A look through the 1993 Computer Reset catalog - IBM 5150 PCs for $99!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- As visited by @LGR and @The8BitGuy, here's what Computer Reset was selling back in 1993. PDF scan: www.amstereo.or...
The Compaq "Tellacomputer" they listed was actually the Telecomputer, developed for Bell Atlantic by Compaq in 1985: / bell_atlantic_alex_tel...
Don't apologise for your scribbles and notes! It gives the catalog character. I love when I get a used book or magazine where people note, scribble and such. It tells a story! It's only annoying when people cross out text which you didn't do.
Thanks for archiving it as well.
I love honest to goodness, cobbled together catalogs like this. You don't see these any more.
Check out American Science and Surplus' Catalog. They still use line art graphics!
Yes, it reminds me of the old J.C. Whitney catalogs.
5:50 "and to put it kindly, his attempts at repairing them were not successful" I lol'd hard
Oh man, 8 bit guy caught so much heat for that lol. Phew, what drama there was 🤣
@@frazzleface753 Yeah, I know. I actually lost some interest about his channels after everything that popped out because of that video.
I was there before he disabled comments that was rough, i feel bad for David but i don't think censorship and avoiding the issue is the way to go about it, he should have just made an apology or at least mentioned that he screwed up in a later video but he has practically acted as if it never happened. lets not hate on him too much look at all the computers he saved and didn't ruin decides his one screw up doesn't compare to what others on TH-cam have done
People shouldn't get so butt hurt. He could have dropped them off a 3 story building for all I care. I love vintage computers just as much as the next guy but the heat he got was over the top. I dont see people giving that much heat to people who melt down rare CPUs for a few bucks worth of gold? Seems like rage misplaced if you ask me. People need to work on getting thicker skin about thing like that.
@@mikeall7012 That's why I don't watch random chemists melt CPU cores for almost no gold. His channel wasn't exactly that, but rather aimed as a vintage computers one. You'll not expect this kind of content there, so that's why people got mad like that.
Worked in a small computer shop when I was 16 in the late '90s, and it was a lot like this (albeit with much newer tech). We did sell brand new systems, but the majority of sales were second-hand machines that were recycled from businesses that were upgrading their fleet or closing down. We might bump up the RAM, upgrade the HDD, give the case a bit of a scrub, but they were still second-hand machines.
My main job was to sort through the machines when they arrived, figure out which ones were working, and which weren't; test all the parts and fill out a sheet with all the system specs for each machine. Then I had to install Windows, drivers, and other bundled software, and clean up the machines. The machines that weren't working got some troubleshooting, and I could usually get them going again with some part swaps. I distinctly remember getting a machine working by taking the memory out of another faulty machine, then I tried putting the memory from the now working machine into the one that donated its memory, and that machine started working too! Then we'd set up the machines in the shop, the boss's assistant would type up a nice looking spec sheet to sit next to the machine, and people would actually come in and buy them.
And evidently it was a pretty good business, because the boss owned two stores. The other store was smaller, so it was mostly sales. They only had one technician, whereas ours had 3 including myself.
But as a high school kid I could only work Fridays after school and Saturdays, and they were only paying $5/hour. I ended up getting a job at McDonald's that paid $5.14, but I could get more hours each week, and it did go up over time to where I was getting paid over $15/hour, and I thought that was pretty good. In hindsight I probably should've just stuck it out at the computer store, maybe asked for a raise when I turned 17 and picked up some more hours when I started getting free periods and could leave school early. Then again, it didn't really hurt my career, since I'm now a network engineer, and I did get to meet a lot of girls working at McDonald's... Can't say the same for the computer store.
I like how they're honest in their descriptions, "Yeah it's old crap, but someone might want it!!!"... :P
I can imagine poring over a catalog like this as a kid and imagining all of the treasures they had. It's cool that we can now enjoy it in another way
For a while back in the late 90's, I had an HP business laser printer with duplexing and the like. It required a full sized ISA card to function, but that thing would crank out the pages.
love that place made a point of going there while on a trip to Dallas in truth it was the main reason I went there but telling my family I was going on a trip to see what they would view as little more than an e-waste facility would have put me even more in the oddball spot in the family.
