{"@context":["https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",{"Hashtag":"as:Hashtag","sensitive":"as:sensitive","dcterms":"http://purl.org/dc/terms/","gts":"https://gotosocial.org/ns#","schema":"http://schema.org/","exifData":"schema:exifData","PropertyValue":"schema:PropertyValue","interactionPolicy":{"@id":"gts:interactionPolicy","@type":"@id"},"canQuote":{"@id":"gts:canQuote","@type":"@id"},"canReply":{"@id":"gts:canReply","@type":"@id"},"canLike":{"@id":"gts:canLike","@type":"@id"},"canAnnounce":{"@id":"gts:canAnnounce","@type":"@id"},"automaticApproval":{"@id":"gts:automaticApproval","@type":"@id"},"manualApproval":{"@id":"gts:manualApproval","@type":"@id"},"always":{"@id":"gts:always","@type":"@id"},"toot":"http://joinmastodon.org/ns#","blurhash":"toot:blurhash"}],"id":"https://dfarq.homeip.net/happened-packard-bell/","type":"Article","attachment":[{"type":"Image","url":"https://i0.wp.com/dfarq.homeip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/packard_bell_coffee_mug.jpg?fit=720%2C538\u0026ssl=1","mediaType":"image/jpeg"}],"attributedTo":"https://dfarq.homeip.net/author/admin/","content":"\u003Cp\u003EWhat happened to Packard Bell computers? The firm ceased operations in the United States in 2000. Its former rival, Acer, acquired the brand January 31, 2008 for $46 million. It was a once-unimaginable outcome for what had been the top-selling computer brand in the United States.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut there\u0026#8217;s more to the story than that. The Packard Bell story is a brilliant piece of marketing. The computers were terrible, but the marketing was as good as it gets. And that\u0026#8217;s one of the reasons people remember it as one of the more prominent of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/90s-computer-brands/\u0022\u003E90s computer brands\u003C/a\u003E, even if many who remember it don\u0026#8217;t remember it fondly.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003C!--more--\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EPackard Bell thrived on brand confusion\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/happened-packard-bell/packard_bell_coffee_mug-2/\u0022 rel=\u0022attachment wp-att-11007\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https://i0.wp.com/dfarq.homeip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/packard_bell_coffee_mug-1.jpg?resize=300%2C300\u0026amp;ssl=1\u0022 alt=\u0022What happened to Packard Bell\u0022 width=\u0022300\u0022 height=\u0022300\u0022 /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003EThis promotional coffee mug features the slogan \u0026#8220;America grew up listening to us. It still does.\u0026#8221; The slogan encouraged people to think of an upstart as an old company. It dates to the late 1980s or early 1990s. What happened to Packard Bell? Bad quality caught up with it.\u003C/figcaption\u003E\u003C/figure\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 1986, Packard Bell was the name of a defunct manufacturer of TVs and radios. Founded in 1926 or 1933 depending on how you count it, it survived until 1968 when it sold out to Teledyne.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the 1980s the brand still had some name recognition on its own. But look at the other names it resembled: Pacific Bell, the telephone company. \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/packard-bell-vs-hewlett-packard/\u0022\u003EHewlett Packard\u003C/a\u003E, the computer company. Packard, the defunct maker of luxury cars.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt sounded like an old-line company making quality products, which was what Beny Alagem counted on. He even put the slogan \u0026#8220;America grew up listening to us. It still does,\u0026#8221; on its early marketing literature.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPeople always confused them for something they weren\u0026#8217;t, and for a time, it helped. \u0026#8220;I don\u0026#8217;t know about other brands,\u0026#8221; one customer said to me when I was selling computers in 1994, pointing at Compaq and Dell. \u0026#8220;But Packard Bell, that\u0026#8217;s an old company.\u0026#8221; Even my coworkers routinely thought Packard Bell was related to HP or to Packard, the car maker.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBrand resurrections \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/why-this-latest-attempt-to-resurrect-the-commodore-brand-will-probably-flop/\u0022\u003Edon\u0026#8217;t always work\u003C/a\u003E. But this one was one of the more successful ones in history, better than \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/is-atari-still-in-business/\u0022\u003EAtari\u003C/a\u003E but not quite as good as \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/origin-of-dewalt-tools/\u0022\u003EDeWalt\u003C/a\u003E. I think this one worked because there were multiple factors involved.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EPackard Bell\u0026#8217;s industrial design\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/happened-packard-bell/375px-packard_bell_multimedia_d160/\u0022 rel=\u0022attachment wp-att-11009\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https://i0.wp.com/dfarq.homeip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/375px-Packard_Bell_Multimedia_D160.jpg?resize=188%2C300\u0026amp;ssl=1\u0022 alt=\u0022What happened to Packard Bell\u0022 width=\u0022188\u0022 height=\u0022300\u0022 /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003EThis Packard Bell D160 dates to the mid 1990s. The gray panel accents, created by Frog Design, were innovative for the time. Also note the updated logo.