Acer, Gateway Continue To Roll Up Every Has-Been PC Maker

from the who-else-is-out-there...? dept

Tue, Oct 9th 2007 5:33pm — Mike Masnick

Anyone have a circa 1993 copy of Computer Shopper magazine/catalog out there? You might want to open to any random old page and see who Gateway is going to merge with next. Back in August, Acer announced plans to buy Gateway -- and while the announcement included some info about intentions to also roll Packard Bell into the deal, that part of the deal has only just been confirmed. Basically, Acer is giving Gateway the money to buy Packard Bell, which will then be included in the Acer acquisition. Of course, Gateway also bought eMachines a few years back, though that's one company that didn't exist back in the 1993 Computer Shopper era. However, if you do remember Computer Shopper in those days, it was dominated by ads from these companies, along with Dell and Micron. Are there still any other mostly forgotten also-ran PC makers from the early 90's that are available for the new Acer/Gateway/PackardBell to buy?

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Filed Under: computers
Companies: acer, gateway, packard bell

24 Comments

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Jim herring, 9 Oct 2007 @ 6:40pm

Micron...
Humm Micron computers?? now known as MPC? They purchased Gateway's Server line..
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Oct 2007 @ 6:45pm

I owe everything I know about computers to Packard Bell. Thanks to them I know how to change out memory, a power supply, a cd player, and fan....then I found out that after all that I could have bought a real computer that works for less than I paid to try and keep that POS running. I also owned a 73 pinto...so basically I am an expert at anything that beeps or explodes.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Oct 2007 @ 6:47pm

everex?
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Chris, 9 Oct 2007 @ 6:50pm

My first computer was a Packard Bell 286 @ 18 MHZ if IIRC. My second computer was an Acer, Pentium vintage. Never really had a problem with either one. I was still using the Acer monitor until about 2 or 3 years ago.
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Ryan, 9 Oct 2007 @ 7:23pm

what about quantex? I know they went chapter 11 in 2000, but they used to make great machines. Mine from 1999 just finally died on me.
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Ryan, 9 Oct 2007 @ 7:35pm

Headstart
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Oct 2007 @ 7:39pm

If a company has survived in any way, shape or form since the 1993 Computer Shopper era, I'd be giving them props as having survived quite a turbulent marketplace. Packard Bell doesn't even serve the US market anymore, so maybe that's why the people around techdirt have "forgotten" them.
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Charney, 9 Oct 2007 @ 8:12pm

Tandy

-cg
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Mike B, 9 Oct 2007 @ 11:08pm

Packard Bell
I used to work for Packard Bell, so I'm really getting a kick out of these replies..

Wait, wrong site.

But I really did, back around '98. I learned the majority of my PC troubleshooting skills doing phone tech support for them. Once you knew how to finagle those machines, they really weren't too bad, but I felt bad for the end user who didn't have our resources.

As for computer companies to buy..is Kaypro still around to buy? My first PC was an 8088 Kaypro...
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NIck, 9 Oct 2007 @ 11:23pm

Packard Bell
I haven't forgotten packard bell! Just like the second poster I learned a lot from my PB, by having to fix the piece of crap! :D
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jeremiah hoffman, 9 Oct 2007 @ 11:48pm

triad
i'm commenting from a new gateway c-140x, that has replaced my old acer c301xci (both are 14' tablets). the first, second, and third computers to enter my house were packard bells (i was a little kid then) they ran well and did what we needed. i sold my last PB to a friend about 4 years ago and i think he still uses it occasionally. acer buying gateway is what sealed the deal for me to buy this, my current convertable notebook. i've had nothing but gexcellent experince with both acer and gateways customer support and tech support. i hope the merger goes through and that out of it comes a company better able to compete with the juggernauts of Dell and HP. Hopefully they wont end up like emachines (my grandfathers first and second pc)
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jeremiah hoffman, 9 Oct 2007 @ 11:49pm

Re: triad
wow my spelling sucks, sorry for typos
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Oct 2007 @ 12:06am

Ah Packard Bell, the pc where you can remove half the pins of the processor and it would still boot, but sneeze at it and it would go into convulsions.... We used to taser those suckers so that we can warranty them...
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illegalprelude, 10 Oct 2007 @ 12:36am

dude, I had a Micron. That computer was DAMNN expensive but was awesome. I loved it.

Having worked in retail the past few years in computers, I can tell you Acers/Gateways/e-machines blow major balls. I think id rather not have a computer and use the type writer and newspaper
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Eric the Grey, 10 Oct 2007 @ 1:48am

Re:
Man, I must have been the only one who's Packard bell computer worked. Certainly, as it got older, it needed upgrades, but that was by my choice, not due to the fact that it was breaking down.

As a matter of fact, it was my first comp, lowly little 75mhz Pentium running dos and windows 3.11. Those were the days.

EtG
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Arochone, 10 Oct 2007 @ 3:30am

Re:
Dude, a computer from 1999 still working isn't that big of a deal. I have a '98 Compaq that still runs perfectly. And a...'95 Gateway. If you take care of 'em, they'll pretty much last forever.
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John, 10 Oct 2007 @ 5:14am

Re:
and Bill Gates made CTRL+Alt+Delete famous.
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Kevin, 10 Oct 2007 @ 7:58am

old computers that haven't died...
I still have a Mac Plus, 3 IIci's, 2 8150 WGS, and a 7600 that ALL still work. Until the Plus dies, it will not become a fishbowl. One of the IIci's (with a DoveFax 2400 baud modem) is my answering machine. Don't worry, Acer will never acquire Apple.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Oct 2007 @ 8:48am

Is NEC still around?

I had a Packard-Bell 486 with a whopping 420 MB hard drive, 4 MB RAM and a super-speedy 2x CD-ROM. It never gave me a problem. Over the years, I upgraded the HDD, RAM, CD, video memory and processor -- even managed to replace the BIOS after a failed flashing -- still with no difficulties whatsoever.
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Old Dusty, 10 Oct 2007 @ 10:21am

Mine was a Tandy 8088 that we had to go buy a math co-processor separately. But that is how I learned.
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Anonymous Coward, 10 Oct 2007 @ 4:24pm

Believe it or not, Canon made computers for a short time in the 90s (anyone remember the Innova series?). They ducked out by '97, but there are probably a few models still floating about. I'd like to see a return of the NoteJet -- a laptop with a built in printer!
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Oct 2007 @ 2:23pm

My first computer was a PCs Limited, bought in 1987.

It was a 286 that ran at the blazing speed of 8MHz, and had 1K of RAM, the max available. All DOS could use was 640K, so I used the balance for a disk cache (smartdrv). Hard drive was a whopping 20MB - I thought I'd never be able to fill that sucker up. It was very reliable.

PCs Limited later changed it's name to Dell.
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Arena Creative Stock Imagery, 17 Jan 2010 @ 1:18pm

Re:
YES! I had a Canon that we bought at the store Lechmere's!!! That store is LONG GONE. It was a 486, and the thing still works. It's got DOS and Windows 3.1 on it, and the original hard drive is still working. Amazing...

All of google and this is the only instance of text I could find on Canon desktop computers.
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windows 10 roll-up KB3172985 KB3172988, 22 Jul 2016 @ 8:04am

rollup KB3172985 KB3172988 emachine
if you have an emachine - dont install it; MS has screwed up the replacement updated for KB3172985; KB3172988. While KB3172985 install / fail / uninstalls every time I turn on my PC (45 min cycle) KB3172988 absolutely fails - had to do a system restore to get it working again. Be prepared!
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