Unboxing the Packard Bell Legend IV | #NewInBoxtober

In this video, we explore Packard Bell's rare Legend IV! Please like, subscribe, and stay tuned for fresh content and all the latest information about the Vintage Geek museum.

Hosted and produced by Aaron Ishmael.
Technical work by Joseph William Lewis.

[Dysturbed-]

Thanks for saving this thing I just threw away most of my old computer hardware cleaning out the parents house house. Tossed the whole PB 386 sx with the box and monitor and broke my heart. I held onto our commodore since it's smaller.

[IP-njxi]

This was the first IBM PC I had as a child! Seeing the HDD and the cardboard insert in the 5.25" brought back memories! Getting the exact info on what it came with, including HDD model, is perfect for emulating it in PCEM/86Box! Thanks!

[aniballopez]

I have a Packard Bell Legend 386x from 1991. It still works after 32 years. Its replacement was a Packard Bell Multimedia R515 from 1998. That one also still works. Im very lucky that both still work. I never had any major problems with either machine. I got them because I couldnt afford better computers at the time.

[BollingHolt]

Wow! What a time capsule, indeed! I have a Legend tower 486DX2-66 that I need to resurrect one day as well as one of the mid-90s "uglier, last-gasp" Pentium models that still runs. I know these were considered junk machines, but I still have fond memories of these little guys from when I was in elementary school, especially the 286/386sx Legends... and Prodigy! I still remember my Prodigy ID: BVNR36B. Great video!

[HurdleC]

Nice. This was my family's first PC. I'll always have a soft spot for that 2400 baud modem and the BBSs it connected to.

[WC]

Another great Vintage Geek Saturday Morning. Thanks Aaron.

If you lived in the western US it was very possible you did grow up with a Packard Bell radio, tv or phono (PhonOCord as they called them). The rest of America sure didn't. While Packard Bell was t he largest manufacturer of consumer electronics west of Chicago, they never sold near what Philco or Zenith or RCA did. Packard Bell was a Los Angeles electronics manufacturer that, for many years, made some decent quality products for the price point. Formed in 1933 by Leon S. Packard and Herb Bell, in 1934 Bell bought out Packard. Leon Packard moved into the radio broadcasting business with Valley Broadcasting of Los Angeles. Bell and ten employees/investors continued with radio manufacturing. The goal was to build high quality, low priced table model radios for distribution on the pacific coast. During World War II they made radios for the military. After the war the firm was re-incorporated as Packard Bell Corporation with Bell as the president.

When it comes to computers Packard Bell started first making them in the 1950s. The first Packard Bell computers were industrial/military. Packard Bell sold the original computer division to Raytheon in the early 1960s. Teledyne bought PB in the late 1960's. They were then known as Teledyne Packard Bell. During the Televisions Wars of the mid-1970's it became very hard to compete with cheap electronics being deumped on the US market by foreign firms. Teledyne shut down US production and outsourced their Packard Bell products to third party manufacturers. Teledyne exited the consumer electronics market in the early 1980s. They sold the Packard Bell name to an Israeli firm who took it up as a home PC company.

[Uncover]

Love these videos. Big fan of the channel. Keep up the good work guys 👍

[wintermute]

I ran a BBS off of one of those for many, many years.

[rodhoutx]

I had an earlier version of this computer (it was still a 286). Actually found the old box a couple years ago (didn't contain the computer, just used for storage). It was the Legend Ie (but it was still a box for the Legend I with Ie stickers plastered over it, LOL). The Ie upgrades it to VGA instead of CGA, adds a 40 MB hard drive and a 3.5" floppy). I remember the hard drive having an annoying whine to it. The "key" would lock the keyboard. Quite a few PC Compatibles had it. My next PC was one I built myself and it still had a spot to plug in the lock wires to the motherboard. I think you had to put a jumper on the lock wires if you didn't attach a lock, but could be mistaken. My memories of this computer were not too fond compared to computers my friends had, and the menu system that came with it was not too good. Of course, you learn to reformat and put on better software.

[MisterCellaneous]

Everyone had a Packard Bell in the mid 90s because they had a deal with Wal-Mart. That's why my first Windows PC was a Packard Bell. It was crap, but it was good *enough*.

[glonch]

Great review!... You need to open it up!!! 3in1 oil on the drive and replace the battery... might need sunglasses as it will be so bright in there...

[patricknelson]

Did you ever get it fixed? I also had this precise Legend IV growing up. The 80286, the 40MB drive, that mouse, keyboard, everything. Even the modem, which we _never_ got to use! The #1 thing I remember about it was that startup sound which we _sort of_ got to hear toward the end starting around 13:09. I remember it so vividly since I heard it so many times as a kid; I'd even mimic it every once in a while, haha. Especially those loud buzzing sounds from the 5.25" drive first, then the 3.5" inch and then the clicking coming from the HDD, which ended finally with a little beep.

Also: Heck yes that thing was clean! Amazing. If you ever could get it fixed and working, I'd love to hear it starting up with the original (or similar) 40MB HDD. Great nostalgia post for me.

[yruqqey]

Hearing someone talk about all the “progrims” takes me back to my first real programming job in the early 90s. You’ve got OG credentials for sure!

[horusfalcon]

We had Packard Bell 486 machines at a major appliance manufacturer's factory where I worked. They were generally reliable, even if they weren't the fastest thing on silicon. Thanks for posting this.

[joysticksnjukeboxes]

I had a Packard Bell 386SX around 1992 or 1993 that was part of a class action lawsuit because they had included used hard drives in some of their systems and claimed they were new. Darn thing started locking up at times for no reason, and then the news broke about the hard drives and I got something in the mail about it. I recall getting a little check in the mail ages later.

[danyoutube]

@8:46 it's not confidence boosting is it, I can imagine being disconcerted as a new owner 30 years ago. They may as well say "It's quite common for one of our machines to be faulty when you first try to run it, so here's what to do..."! You have a cool TV/VHS combo machine by the way, I don't remember seeing one of those before.

[tss_retro_reboot]

Nice unboxing. I made one for an ibm PS1 I got a while ago. It was my first video. Yours is MUCH better I want to redo mine someday more like yours. I have MANY old system that I would love to do videos on in the future. One thing, could be just me, but it’s kinda a pet peeve of mine to use an lcd monitor with a vintage computer. Maybe get a nice working crt that you can use for demoing systems? Just would look so much nicer IMO. Keep up the good work!

[tobyCornish]

My first PC was a PB 286, probably not this model, but very close

[shodan]

Lovely video I've stumbled upon, its interesting how they go on about their supposed heritage but apparently the brand name was bought from another company who retired its use and just slapped it on some IBM compatibles of the time period. Obviously this probably could've been gotten away with in 1990 but it feels very dodgy in an age where we can fact check these sorts of things at our fingertips.

[Dysturbed-]

The old Pheonix Technologies you do t see yhat anymore