\u003C/figcaption\u003E\u003C/figure\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor about the first seven years, Packard Bell computers were generic-looking clones, but in 1994 they started changing things up. They had been one of the first companies to try to make desktop PCs smaller. And in 1994 when everyone was selling beige boxes, they brought in a firm called Frog Design to revamp their cases with different colors and even changing form factors including an \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/packard-bell-corner-pc/\u0022\u003Eunorthodox\u00a0L-shaped corner design\u003C/a\u003E.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWas it great design? Ask an industrial designer. But I have to give them credit for trying. At the very least, their computers had a distinctive look. I will say my graphic design professor in college, Dr. Birgit Wassmuth, who was a \u003Cem\u003Ehuge\u003C/em\u003E admirer of Apple and SGI, called out Packard Bell by name for trying to make computers that weren\u0026#8217;t boring beige boxes. At the time, their designs were more bold than anything even Apple dared. From her perspective, here was a firm giving SGI-like designs at a rock-bottom price.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut it takes more than industrial design to make great computers. What happened to Packard Bell? One of my classmates answered Dr. Wassmuth: \u0026#8220;Packard BELL? They make the lowest quality computers you can buy!\u0026#8221;\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Wassmuth diplomatically said she could only comment on the industrial design. She was a professor of design, not electrical engineering.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt would have been a brilliant move, but instead, it was more like a last hurrah before their quality issues started catching up with them.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EQuality, or lack thereof\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEarly on, Packard Bell PCs were OK. Their XT- and 286-class PCs lacked pizzazz, but by and large gave average reliability for a low price. That was largely because they were rebadged machines made by other OEMs, such as Samsung. By the 386SX era though, they were cheap and unreliable. And they stayed that way.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe price meant they sold well. Very well, well enough to overtake \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/what-happened-to-tandy-computers/\u0022\u003ETandy\u003C/a\u003E as the best-selling brand of computer in North America. Typically they \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/15-years-ago-at-the-home-of-the-blue-shirts/\u0022\u003Ecost a couple hundred dollars less\u003C/a\u003E than a comparable PC from Hewlett Packard, \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/why-did-compaq-fail/\u0022\u003ECompaq\u003C/a\u003E (then a separate company), \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/history-of-dell-computers/\u0022\u003EDell\u003C/a\u003E, or \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/the-ibm-ps1-or-ibm-ps1/\u0022\u003EIBM\u003C/a\u003E. When I worked at \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/memories-of-the-land-of-blue-shirts/\u0022\u003EBest Buy\u003C/a\u003E in the mid 1990s, Packard Bell may have accounted for 50% of our computer sales, on its own.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe problem was that if there was a corner to cut, they cut it. With exactly one exception. Since they put Intel CPUs in their PCs, they benefited from Intel\u0026#8217;s \u0026#8220;Intel Inside\u0026#8221; marketing campaign. Even some CIOs thought a Packard Bell computer with an Intel CPU in it was better than anything with an \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/why-i-generally-buy-amd/\u0022\u003EAMD\u003C/a\u003E or \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/cyrix-processor-chips/\u0022\u003ECyrix\u003C/a\u003E chip in it. It wasn\u0026#8217;t true, but it proves how well those marketing campaigns worked together. Our local Compaq sales rep hated Intel for it, and that was why Compaq gave startup cash to Intel competitors like \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/amds-acquisition-of-nexgen/\u0022\u003ENexgen\u003C/a\u003E. Compaq made better machines and didn\u0026#8217;t appreciate Intel telling everyone otherwise.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEverything else inside a Packard Bell computer was lowest-bidder. Making matters worse, the power supplies tended to be weird form factors so you couldn\u0026#8217;t replace them with a $40 off-the-shelf unit when they failed, which was often. A replacement OEM unit cost $200 and would fail just as quickly as the old one did. Some of their motherboards were NLX form factor, which was expensive but replaceable. Others were weird form factors with no off the shelf replacement. Part of this was due to Packard Bell\u0026#8217;s unique industrial design. The computers looked good, but it limited what parts you could use to fix them.