Embrace it. :-) Before the whole pandemic thing, the Mrs. offered to try and route our next trip through Dallas. While adding her standard disclaimer of “...not that I’m encouraging you to collect more stuff.”
Just be honest, don't hide the way you feel. I collect vacuums and nobody cares.
Pier to pier network huh? Sounds so oceanic.
That's where the biggest barge-ins are.
(imagines a laptop on the edge of a cliff with a cable connecting across to another one on another cliff
It's like a wasteland... But full of treasures.
Do you have maybe something similar, but a catalog from like hi-fi store? It would be so interesting to look through one of those.
Official catalogues (in German) can be found here: hifi-archiv.info
Try searching the Internet Archive. People there have scanned lots of catalogs of computers, and probably electronics, from the past. Not to mention magazines.
It's fascinating going through those old catalogs and comparing the prices from then to now. Some of those prices are starting to look really good again.
But some are "How Much ?". I recall the receptionist at work getting a Sony 17" Trinitron monitor and we were all green with envy. A year or so later I spent £300 on a second hand one for myself and it was a very poor buy never being properly in focus and packing in completely a couple of years later. You can buy a nicer new monitor for much less today.
What an era gone by
looking back at these old catalogs makes me think to myself how much i missed out in the 90s, im a 2000s kid :o
So am I. 😄
oh man you're babies
tho ofc being a tiny kid in the '90s there was plenty i missed by virtue of not knowing all the details and nuance... but i still got to play with Windows 95&98 and install so many bargain bin games on CDs and shit. man i can still hear that machine's hard drive spinning up sound. it'd have deep gghhgg noises every now and then. idk what it really was, maybe a big seek or big read or smth. but it had this really distinctive rhythm of spinning up noises and then the GGHHG thunk/groan kind of sound, which would repeat until it booted. but loading programs after it had loaded windows never did that. just very brief tiny seek (or whatever) noises like G g g g G g. instead of the really big ones when booting.
Some amazing bargians to be had...
Enjoyed this one Kevin. Hope you have a great time during the holidays as long as you upload more content. It's a time for family and reconnecting as you upload more content. So enjoy your Christmas and have a happy New Years.
After you've uploaded more content.
Oh I love those vintage electronics catalog videos.
That spy proof heavy shielded version woud be the perfect computer for Adrian Black. He loves RF shields ^^
lol
Now to go through this list and see how much it would have cost me in 93 for all the stuff I got from Computer Reset last weekend.
The Tandy Model 600 has been described as a Tandy TRS-80 Model 100 on steroids. It indeed was a non-DOS /non-IBM PC compatible machine but came with a copy of Microsoft Works (v 1.02) on a built-in ROM and Multiplan, a spreadsheet program was included via a snap-in ROM (which could be removed and replaced with other custom app,i actions on snap-in ROM chips. BASIC programing support required an optional ROM chip. Apparently the OS for this machine was something custom-code by Microsoft (that was not DOS) and was include on the MS Works ROM chip. Here is how old-computers.com describes it: “The Microsoft operating system was comprised of the System Manager that handled file management for the disk drive and Microsoft Works 1.2 which gathered five applications: Word, a word processor whose files were compatible with the PC version of Microsoft Word; Calendar, an alarm-driven appointment scheduler; File, a database manager; Telcom for driving telecommunications activity; and Multiplan, reportedly a "99.5 percent version" of the PC spreadsheet”.
The computer looks like the typical early laptops where you had a flip up rectangle screen that’s hinged at the center of the computer as apposed to Laptops of the 90s hinge at the back due to increasing screen sizes becoming viable along with reduced motherboard sizes). The price of this thing was $1600 on up depending on configuration which was like $600 more then Model 100 sold for. It unfortunately come out just as the market was being saturated with viable DOS laptops and it failed to sell in any appreciable numbers as a result.
Looking back through old catalogues... It's a wild ride...
