The first computer I owned was a Packard Bell 486sx. I believe it was a Legend 120. It was poorly designed, barely upgradable, and it's hardware was already well outdated at the time of purchase. It served its purpose though and served it well for many years. I never had a problem with that computer until I attempted to upgrade it. Much like a taco from a roadside vendor, everything was cool till I opened it up and looked inside.

As the years went on I continued to upgrade it. I eventually got different computers, and I gave the old Packard Bell to some friends upgrading it once more so that they could receive email at home. Last year they got a new computer and returned the old one to me. By this point there was little of the original computer left. I think the floppy drive and power supply were all that remained. I flirted withe idea of upgrading it again, but eventually I realised it was pointless and let the old girl out to pasture. Which is to say, I smashed it with a 2x4 during a drunken orgy of violence and then dumped the remains in the garbage without ceremony.

Yes, Packard Bell makes horrible PC's. Some people don't want a tricked out computer though, and as long as it starts and continues to work, those users remain pleased. Of course, it could be worse, it could be a Compaq.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it,
is to use this Packard Bell computer,
which was constructed out of failed toaster parts and used rubber bands,
without having it crash.
Should you fail, Packard Bell will disavow any knowledge of your actions, as well as our own.
Since this is a Packard Bell, the hard drive will self destruct in 5 seconds.

an anonymous sound clip from iMesh.

To the best of my memory, the Packard Bell computers mentioned above had a standard design and more or less the same components scattered across a few different models.

I had a Packard Bell Legend as well, though I don't recall the model number. Out of the box, it looked like this:

• 486sx 33MHz or 486dx2 66MHz processor (fan not included!)
• up to 16MB of RAM, with up to 2 SIMM slots
• AT motherboard, manufacturer unknown
• 2400 baud internal modem that was soldered to the motherboard
• ISA video card with up to 1MB of SGRAM
• ISA sound card/IDE controller
• 1 empty ISA slot (mine was filled by a US Robotics 33600 modem)
• motherboard riser card, on which the ISA slots were mounted
• 2X IDE Matsushita CD-ROM drive
• up to a 720MB IDE Seagate hard drive
• standard 3.5" floppy drive
• 120W power supply (mine failed after 3 years of constant use)
• desktop AT case
• tinny speakers, a feeble mouse that broke after a week of use, and an AT keyboard

I used mine to run a BBS. After three years, the PSU and the HD both failed, as did the video card and the CD-ROM drive. Like the noders above did, I replaced most of the parts. The kicker is that I paid $2,000.00USD for it, at a time when it was already obsolete (but then, what OEM computer isn't already obsolete upon release?), in January 1995, just as the Intel Pentium was introduced. It should also be noted that the HD that shipped with my Packard Bell box hadn't been tested before it was RTM'd -- after 10 minutes of inactivity it would spin down, not go to sleep, but actually spin down, like you were preparing it for a bumpy trip, like you could do with old hard drives. I had to call PB tech support, and for once, I got someone competent on the other end -- he walked me through writing a TSR program that would correct the spin down problems.

The Packard Bell Corporation was purchased outright by NEC in the late 90s.