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPoor quality doesn\u0026#8217;t have to be a death sentence. \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/bought-gateway-computers/\u0022\u003EGateway 2000\u003C/a\u003E sold PCs that were below average in quality. People bought them anyway because Gateway had great customer service. Packard Bell combined below-average quality with lousy customer service. I personally took a lot of phone calls from Packard Bell buyers. It was easier to call the store for answers than the manufacturer. We got more repeat customers than Packard Bell did.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EPackard Bell\u0026#8217;s many sad returns\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI avoided Packard Bell when I sold computers because I wanted to sell solutions that would last. I saw how many of their computers came back. Officially, it was 1 in 6 sold. Industry average at the time was 1 in 12.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESometimes they came back with a good story. Early in the 386 era, computers came with keys. You could lock them to keep someone from turning them on without permission.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWell, someone bought one, brought it home, set it up, and couldn\u0026#8217;t make it work. So they brought it back. \u0026#8220;I followed the instructions perfectly,\u0026#8221; he said. \u0026#8220;Then I turned the key and nothing happened!\u0026#8221;\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026#8217;s a computer, not a lawnmower. The key story remained a running joke for years.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut more often than not, there was no humorous story involved. Just an unhappy customer who got buyer\u0026#8217;s remorse in less than four weeks. The hope was that customer service could talk them into an exchange rather than a refund.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EStores\u0026#8217; policies toward Packard Bell\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI worked at Best Buy for a couple of years. Our main competitor, Circuit City, also carried them. The two stores\u0026#8217; attitudes toward Packard Bell was very different. Circuit City would advertise Packard Bell computers in the Sunday papers, but if you came into the store, they trashed talked Packard Bell, in hopes of getting you to buy an \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/ast-research-computers/\u0022\u003EAST\u003C/a\u003E instead. And truthfully? They didn\u0026#8217;t have to lie. They could honestly say you were twice as likely to have a major problem with a Packard Bell computer than any other brand.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBest Buy\u0026#8217;s policy was to position Packard Bell in a good-better-best lineup. Packard Bell was (allegedly) good. Acer was better. Compaq, Dell (or HP), and IBM were best.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI pushed other brands because I wanted to sleep at night. If a customer came in with their mind set on Packard Bell, I\u0026#8217;d load one up on a cart for them. But if they wanted to talk about it, I directed them toward better brands. I never said anything bad about Packard Bell, but I gave nonverbal cues. I sold a lot of computers, but very few Packard Bells. Some of my coworkers flat out lied about Packard Bell quality. I\u0026#8217;m not sure if they knew they were lying or were just repeating what they\u0026#8217;d heard someone else say. But I wanted to sleep at night so I wouldn\u0026#8217;t do that.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe favored line, when a customer said they heard Packard Bell computers were bad, was to say they may have had problems in the past, but they\u0026#8217;d come a long way, and then offer an extended warranty. Sorry, a \u0026#8220;performance guarantee.\u0026#8221;\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat happened to Packard Bell was that eventually, the lies didn\u0026#8217;t work anymore. Once Compaq released its \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/compaq-presario-born-aug-27-1993/\u0022\u003EPresario line\u003C/a\u003E which narrowed the price difference, there was little reason to buy the lower quality machine.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EFew repeat buyers\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENot many people bought a second Packard Bell. They\u0026#8217;d get a $1,500 bundle\u0026#8211;which was cheap for the time\u0026#8211;and when the computer broke, they\u0026#8217;d buy a different brand and reuse the monitor and printer and whatever was left in the machine that still worked. Frequently the memory, CD-ROM drive, and sound card could be salvaged and re-used in a new PC.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPackard Bell consistently received bad ratings from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/rest-in-peace-pc-world/\u0022\u003EPC magazines like \u003Cem\u003EPC World\u003C/em\u003E\u003C/a\u003E and \u003Cem\u003EPC Magazine\u003C/em\u003E and from consumer magazines like \u003Cem\u003EConsumer Reports\u003C/em\u003E. But the final blow was the 1995 revelation in that Packard Bell routinely sold \u0026#8220;new\u0026#8221; PCs with recycled parts in them. That year, Packard Bell merged with NEC, the Japanese electronics maker. Some hoped that would mean better quality and lower prices due to the increased volume. The synergy didn\u0026#8217;t happen. By 2000, NEC pulled the name off the market.