the desktops there, on the side. Looking back you can find stands, little plastic feet for desktop machines that allowed you to put them on their side. Further, and around the same time, we had the introduction of 486 machines that were more powerful, so indeed needed a much larger full tower case to show it's server side power ability. Again these usually went under a desk. So it wasn't long before tower systems were common options. Around the time of the first pentium systems, amd was on the scene again and producing their k6 range of CPUs. At this point the ATX standard for motherboards was already released and doing wonders, and the lower profile flex boards for desktop machines used by the likes of IBM, compaq, etc were on the way out. People (mainly start up companies) were even building their own machines, buying standardised components to outfit standard cases. On the apple side, we'd already seen them move over to tower systems showcasing their newer power pc machines. When the Pentium 2 was released, Apple was already doing away with both the desktop and tower system with their imac range. Time moved fast back then, and it was colourful.

[@todesziege]

PCs became too big.

[@ChlorideCull]

The horizontal ones got smaller.

[@TheTurnipKing]

@@ChlorideCull that actually worked against them because they often then used non standard parts

[@Not-Great-at-Gaming]

Basically, as the video said, LCDs happened. In essence, horizontal machines took up more desk space, but you could put your big CRT on top, so it wasn't wasted space. LCDs were smaller, so stacking an LCD on top of a horizontal (desktop) case was wasted space. So, once LCDs became the norm, so did vertical towers.

[@anumeon]

So Steve Jobs went all Darth Helmet and said. "What do we have on this thing? A quisineart?" :)

[@pablorai769]

It's cuisinart

[@MirekFe]

I guess we haven't gone into plaid yet.

[@Yaxqb]

The screen on top of chassis is something that I madly want now, it looks great

[@victorvangrimgamming6784]

Here's an easy fix to missing the beige Step 1. Buy cheap pc case like rosewill FBM-01 Step 2. Buy beige spray paint. Step 3. Paint case beige , then clear coat Step 4. Build

[@SMlFFY85]

Baydge