[bbruzzes]

There is no WAY that VIC/20 deserves to be on the same list as Packard Bell, eMachines, the Barbie/Hotwheels Computer, or the PS/1. I had a PS/1 and has horrified I couldn't even add an Adlib or Sound Blaster to get rid of the PC Speaker beeps and squeals. The VIC/20 did exactly what it was intended to do which was to provide affordable personal computing to the masses (the under $300 launch price was a huge breakthrough back then). Plus it sold well enough for Commodore to produce the legendary C64 and later the equally renowned Amiga series, so how could it be that bad? Anyone remember the old FreePC's which REQUIRED you to have advertising covering a third screen all the time in order to get it a discounted price (or "free')? Now those should be on the list. Edit: I just noticed the Free PCs are already on the list for the 25 worst tech products of all time, but I think it should be on this list too.

[garrisonjs]

Well, bbruzzes, I recall signing up for the free People PC when they first started advertising it. You agreed to be bombarded with ads and People PC gave you a free system. I also remember Net Zero when it really was zero cost. Lotsa gimmicks. Little staying power.

[coastie65]

I wouldn't say that eMachines are all that bad. They can be somewhat limited in expandability, but overall, they are a fairly decent "Entry Level" computer. This one does pretty well and I am able to do what I want with it for the most part after some upgrades. As for Packard Bell, my late girlfriend had one of those things, and I was anything but impressed. In fact I told her she probably just wasted her money, which didn't please her. I found out that there are times when it's probably best to keep my opinions to myself. :^0 Although it was mid summer, winter came early that year, if you get my drift. coastie65

[Tech4me]

[~91886] . I'm with you man.......STAY AWAY from....E-M.....I think thats why Its cheaper than others.....The quality control is a joke...I brought it back three times....Then I got a good one ...last for 6 months.....and It just DIED on me......Brought it back again for estimate.....came up $400.00....for repair.....
IN THE TRASH IMMEDIATELY.....Still have speakers.....keyboard......&...Monitor(17").....Anybody want them..?! [img]http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/!http://forums.pcworld.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/2-106500-3256/notworking.gif[/img]

[Tech4me]

[~50619] . NO OFFEND.....You are one of the LUCKY ONES.

[coastie65]

Hey, tech, No offense taken. I am well aware of the short comings of emachines. I believe it depends a lot on the model and configuration with these things. I had a T2824 that wasn't much. I upgraded the PSU from a Celeron D 325 ( 2.53 Ghz) to a Celeron D 350 ( 3.2 Ghz ), maxed out the ram, and added a GeForce FX 5500 PCI 256 DDR video card. It was bought on July 4, 2004 and is still going strong, as friend got it and is still using it on a dailey basis. Of all the problems I recall from people coming to this site with problems with their eMachines computers, all the eMachines were AMD based. The two that I have owned were Intel based and I've really had no problems with either one. I'm not not saying that being AMD based is a factor, but it makes you wonder. coastie65

[rtfire1]

any one who worked at radio shack or computer city (great store till it got taken over by hacks) should know this one. Ibm Aptiva 75 it was a p1 75 mhz thats cpu fan was to small. we had both a 75 and 100 in the store poped them a part and the 100's cpu fan has big next to the little 75 cpu fan. I would also like to remind people of ast i just shivered at the thought of there 486 dx4 100 that would die for no reason at all (found out 2 years later it was bad power system as they put it). that my $ 0.02

[mjd420nova]

Anyone ever hear of LEADING EDGE? The joke in the service circles was to call it BLEEDING EDGE. What a messed up piece of hardware. Nothing seemed to work right and their vendors that supplied the parts were the fly by night type. Most units became a mixture of other mfgrs parts when original parts could not be gotten from the mfgr. The original DELL units were poorly designed and an even worse when hardware implementation was attempted. An example was that in order to change printers, the unit had to be powered down to avoid blowing the parellel interface chip that would crater itself if the cable was disconnected while powered up. Who thinks these things up, it couldn't have been an accident could it? Another beast was the first 80486 board to come out made by BLACK SHIP, most commonly refered to as BLACK $HIT. Poor system board design yeilded a board that was so large that the chassis had to be completely dissassembled to replace it and due to its size was prone to cracking the plate thru solder joints and warping so badly it would short out on the bottom of the supports.

[garrisonjs]

My memory could be faulty, but I think Leading Edge went on to be known as Hyundai.

[Htos1]

All this is true,however,I would REALLY like to have a copy of the restore cd that came with the 486 models in 1994.

[garrisonjs]

Early last year I had a PB Legend 486 come thru the Recycle/Reuse center where I worked. It had a complete and working install of the Navigator and Windows 3.1.