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPackard Bell survived longer in Europe, though in name only as a division of Acer. Acer acquired Packard Bell on January 31, 2008 for a mere $46 million. Speculation at the time was that Acer bought Packard Bell to keep Lenovo from getting the brand name and using it to expand into Europe. In Europe, the name wasn\u0026#8217;t as tarnished at it had become in the United States. Acer also owned the Gateway and \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/emachines-never-obsolete-pcs-more-than-a-meme/\u0022\u003EEmachines\u003C/a\u003E brands.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAcer sold the North American rights to the Packard Bell name to Southern Telecom Inc. in 2015, and licensed use of the brand in Africa to Universal Exports Group Ltd in 2019. As of early 2026, the Packard Bell trademark is live and registered in the United States. But the only Packard Bell-branded computer equipment I could find for sale anywhere in North America was a line of monitors.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EVintage Packard Bell computers as hobbyist machines today\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOf course, some vintage Packard Bell computers survive today. Not all of them failed early. And to be fair, if they survived the warranty period, they were likely to be just fine. But relative to the number of machines sold, they\u0026#8217;re pretty rare today. And if you\u0026#8217;re looking for a project, a broken Packard Bell is as good as any. A skilled hobbyist can replace the failed components in the power supply and on the motherboard with high quality equivalents and make a vintage Packard Bell about as good as any other PC.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELike I said, Packard Bell was a brilliant stroke of marketing. But\u00a0since they backed it up with poor quality and poor customer service, it turned into a flash in the pan, even more of a fly-by-night than the low price leader they displaced, \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/irving-gould-commodore/\u0022\u003ECommodore\u003C/a\u003E. Low prices and nice design and brand recognition couldn\u0026#8217;t overcome the industry-worst quality. 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class=\u0022shariff-icon\u0022\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022shariff-text\u0022\u003ERSS feed\u003C/span\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https://i0.wp.com/dfarq.homeip.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dave_farquhar_181px.jpg?resize=100%2C100\u0026amp;ssl=1\u0022 width=\u0022100\u0022 height=\u0022100\u0022 alt=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/author/admin/\u0022 class=\u0022vcard author\u0022 rel=\u0022author\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022fn\u0022\u003EDave Farquhar\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDavid Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ca title=\u0022Mastodont\u0022 href=\u0022https://ioc.exchange/@siliconundergro\u0022 rel=\u0022nofollow noopener\u0022 class=\u0022saboxplugin-icon-grey\u0022\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Ca title=\u0022Linkedin\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-f-12656039/\u0022 rel=\u0022nofollow noopener\u0022 class=\u0022saboxplugin-icon-grey\u0022\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Ca title=\u0022Pinterest\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.pinterest.com/davidf3612/\u0022 rel=\u0022nofollow noopener\u0022 class=\u0022saboxplugin-icon-grey\u0022\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","context":"https://dfarq.homeip.net/wp-json/activitypub/1.0/posts/9878/context","contentMap":{"en":"\u003Cp\u003EWhat happened to Packard Bell computers? The firm ceased operations in the United States in 2000. Its former rival, Acer, acquired the brand January 31, 2008 for $46 million. It was a once-unimaginable outcome for what had been the top-selling computer brand in the United States.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut there\u0026#8217;s more to the story than that. The Packard Bell story is a brilliant piece of marketing. The computers were terrible, but the marketing was as good as it gets. And that\u0026#8217;s one of the reasons people remember it as one of the more prominent of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/90s-computer-brands/\u0022\u003E90s computer brands\u003C/a\u003E, even if many who remember it don\u0026#8217;t remember it fondly.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003C!--more--\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EPackard Bell thrived on brand confusion\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/happened-packard-bell/packard_bell_coffee_mug-2/\u0022 rel=\u0022attachment wp-att-11007\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https://i0.wp.com/dfarq.homeip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/packard_bell_coffee_mug-1.jpg?resize=300%2C300\u0026amp;ssl=1\u0022 alt=\u0022What happened to Packard Bell\u0022 width=\u0022300\u0022 height=\u0022300\u0022 /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003EThis promotional coffee mug features the slogan \u0026#8220;America grew up listening to us. It still does.\u0026#8221; The slogan encouraged people to think of an upstart as an old company. It dates to the late 1980s or early 1990s. What happened to Packard Bell? Bad quality caught up with it.\u003C/figcaption\u003E\u003C/figure\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 1986, Packard Bell was the name of a defunct manufacturer of TVs and radios. Founded in 1926 or 1933 depending on how you count it, it survived until 1968 when it sold out to Teledyne.