I hope that someday I can go to Computer Reset (I'm in Virginia), or maybe I can still order from the catalog :D
Well I guess now we have a pretty good idea of what is there now--and probably more!
VWestlife thank you very much keep it up and have a good day
wow march 13 1993, I remember that date for a whole different reason, as we were under 3 feet of snow in NE AL. this would have been a good catalog to have during that for sure...
Nice video Kevin really interesting as ever
Some of the new stuff from computer reset made its way to BG Micro and can be purchased online. I picked up a spare motherboard for my JR for $19 or so.
Nice video! Bring back lots of memories of the surplus days! Anyone remember Weird Stuff in Sunnyvale California?
I do, I went there in 2016. It's really a shame that they're now closed for good because they had some ridiculously cool gear over there. Fortunately there are other really good surplus stores throughout California that are still open.
Thanks, that was fun trip down the memory lane, or is it lain?
Lane is correct.
I tried looking up that Compaq “Tellacomputer” and nothing came up under that name. I did however find a unusual computer know as the “TeleCompaq Workstation”, it’s basically similar to a Compaq Portable with a 9” screen on the left and two 5 1/4} floppy drive on the right and a keyboard the clips onto the front doubling as cover when not in use. The device also has a bunch of unusual buttons between the screen and floppy drives. Apparently they date to 1985 and were made by Compaq specifically for use by telephone companies to do telephone network configuration. I also found a model of this machine branded the Bell Atlantic Alex. It’s clearly the same model as the TeleCompaq branded machine but with Bell Atlantic branding on it suggesting that Compaq made these for local phone companies who just put their own badging on them. A picture of the TeleCompaq Workstation on the Computer History Website shows a color/design matching telephone receiver unit sitting next the the workstation so it’s not clear if these had built-in modems though it make since that if they have a matching phone they would have a modem inside too. Could this be the item that Computer Reset was selling in the catalog and the catalog simply has a misprint? The listing says it had 3 floppy drives but I’ve never seen a computer with 3 floppy drives? Is that even possible with the standard 5 1/4” floppy drive controllers of the era? Maybe with custom hardware and software but the why would you need such a unusual setup like that anyways? I think that must be a misprint too.
Read the description. :-)
Yep, I was pretty sure I had hit the nail on the head there, and I can we agree.
@5:41 - Actually, "8-Bit Guy" wasn't aware of an issue that occurs on the MCGA controller of the 8086-based Model 25 and 30 (the "Executive Workstation" is based on the Model 30 planar - likely a prototype of the Model 25) being sensitive to power load as the low-wattage power supplies age: th-cam.com/video/4C0W6m0K_Yw/w-d-xo.html
Ha, I wound up with the monitor visible through the door at the 40-second mark. (Portrait Display Labs Pivot 1700)
That Cold War Surplus is Worth a Mint Now Day's , Military Dos 6.21 through 6.24 are Worth a bit of Money too :) QC
That's how it should be: vintage (not 'old') computers should never be thrown out if at all possible.
I bought my computer from a similar company like this, the computer is "old" and refurbished by them.
3:43 funny enough, I actually just procured a machine that's a very likely candidate for Computer Reset's mysterious Tellacomputer -- Assuming it to actually be the TeleCOMPAQ misnamed, anyways. Real one of a kind machine! They're a DeskPro 8086 (not an 8088 as claimed) variant integrating a modem, a speakerphone, and a Z80 coprocessor specifically for managing telephony tasks. They're actually relatively unknown since they were a commercial flop and mostly only sold through telephone companies. Computerworld 4/1/1985 has more details.
Mine's still in the early phase of restoration and doesn't currently even power on due to what seems to be PSU issues, as early COMPAQ systems are wont to have. I'm REALLY hoping the hard disk is intact so I can get the drive imaged and the software out there. Here's a photo! i.imgur.com/5OPE8jk.jpeg
I think that "Mobile Attack" should read 'Mole Attack".. 😆
and, also, Vic 20 😍❤ absolutely ~love~ that system so much, such ✨beauty✨!
that "spy proof" computer sounds pretty cool
13:00 but what can you buy a new mouse for now ? Around 1991 we bought a Logitech mouse for a similar price and it came with a free Swatch lookalike watch ! Now a watch would cost more than a mouse.
