Advantages: reliable
Disadvantages: None

...Reliaility and quality make P.B. a system to be reckoned with. I have a Packard Bell PC which I bought 18 months ago and have found the system to be reliable and trouble free. I have previously bought systems fro other lesser name retailers and always experienced serious problems with them. With Packard Bell I am pleased to say that I have had none of these problems at all. The system came pre-installed and running correctly but also has a restore disk to re-install the system to its factory defaults should you hit a problem.... Read review

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Advantages: Good computers
Disadvantages: Poor customer service, patronising staff

...I am more than pleased with my Packard Bell computer however I am not happy with their level of customer service. I recently required some technical advice from them regarding the restore disk they supplied with my PC. I was referred by them to the point of sale (PC World). They in turn referred me back to Packard Bell saying it was not their reponsibility. A further call to PB eventually got me through to a tchnician who treated me as if I was totally thick. His whole attitude was patronising. Needless to say I didn't get very far with this enquiry. Instead I e-mailed my query to them. I got an automated reply saying my mail had arived but I have to this day heard nothing further despite 6 other e-mails being sent to and received by Packard Bell. I have finally given up on them and resolved the problem I was experiencing by going... Read review

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Advantages: Not many. It works occasionaly, and providing you dont want to do much other than play solitaire it should be ok.
Disadvantages: Bad design make upgrading and the frequently needed servicing difficult and doing anything more than switching it on a nightmare. Customer services are in existance but do not help whatsoever.

...The Falcon Writes... Do not buy a Packard Bell PC. It is really that simple. I have owned three, from a 386 many years ago to a PIII 400Mhz last year, and the quality of the products, the workmanship, the customer service, and the company in general has gone from bad to worse. Let me try to illustrate this for you. My last Packard Bell, during it's one year lifespan had: - 2 replacement CD ROM drives. - 1 replacement Hard Disk drive (extremely inconvienient since I lost ALL my files when the old one went). - 1 replacement motherboard. - 2 replacement power supply units... Before I finally gave up talking to incoherent customer service representatives and finally went online and bought a PIII 500Mhz Dell for only £900. And I know it wasnt just that one system, because even the old 386 was plagued by problems, constantly crashed... Read review

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Advantages: Pentium III, good scanner, ok software bundle
Disadvantages: Poor technical support and limited upgrade options

...This was quite an expensive computer, but it did come with a lot of extras. There was a printer, a scanner and DVD rom drive and lots of software. It is quite good to get all these things in one package but the printer isnt the best and the ink cartrages are quite expensive. The DVD is very good but I find it uncomfortable sitting at my desk watching a film on the 15" monitor Id prefer to lie down on the sofa and put watch on a big TV but there is no way to connect it to the TV. The sofware is pre installed on the hard drive and is mostly for people new to computers but did include the excellent microsoft word. One thing that bugs me is the Packard Bell website has no mention of this model of computer, the club 80. This means I have to search around for drivers myself and the documentation is very scetchy aswell. But on the whole... Read review

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Advantages: reliable, good value, excellent support, good package
Disadvantages: None

...The Packard Bell Club80 PC represents good value for money. It was easy to set everything up and came with excellent instructions which will certainly help the first time buyer. The package came complete with DVD Rom, 17" monitor, printer, scanner, digital camera and a host of useful software including Microsoft Word 2000, Windows 98 SE (on disc!), Norton Antivirus, Encarta99 and money 99 to name but a few. It made a pleasant change for a PC to come with worthwhile software and not a load of rubbish that gets left on the shelf. The system also comes with an excellent restore disk enabling you to reinstall your system to the factory settings should disaster strike. In all a powerful, reliable and easy to use system. A great overall package.... Read review

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Advantages: reliable, fast
Disadvantages: trouble with initial installation of cable ISP

...This past Christmas, we finally upgraded to a new computer in order to get online at home. We chose a PackardBell pentium II, which was, of course, on sale! The computer works just fine, and with the cable connection, is quite fast. The problem comes in when we had the cable connection installed. First, we had 2 people come in, try to install, and we were told that they can't connect to a Packard Bell computer????? Since we didn't accept that conclusion, they called in reinforcements, and another 6 people came over to hunker down over our computer. Two hours later, the 8 people said "nope, can't connect to a Packard Bell - they have weird connections". I thanked them for all their hard(????) work, and when they left, called the head of the department, and he came out the next day and installed it in 30 minutes!. There also does seem... Read review

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Advantages: its a well known brand
Disadvantages: Customer service is very poor

...Packard bell customer service? Dont make me laugh. Go to their UK web site and there is absolutley no mention of my model the club 88 despite the model being advertised in national newspapers and TV. The spec of the PC is low. Most of the software we got with it will never be used, I mean GCSE maths? Passed it years ago when CDs wernt invented. They dont give you a manual in the form of books, it comes on a CD which might be environmentally friendly but if the computer is down and you can get windows to load, its no help.... Read review

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Advantages: Good name
Disadvantages: Bad parts

...Packard Bell and hewlett Packard are famous names in computing. Unfortunately, Packard Bell is only grasping at the coat tails of Hewlett Packard and it shows. I own an older Packard Bell Club machine with a Cyrix II processor. To be honest, I was dissapointed with it. It now looks nothing like it did inside before I got my hands on it. This is because the equipment shipped with these machines is not adequate for modern computing. They look nice and have nice sturdy cases but that is it. The motherboard came with on board sound from an SiS chip. This crackled and gave feedback during games so I disabled it and put a soundblaster Live in instead. The video was only 4 Meg on board too so I put a 16 Meg 3Dfx card in. Only moderate peformance gains due to the slow processor. The hard drive is extremely slow on boot up. I takes about 5... Read review

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Advantages: easy to use
Disadvantages: needs fax software for modem

...Packard Bell computers are ideal for all the family. I bought the imedia with an AMD Athlon 1000MHz processor, 128MB RAM and 20GB harddrive. This computer is ready for action the moment you turn it on and the wealth and diversity of the pre-packaged software guarantees that every member of the family will be squabbling about who goes first. I chose the option with the 17" Monitor with diamond 3DSP speaker system - meaning that the picture is good and the sound excellent. The system boasted 4 USB ports for instant connection to things like scanners and cameras that use USB, but you have to bear in mind that 2 of the USB ports are used for the mouse and keyboard. Luckily, USB is very expandable with 127 connections possible for each USB controller!!! I had a problem with my PC when connecting a RolandED U8 digital studio to one... Read review

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Advantages: good instructions on use, quite easy for beginners to use
Disadvantages: to slow, bogged down with manufacturers software

...About 18 months ago i purchased a Packard Bell Club machine from an alledged reputable dealer who informed me (at the time a total novice as far as PCs were concerned) that what i was getting was the bees knees of the computer world. With interest this machiine cost over £1000. It wasn't until about 12 months later when the system crashed that i found i had problems. After speaking to Techical Services on a very costly phone call they arranged for an engineer to call to look at the machine. On inspection he informed me that Packard Bell install a tattoo in their machines and that if that goes you've got to get their engineer to come and re-install it. I was also informed that if i wanted to increase the graphics i would need to purchase a PCI 3D graphics card as there was no AGP slot. Another annoying thing is that Packard Bell... Read review

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