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the 1980s the brand still had some name recognition on its own. But look at the other names it resembled: Pacific Bell, the telephone company. \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/packard-bell-vs-hewlett-packard/\u0022\u003EHewlett Packard\u003C/a\u003E, the computer company. Packard, the defunct maker of luxury cars.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt sounded like an old-line company making quality products, which was what Beny Alagem counted on. He even put the slogan \u0026#8220;America grew up listening to us. It still does,\u0026#8221; on its early marketing literature.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPeople always confused them for something they weren\u0026#8217;t, and for a time, it helped. \u0026#8220;I don\u0026#8217;t know about other brands,\u0026#8221; one customer said to me when I was selling computers in 1994, pointing at Compaq and Dell. \u0026#8220;But Packard Bell, that\u0026#8217;s an old company.\u0026#8221; Even my coworkers routinely thought Packard Bell was related to HP or to Packard, the car maker.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBrand resurrections \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/why-this-latest-attempt-to-resurrect-the-commodore-brand-will-probably-flop/\u0022\u003Edon\u0026#8217;t always work\u003C/a\u003E. But this one was one of the more successful ones in history, better than \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/is-atari-still-in-business/\u0022\u003EAtari\u003C/a\u003E but not quite as good as \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/origin-of-dewalt-tools/\u0022\u003EDeWalt\u003C/a\u003E. I think this one worked because there were multiple factors involved.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EPackard Bell\u0026#8217;s industrial design\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/happened-packard-bell/375px-packard_bell_multimedia_d160/\u0022 rel=\u0022attachment wp-att-11009\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https://i0.wp.com/dfarq.homeip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/375px-Packard_Bell_Multimedia_D160.jpg?resize=188%2C300\u0026amp;ssl=1\u0022 alt=\u0022What happened to Packard Bell\u0022 width=\u0022188\u0022 height=\u0022300\u0022 /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Cfigcaption\u003EThis Packard Bell D160 dates to the mid 1990s. The gray panel accents, created by Frog Design, were innovative for the time. Also note the updated logo.\u003C/figcaption\u003E\u003C/figure\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor about the first seven years, Packard Bell computers were generic-looking clones, but in 1994 they started changing things up. They had been one of the first companies to try to make desktop PCs smaller. And in 1994 when everyone was selling beige boxes, they brought in a firm called Frog Design to revamp their cases with different colors and even changing form factors including an \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/packard-bell-corner-pc/\u0022\u003Eunorthodox\u00a0L-shaped corner design\u003C/a\u003E.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWas it great design? Ask an industrial designer. But I have to give them credit for trying. At the very least, their computers had a distinctive look. I will say my graphic design professor in college, Dr. Birgit Wassmuth, who was a \u003Cem\u003Ehuge\u003C/em\u003E admirer of Apple and SGI, called out Packard Bell by name for trying to make computers that weren\u0026#8217;t boring beige boxes. At the time, their designs were more bold than anything even Apple dared. From her perspective, here was a firm giving SGI-like designs at a rock-bottom price.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut it takes more than industrial design to make great computers. What happened to Packard Bell? One of my classmates answered Dr. Wassmuth: \u0026#8220;Packard BELL? They make the lowest quality computers you can buy!\u0026#8221;\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr. Wassmuth diplomatically said she could only comment on the industrial design. She was a professor of design, not electrical engineering.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt would have been a brilliant move, but instead, it was more like a last hurrah before their quality issues started catching up with them.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EQuality, or lack thereof\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEarly on, Packard Bell PCs were OK. Their XT- and 286-class PCs lacked pizzazz, but by and large gave average reliability for a low price. That was largely because they were rebadged machines made by other OEMs, such as Samsung. By the 386SX era though, they were cheap and unreliable. And they stayed that way.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe price meant they sold well. Very well, well enough to overtake \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/what-happened-to-tandy-computers/\u0022\u003ETandy\u003C/a\u003E as the best-selling brand of computer in North America. Typically they \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/15-years-ago-at-the-home-of-the-blue-shirts/\u0022\u003Ecost a couple hundred dollars less\u003C/a\u003E than a comparable PC from Hewlett Packard, \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/why-did-compaq-fail/\u0022\u003ECompaq\u003C/a\u003E (then a separate company), \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/history-of-dell-computers/\u0022\u003EDell\u003C/a\u003E, or \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/the-ibm-ps1-or-ibm-ps1/\u0022\u003EIBM\u003C/a\u003E. When I worked at \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/memories-of-the-land-of-blue-shirts/\u0022\u003EBest Buy\u003C/a\u003E in the mid 1990s, Packard Bell may have accounted for 50% of our computer sales, on its own.