I still have a similar catalogue of new parts from my works supplier dated 1991. Some items like printers have plummeted in price. I spent £250 on a Panasonic 24 pin dot matrix printer, said in reviews to be the best printer you could buy for under £400.
Those VIC-20 IEEE and cartridge port expanders are worth a lot more than $10 each nowadays!
Did you go? I was thinking about it, but I suspect there isn't much left that I would be looking for. I think that one you were talking about is a TeleCompaq computer. I have been looking for the modem portion of this computer for years. I have the computer, but missing the Modem coupler attachment.
I have, was there last weekend. There is more stuff there than you can imagine - I am probably going to go back next year after more stuff is uncovered.
I went on the 7th. I actually got a few things I was looking for specifically, which surprised me (most surprising was probably the ISA interface for an external Mitsumi CD-ROM drive I picked up from a thrift store a while back). They still have some piles roped off with caution tape that haven't been sorted through yet, probably still worth going back every once in a while to see what comes out of those.
@@MatroxMillennium I thought they said the stuff that was caution taped off was being donated? I might have misheard them.
@@knightcrusader Maybe? I don't remember them specifically addressing the caution taped piles, but they did say stuff marked "museum" wasn't for sale.
11:22 that arrow reminds me of Amazon
@2:38 - Yes, the 5182 Color Printer was a 9-pin printhead. BTW, you can get it for half that price from a Walmart affiliate now (but can you find working ribbons?): www.walmart.com/ip/IBM-5182-Dot-Matrix-Ptrinthead/263641470
Oh do I remember MS-DOS 5.0... The Gamers OS!
I notice they did not have any early sound cards like Ad-Lib etc...
This is just the catalog Strong Bad used to buy his computer that one time
i never expected to see "perfectly useless software but we sell it anyway" written in a catalog like this.
Also.. Today's equivalent of an IBM 5150 being sold for $99 in 1993 (what a "bargian" for 1993) would be buying a cheap Core 2 Duo - based or an early Core i3/i5 system with 4 GB RAM and 250 GB hard disk for often less than $100.
If you've never been to CR, you've GOTTA GO SEE IT!
I have an 8512 from CR that I picked up last year. And there were A TON of 5140 screens at CR. Tanner Electronics bought a lot of them to resell... but I think they have since closed up shop. I have a few memory upgrades for my 5140 from CR as well... and, of course, a few 5140 carrying cases :-)
Impossible to go now. I'm in Canada and was thinking about going in Sept 2019, just rent a U-Haul and make the ultimate nerd pilgrimage and bask in the machines of my childhood. It's literally a time capsule of that time.
COVID has now made that just a dream.
When I look back at how much I paid for computer stuff, and some of it I still have, it was crazy.
omg. I don't feel so bad now about my garage, thx.
-b
While I'm sure I won't be the first to say it, depending upon when that catalog was published, the Apple II was still being made or had only been discontinued for a short time.
The 8512 monitor was desperately cheap and in my experience, dismally unreliable. (One would have been better off with an 8513 color monitor, or the 8503/04 monochrome monitors.)
I wonder if they'd still have any EGA monitors in any condition kicking around...
Catalogs like those were like playboys for nerds. You would go through and wish. Well playboys too...
Hurts to watch this. Knowing I'll never get to own any of this stuff. All I got is ti-99 4a without any programs or games.
Same, but my ti-99 is dead. i do have some later pcs though
@@kit7une_ I may have to finally get our two TIs set up soon and start doing videos and a web page for them, then see what has been done with the 99 on the homebrew scene, especially for hardware. Can't even recall of the top of my head what their expansion boxes are populated with.