It was great to re-watch the mime avi and use the Packard Bell interface to access files. They really put a lot into the PC then. Too bad a poor service rating kicked them to the curb. No CDs, however.

[Roomeister]

This is one of the worse articles I've read I guess the author is clueless at allot of these computers were the only tools allot of us computers users had back in the 1970's and 1980's. He's like comparing cars from the 1930's to todays cars. Yes there were companies that had bad customer service. Also the author forget if anyone had a problem with a PB computer was not a techy, and we bought them because it was low prices. Its not the PC its the users who should of been the losers because they tought customer service was to help them solve their MS word problem or how do they use software. Computers back before 1999 were mostly for hobbiest. The VIC 20 and the adam, and apple and other companies put allot fo people to work and help put allot of people through school so they could today have one button pushes so they can do a job or lack there of! To me this article is a insult to anyone who's been in electronic and computers.

[garrisonjs]

You wrote:
{noformat}This is one of the worse articles I've read I guess the author is
clueless at allot of these computers were the only tools allot of us
computers users had back in the 1970's and 1980's. He's like comparing cars
from the 1930's to todays cars. Yes there were companies that had bad
customer service. Also the author forget if anyone had a problem with a
PB computer was not a techy, and we bought them because it was low
prices.{noformat}{noformat}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{noformat}{noformat} You mention that the computer stopped being a "techie" hobby around 1999. Really, techies ruled the{noformat}{noformat}computer world from the 60's. What brought computers into the every-user world was the effort of hackers{noformat}{noformat}that "ported" popular software to various systems. Systems could cost between $1200 and $10,000. {noformat}{noformat} {noformat}{noformat}Then Commodore brought the "cheap" computer into the home. The Apple II computer's made inroads into schools where kids were{noformat}{noformat}being taught to make their own games and learn Basic.{noformat}{noformat} {noformat}{noformat}When the computer first became an entertainment device, where games and multimedia (CD ROM) applications were used, {noformat}{noformat}it became more necessary to own one and more widespread use took away a lot of the mystery for non-tech users. {noformat}{noformat} {noformat}{noformat}There were then, and are now, bad machines and manufacturers, but the instant-communication nature of the internet{noformat}{noformat}as it exists today alerts potential owners to doggy computer makers and sellers. {noformat}{noformat} {noformat}{noformat}I think the article does what it sets out to do: lets all of us who started our computer mania in the 70's recall the good and bad{noformat}{noformat}that computing had to offer. Highlighting for those who weren't there how much it took to make a PC do work.{noformat}{noformat}And, it gives some of us long-term users a chance to reminisce. As I mentioned earlier on, I had a PB and fixed it myself{noformat}{noformat}every time it died. I never experienced the bad service. I serviced it. So my memories are fond. {noformat}

[UserPaul0005]

I bought the TI-99/4 in 1980 for $600.00 and a black and white TV set for $99 for the monitor and a TI-900 Video modulator for an extra $75.00. I bought this computer over the Atari 800 which had a better looking key board. The TI-99/4 would do accurate math, trigonometry and log functions which none of the other computer BASIC languages could do at that time. Not Tandy, not Apple, not the Atari.

[savagesteve13]

I wouldn't call the IBM Aptiva line disastrous, just BORING. They basically were repackaged Acer Aspires. The hardware inside was upgradeable and consistent with industry standard, but the preloaded OS was awful and some went out with viruses, whoops!

[rtfire1]

the aptive a line was great as long as you know merlin

[savagesteve13]

The simple trick to aptivas was to reformat the HD and install the OS by hand. Everything works great after that. I had a 2163 for years and it was a competent but unexciting computer. Also a tad pricey but not unusual for IBM. One odd but interesting feature was the sound absorbing HD tray. IBM knew the maxtors were noisier than a box of crickets so they put it on a plate with rubber standoffs. Did wonders for the noise. The internal softmodem was terrible but all softmodems are terrible. Thats why I keep my external USR sportster to this very day, and even managed to pick up a V-Everything at a junk store for $30. I'm set for life in modemland until the technology dies off completely.

[rtfire1]

merlin was ibms back door password

[coastie65]

Hey rt, I used an app back in the early 90's called Merlin. It was primarily an Inventory Control app. We also had another app called Oracle, but I'm not sure of what that was as I never used it. coastie

[rtfire1]

merlin was the great password anyone that had to sell/service what you just sold, would use it get behind the see in windows 95 and turn off a crap load of blot ware. How I did love selling apives at radio shack after they dumped ast (ast bought tandy).