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe problem was that if there was a corner to cut, they cut it. With exactly one exception. Since they put Intel CPUs in their PCs, they benefited from Intel\u0026#8217;s \u0026#8220;Intel Inside\u0026#8221; marketing campaign. Even some CIOs thought a Packard Bell computer with an Intel CPU in it was better than anything with an \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/why-i-generally-buy-amd/\u0022\u003EAMD\u003C/a\u003E or \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/cyrix-processor-chips/\u0022\u003ECyrix\u003C/a\u003E chip in it. It wasn\u0026#8217;t true, but it proves how well those marketing campaigns worked together. Our local Compaq sales rep hated Intel for it, and that was why Compaq gave startup cash to Intel competitors like \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/amds-acquisition-of-nexgen/\u0022\u003ENexgen\u003C/a\u003E. Compaq made better machines and didn\u0026#8217;t appreciate Intel telling everyone otherwise.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEverything else inside a Packard Bell computer was lowest-bidder. Making matters worse, the power supplies tended to be weird form factors so you couldn\u0026#8217;t replace them with a $40 off-the-shelf unit when they failed, which was often. A replacement OEM unit cost $200 and would fail just as quickly as the old one did. Some of their motherboards were NLX form factor, which was expensive but replaceable. Others were weird form factors with no off the shelf replacement. Part of this was due to Packard Bell\u0026#8217;s unique industrial design. The computers looked good, but it limited what parts you could use to fix them.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPoor quality doesn\u0026#8217;t have to be a death sentence. \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/bought-gateway-computers/\u0022\u003EGateway 2000\u003C/a\u003E sold PCs that were below average in quality. People bought them anyway because Gateway had great customer service. Packard Bell combined below-average quality with lousy customer service. I personally took a lot of phone calls from Packard Bell buyers. It was easier to call the store for answers than the manufacturer. We got more repeat customers than Packard Bell did.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EPackard Bell\u0026#8217;s many sad returns\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI avoided Packard Bell when I sold computers because I wanted to sell solutions that would last. I saw how many of their computers came back. Officially, it was 1 in 6 sold. Industry average at the time was 1 in 12.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESometimes they came back with a good story. Early in the 386 era, computers came with keys. You could lock them to keep someone from turning them on without permission.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWell, someone bought one, brought it home, set it up, and couldn\u0026#8217;t make it work. So they brought it back. \u0026#8220;I followed the instructions perfectly,\u0026#8221; he said. \u0026#8220;Then I turned the key and nothing happened!\u0026#8221;\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026#8217;s a computer, not a lawnmower. The key story remained a running joke for years.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut more often than not, there was no humorous story involved. Just an unhappy customer who got buyer\u0026#8217;s remorse in less than four weeks. The hope was that customer service could talk them into an exchange rather than a refund.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EStores\u0026#8217; policies toward Packard Bell\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI worked at Best Buy for a couple of years. Our main competitor, Circuit City, also carried them. The two stores\u0026#8217; attitudes toward Packard Bell was very different. Circuit City would advertise Packard Bell computers in the Sunday papers, but if you came into the store, they trashed talked Packard Bell, in hopes of getting you to buy an \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/ast-research-computers/\u0022\u003EAST\u003C/a\u003E instead. And truthfully? They didn\u0026#8217;t have to lie. They could honestly say you were twice as likely to have a major problem with a Packard Bell computer than any other brand.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBest Buy\u0026#8217;s policy was to position Packard Bell in a good-better-best lineup. Packard Bell was (allegedly) good. Acer was better. Compaq, Dell (or HP), and IBM were best.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI pushed other brands because I wanted to sleep at night. If a customer came in with their mind set on Packard Bell, I\u0026#8217;d load one up on a cart for them. But if they wanted to talk about it, I directed them toward better brands. I never said anything bad about Packard Bell, but I gave nonverbal cues. I sold a lot of computers, but very few Packard Bells. Some of my coworkers flat out lied about Packard Bell quality. I\u0026#8217;m not sure if they knew they were lying or were just repeating what they\u0026#8217;d heard someone else say. But I wanted to sleep at night so I wouldn\u0026#8217;t do that.