Back in the day I kept my TI99-4A for all of six months. It was that bad. The only computer I have had where the CPU wasn't connected to the RAM making it S L O W. A memory expansion would have been a big help but they cost far more than the computers. I bought when they were selling them off brand new in a local department store for £60. A different store had Commodore Plus 4s for the same price. After selling the TI99-4A I bought a new Toshiba HX10 MSX for, again £60. A great machine that I still have.
Interestingly throughout this time the Commodore 64 and Spectrum were selling for over £100. That was the premium you paid for a machine with great software support.
Classic Computers and Parts.
Those used PC systems for 200-300 dollars would still be more than enough to run the basic business & productivity software. For gaming, many people had consoles. They may not of cared about a used PC not having the latest specs.
I'll take "What's on my agenda for the next 19 minutes?" for $500 Alex.
@@HankScorpio64 Who is Ken?
There's nothing wrong with using old computers. While they may not offer the best performance, they could get the job done. Sure back in 1993, there may be limitations with older computers like an 8088/8086 and 286 PC not being compatible with software requiring a 386.
The one thing I find ironic these days is that old cheap computers that are a couple years old are actually better than the new cheap laptops/tablets costing $200 or less. I'm sure you've seen computers on Walmart and Amazon advertising a 32/64 GB eMMC storage, 1.1 GHz Intel Atom/Celeron, and 4 GB RAM but they actually perform worse than an older computers with better specs. Even an Intel Core 2 Duo from 2006/2007 with 8 GB RAM will run better than those 32/64 GB eMMC laptops/tablets with 1.1 Ghz Atom/Celeron that can barely run Windows 10 (why they didn't put Chrome OS or Linux on it is anybody's guess). Makes me wonder if Microsoft or companies like Fusion5, EVOO, and Ematic or even OEMs like HP and ASUS learned their lesson from Windows Vista (not putting Windows on a system that can barely run it) but it seems they didn't.
I find it interesting on 16:30 that King's Quest is $59 (adjusting for 2020 inflation, it would be $105.31!). I know these days it's common to find PC, PS4/PS5, and Xbox One/Series X|S games costing at least $60 or more which has been the norm since the PS3 and Xbox 360 and there's rumors that games on PS5/Series X could be $70. Interestingly, a PC game that had a price of $30 in 1993 would be $53.55 in 2020.
Radio Shack catalog next!!!
I've already done a video about Radio Shack catalogs: th-cam.com/video/hxAulNzT-No/w-d-xo.html
Also computer reset I seen on lgr or 8bit guy has a Facebook group . with current events it sucks that opened like it used to be.
cool retro catalog! btw I had several ibm machines over the years, the PC jr was by far, the worst!
Well, did you buy anything? Or what would you have bought if you could?
Isn’t $199 for the trs 80 model 100 expensive for 1993?
No -- the Model 102 (the 100's slightly updated successor) sold for $599 in 1992, just before it was discontinued.
Journalists were using Model 100-series machines to write and file stories from the road. That use case alone kept that machine in use into the late 90s. And it helped keep prices fairly high, since most newspapers needed a couple of them for their staff.
Thanks for the info! I have a few that are all still working. Amazing piece of tech for 1983 at the time.
Also, he glossed over the best part. The Model 100 for $199 included a 128K bubble memory unit that was very expensive when new. A few of those units still exited in the warehouse when sales started. I was lucky enough to get one. The bubble memory retained the original software loaded on it. It was a set of BASIC programs for managing a gas station/convenience store.
@@gil_L Also apparently the last computer Bill Gates personally wrote software for.
5:49 "and to put it kindly, his attempts at repairing them were not successful" Lol I was there before he disabled comments that was rough, i feel bad for David but i don't think censorship and avoiding the issue is the way to go about it, he should have just made an apology or at least mentioned that he screwed up in a later video but he has practically acted as if it never happened. However lets not hate on him too much look at all the computers he saved and didn't ruin decides his one screw up doesn't compare to what others on TH-cam have done.........*cough* the verge *cough* Random you-tubers destroying museum items for views: i.imgur.com/aTqerT9.gifv th-cam.com/video/BHvdnCpOuRk/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/tT22nWCSH9U/w-d-xo.html
He did post a response video where he brought some elements of answer to why he screwed up and attempted to respond to other issues popping up at that time, but I think he kept it unlisted. The link was only posted on his Patreon page. Someone might have posted it on a subreddit.