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe favored line, when a customer said they heard Packard Bell computers were bad, was to say they may have had problems in the past, but they\u0026#8217;d come a long way, and then offer an extended warranty. Sorry, a \u0026#8220;performance guarantee.\u0026#8221;\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhat happened to Packard Bell was that eventually, the lies didn\u0026#8217;t work anymore. Once Compaq released its \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/compaq-presario-born-aug-27-1993/\u0022\u003EPresario line\u003C/a\u003E which narrowed the price difference, there was little reason to buy the lower quality machine.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EFew repeat buyers\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENot many people bought a second Packard Bell. They\u0026#8217;d get a $1,500 bundle\u0026#8211;which was cheap for the time\u0026#8211;and when the computer broke, they\u0026#8217;d buy a different brand and reuse the monitor and printer and whatever was left in the machine that still worked. Frequently the memory, CD-ROM drive, and sound card could be salvaged and re-used in a new PC.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPackard Bell consistently received bad ratings from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/rest-in-peace-pc-world/\u0022\u003EPC magazines like \u003Cem\u003EPC World\u003C/em\u003E\u003C/a\u003E and \u003Cem\u003EPC Magazine\u003C/em\u003E and from consumer magazines like \u003Cem\u003EConsumer Reports\u003C/em\u003E. But the final blow was the 1995 revelation in that Packard Bell routinely sold \u0026#8220;new\u0026#8221; PCs with recycled parts in them. That year, Packard Bell merged with NEC, the Japanese electronics maker. Some hoped that would mean better quality and lower prices due to the increased volume. The synergy didn\u0026#8217;t happen. By 2000, NEC pulled the name off the market.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPackard Bell survived longer in Europe, though in name only as a division of Acer. Acer acquired Packard Bell on January 31, 2008 for a mere $46 million. Speculation at the time was that Acer bought Packard Bell to keep Lenovo from getting the brand name and using it to expand into Europe. In Europe, the name wasn\u0026#8217;t as tarnished at it had become in the United States. Acer also owned the Gateway and \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/emachines-never-obsolete-pcs-more-than-a-meme/\u0022\u003EEmachines\u003C/a\u003E brands.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAcer sold the North American rights to the Packard Bell name to Southern Telecom Inc. in 2015, and licensed use of the brand in Africa to Universal Exports Group Ltd in 2019. As of early 2026, the Packard Bell trademark is live and registered in the United States. But the only Packard Bell-branded computer equipment I could find for sale anywhere in North America was a line of monitors.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EVintage Packard Bell computers as hobbyist machines today\u003C/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOf course, some vintage Packard Bell computers survive today. Not all of them failed early. And to be fair, if they survived the warranty period, they were likely to be just fine. But relative to the number of machines sold, they\u0026#8217;re pretty rare today. And if you\u0026#8217;re looking for a project, a broken Packard Bell is as good as any. A skilled hobbyist can replace the failed components in the power supply and on the motherboard with high quality equivalents and make a vintage Packard Bell about as good as any other PC.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELike I said, Packard Bell was a brilliant stroke of marketing. But\u00a0since they backed it up with poor quality and poor customer service, it turned into a flash in the pan, even more of a fly-by-night than the low price leader they displaced, \u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/irving-gould-commodore/\u0022\u003ECommodore\u003C/a\u003E. Low prices and nice design and brand recognition couldn\u0026#8217;t overcome the industry-worst quality. So that\u0026#8217;s what happened to Packard Bell.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003EIf you found this post informative or helpful, please share it!\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=What%20happened%20to%20Packard%20Bell%3F https%3A%2F%2Fdfarq.homeip.net%2Fhappened-packard-bell%2F  via @siliconundergro.bsky.social\u0022 title=\u0022Share on Bluesky\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener nofollow\u0022 class=\u0022shariff-link\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022shariff-icon\u0022\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022shariff-text\u0022\u003Eshare\u003C/span\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/li\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https://s2f.kytta.dev/?text=What%20happened%20to%20Packard%20Bell%3F https%3A%2F%2Fdfarq.homeip.net%2Fhappened-packard-bell%2F via @siliconundergro@ioc.exchange\u0022 title=\u0022Share on Mastodon\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener nofollow\u0022 class=\u0022shariff-link\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan 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class=\u0022shariff-icon\u0022\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022shariff-text\u0022\u003ERSS feed\u003C/span\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https://i0.wp.com/dfarq.homeip.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dave_farquhar_181px.jpg?resize=100%2C100\u0026amp;ssl=1\u0022 width=\u0022100\u0022 height=\u0022100\u0022 alt=\u0022\u0022\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https://dfarq.homeip.net/author/admin/\u0022 class=\u0022vcard author\u0022 rel=\u0022author\u0022\u003E\u003Cspan class=\u0022fn\u0022\u003EDave Farquhar\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDavid Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Ca title=\u0022Mastodont\u0022 href=\u0022https://ioc.exchange/@siliconundergro\u0022 rel=\u0022nofollow noopener\u0022 class=\u0022saboxplugin-icon-grey\u0022\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Ca title=\u0022Linkedin\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-f-12656039/\u0022 rel=\u0022nofollow noopener\u0022 class=\u0022saboxplugin-icon-grey\u0022\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003Ca title=\u0022Pinterest\u0022 href=\u0022https://www.pinterest.com/davidf3612/\u0022 rel=\u0022nofollow noopener\u0022 class=\u0022saboxplugin-icon-grey\u0022\u003E\u003C/span\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/div\u003E"},"name":"What happened to Packard Bell?","nameMap":{"en":"What happened to Packard Bell?"},"icon":{"type":"Image","url":"https://i0.wp.com/dfarq.homeip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/packard_bell_coffee_mug.jpg?resize=55%2C55\u0026ssl=1","mediaType":"image/jpeg"},"image":{"type":"Image","url":"https://i0.wp.com/dfarq.homeip.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/packard_bell_coffee_mug.jpg?fit=720%2C538\u0026ssl=1","mediaType":"image/jpeg"},"preview":{"type":"Note","content":"What happened to Packard Bell computers? The firm ceased operations in the United States in 2000. Its former rival, Acer, acquired the brand January 31, 2008 for $46 million. It was a once-unimaginable outcome for what had been the top-selling computer brand in the United States.\n\nBut there's more to the story than that. The Packard Bell story is a brilliant piece of marketing. The computers were terrible, but the marketing was as good as it gets. And that's one of the reasons people remember it as one of the more prominent of the 90s computer brands, even if many who remember it don't remember it fondly. [\u2026]"},"published":"2026-01-30T12:00:54Z","summary":"What happened to Packard Bell computers? The firm ceased operations in the United States in 2000. Its former rival, Acer, acquired the brand January 31, 2008 for $46 million. It was a once-unimaginable outcome for what had been the top-selling computer brand in the United States.\n\nBut there's more to the story than that. The Packard Bell story is a brilliant piece of marketing. The computers were terrible, but the marketing was as good as it gets. And that's one of the reasons people remember it as one of the more prominent of the 90s computer brands, even if many who remember it don't remember it fondly. [\u2026]","summaryMap":{"en":"What happened to Packard Bell computers? The firm ceased operations in the United States in 2000. Its former rival, Acer, acquired the brand January 31, 2008 for $46 million. It was a once-unimaginable outcome for what had been the top-selling computer brand in the United States.\n\nBut there's more to the story than that. The Packard Bell story is a brilliant piece of marketing. The computers were terrible, but the marketing was as good as it gets. And that's one of the reasons people remember it as one of the more prominent of the 90s computer brands, even if many who remember it don't remember it fondly. [\u2026]"},"tag":[],"updated":"2026-01-30T12:10:05Z","url":"https://dfarq.homeip.net/happened-packard-bell/","to":["https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"],"cc":["https://dfarq.homeip.net/wp-json/activitypub/1.0/actors/1/followers"],"mediaType":"text/html","replies":{"id":"https://dfarq.homeip.net/wp-json/activitypub/1.0/posts/9878/replies","type":"Collection","first":{"id":"https://dfarq.homeip.net/wp-json/activitypub/1.0/posts/9878/replies?page=1","type":"CollectionPage","partOf":"https://dfarq.homeip.net/wp-json/activitypub/1.0/posts/9878/replies","items":[]}},"likes":{"id":"https://dfarq.homeip.net/wp-json/activitypub/1.0/posts/9878/likes","type":"Collection","totalItems":0},"shares":{"id":"https://dfarq.homeip.net/wp-json/activitypub/1.0/posts/9878/shares","type":"Collection","totalItems":0},"interactionPolicy":{"canAnnounce":{"automaticApproval":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public","always":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"},"canLike":{"automaticApproval":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public","always":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"},"canQuote":{"automaticApproval":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public","always":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"},"canReply":{"automaticApproval":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public","always":"https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams#Public"}}}