@@Dioxaz well i was unaware of this thanks for bringing it to light, i still don't think he reacted very well but the comments he was getting were way out of line and i could see how nuking the comments section might seem like a good idea i think he could take a lesson from the verge it isn't. Trust me i have nothing against him or his great Chanel Ive been watching sense the 5th grade (originally came to see mac book repairs as my school had thrown some away)
Wow! Ok, so they havent gotten rid of everything yet at PC Reset. That explains why I havent seen much on ebay yet.
I really wonder if these prices in were really that competitive back then, I suppose they were not as the warehouse looked pretty full to me, all I know is I would never had purchased in 1993 an IBM 5150 for $99, seems cheap but it was really of any use to anyone?
It is a real shame that some vultures and gold scrappers got there before the family could benefit from the prices these stuffs are going now for so they could recover some of the losses that business made through the years.
They probably were when published. The problem was that literally six months later they wouldn't have been. When the Pentium came out the value of anything older would have dropped. far more so than today, when the latest processor is just 10% faster and 105 more efficient than the previous model.
I occasionally discussed my old computer collecting and trading with a couple of guys at work. One was extremely proud of the fact that he once used the case of a 5150 to fix his car exhaust !!!! The other threw away a working Acorn Atom with all the literature. I think he felt a bit sick when I showed him what they go for on Ebay.
4:12 - an auction online for an IBM 5140 with IBM carrying bag just closed today at $156...
Makes me wish I lived there. And had a car...
From a time when computing was better and more exciting. People were more productive with a 386/486 than today's crap with OS and internet bloating, and phone distractions.
My elementary school did indeed have Apple IIes in 1993. 2-3 to a classroom. If you did really well you might get to play a game on the IIgs and get colors!
The PCjr must have been a serious money pit!
Seems pretty expensive for the time, 4 colours for hundreds of $ when you could get a snes or genesis for way cheaper.
Battle Chess...even I could win as a kid and the animations made it more fun than Chess Master.
14:05 "origional"...
...and lots of other spelling errors hidden throughout the catalog
Spell check clearly didn't exist yet.... or at least when the computer used to produce the catalog was made :-)
Hm, no Atari STs and no Amigas. I guess they really where unpopular in the USA.
This company simply didn't specialize in them. And by 1993 they were not obsolete enough to show up as surplus. An original Atari ST or Amiga 1000 could still run most of the latest software for those platforms, unlike PCs.
All that crap was obsolete even back in 1993. And dang, that "bargian" section. There was no spell check back then. Well, yes there was if not using trash computer equipment as sold here.
One man's trash is another man's treasure.
@@MaxStax1 in 1993 it was just trash. No nostalgia retro feelings yet, just like you don't feel nostalgia for an old 2012 desktop in 2020
@@Blackadder75 Well, except hardware made in 2012 isnt that outdated and is perfectly usable today. 2012 would be around ivy bridge, something like a i5-3570 would still run everything except current games. You might be thinking more around 2003 or earlier, nobody cares at all for something like a first gen athlon 64.
@@semifavorableuncircle6952 The rate of change was faster in the '80s and '90s, though. Any DOS software that you would want to run then would need at least a 286, and 486s were already starting to become common. Everyone wanted Windows 3.1 at that point, too, and that requires at least a 386 with 8MB of RAM to run decently well. An 8088 machine might have been useful as a dumb terminal or for some very basic (BASIC) programming, but isn't something that most people would have found useful for daily work at that point.
@@semifavorableuncircle6952 Early 00s to mid 00s nostalgia is already becoming a thing! There's definite value in mid 00s hardware now for sure at least nicer hardware. I'd imagine there is a lot of legacy from that era too so the hardware is probably still in demand for niche legacy stuff as well.
Now computer reset is now a free buy
5:54 idiotic is the term.