Packard Bell debuts updated ixtreme desktop PC

Packard Bell already rolled out its updated line of imedia desktop PCs earlier this month, and it's now done the same with its higher-end "ixtreme" desktop, which gets some upgraded specs and a sleek new look. While that exterior is certainly a step up for Packard Bell, it's not quite as eye-catching as the specs, which include your choice of Core i7, Core 2 Quad, or AMD Phenom II X4 processors, up to 12GB of DDR3 memory, a max 3TB of storage space, your choice of a few NVIDIA graphics options (including the 1GB GeForce GTS 250), an optional Blu-ray combo drive, and ten USB ports for anything that won't fit inside. No word on a release 'round here, of course, but folks in the UK will be able to pick this one up this month with a starting price of £599 (or just under $1,000).

[Via Randomly Accessed, thanks Steve]

[GBeatzRecrds @ Jul 11th 2009 4:22AM]

I still have nightmares about my 150Mhz 32MB Packard-Bell from 1997. Awful machine.

[David432111 @ Jul 11th 2009 4:35AM]

This isn't the same packard bell that you know from the 90's, most of the new packard bell stuff today is just rebranded acers. And acer's are pretty ok.

[KRIS_C_123 @ Jul 11th 2009 4:45AM]

ive seen a baby in a pram crying when it was pushed past a packard-bell

[Maeztro @ Jul 11th 2009 10:24AM]

You must not have had the turbo button pressed!

[Setnev @ Jul 11th 2009 3:17PM]

WTF??? A Packard Bell? I thought they were extinct? But I guess looking at the Spec:Cost ratio, I'd buy it.

[mechachu @ Jul 11th 2009 4:30PM]

Uhhh Packard Bell wasn't good? Lol I had one from back in the day and it was actually a great machine, aside from having to get a new sound card. In fact, the computer still works today.

And this reminded me that I need to back up some old junk off of it yay!

[andy @ Jul 11th 2009 11:32PM]

I had one a long time ago, it sucked. It wouldn't run continuously for more than a few hours, before crashing. But one day we "upgraded" it to Windows ME, which made it miraculously work. The only problem after that was a lack of disk space.

@mechachu
I'm assuming the machine you are talking about is one of the mentioned bastard children of Packard Bell and Windows ME.

[Ende @ Jul 12th 2009 11:03AM]

So Acer thinks that people would buy Packard Bell because it's an awesome brand? Oh well... I'm sold

[dsteve303 @ Jul 11th 2009 4:48AM]

LOL. PACKARD BELL? WHAT IS THIS. LYKE 1990z. MITE AS WELL BUY ACERz. or GateWAYz.

[FAP FAP FAP @ Jul 11th 2009 6:08AM]

Acer owns gateway and packard bell (emachines too) so you'd basically be buying the same thing.

[Pusta @ Jul 11th 2009 9:25AM]

Your post hurts my eyes, please use a spell checker in the future.

[theillien @ Jul 11th 2009 9:44AM]

Holy god you suck at the Internet.

[I hate mingers @ Jul 11th 2009 11:01AM]

^No he sucks at the internets

[AndrewNoNumbers @ Jul 11th 2009 3:17PM]

^ No they suck on internets.

[zephead @ Jul 11th 2009 5:26PM]

Internets taste good.

[Matt @ Jul 11th 2009 5:21AM]

ixtreme? Do they want to be associated with Xbox 360 drive modding?

[tgluak @ Jul 11th 2009 5:51AM]

That exactly what I thought

[Daza @ Jul 11th 2009 6:14AM]

Pretty sure anyone buying a Packard Bell does not know about Xbox 360 drive modding.

[GingerFox @ Jul 11th 2009 6:31AM]

Bothers me how EVERYONE nearly are slapping 'i' on the front of things, it does not even sound good.

[matt @ Jul 11th 2009 6:55AM]

Packard bell have been using the iextreme name since the xbox 360 was a twinkle in microsofts eye.

[Finde @ Jul 11th 2009 7:57AM]

Gingerfox: "ixtreme" is just how we pronounce extreme, their next machine is going to be the "ultumit"

[bk7 @ Jul 11th 2009 6:26AM]

Guaranteed £599 buys you only one of those high end specs listed and nothing close to the full monty..

[haydio @ Jul 11th 2009 6:39AM]

It has a Core i7 and the same shitty stock Acer keyboard and mouse

[John @ Jul 11th 2009 10:38AM]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that if you care about your keyboard and mouse, then there's not a bundled I/O set in the world that would please you.

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 11th 2009 8:46AM]

I don't know if the Core i7 has enough coolness to make up for the fact that it's stuck wearing Packard Bell livery.

I actually pity the hardware.

[Soti11 @ Jul 11th 2009 9:14AM]

I'm really getting sick of this "i" prefix on everything.
It's perfectly fine if Apple does it, but every tech company seems to be rolling out a new 'ithis' or 'ithat.'
Please stop, before I have an 'istroke.'

[Rod @ Jul 11th 2009 9:31AM]

My old HP741 ticks along nicely running Ubuntu...but it does sound like a cyclone's in the room.

Can anyone recommend a good, quiet off-the-shelf PC around the £1.5K mark for Photo / HD Video editing, or should I just bite the bullet and get a 24" iMac? :)

[John @ Jul 11th 2009 10:51AM]

If cost is (basically) no object with 1500 pounds, deciding between a mac or rolling your own PC is largely a choice about the software you want to use for the video editing, at least.

That said, for 1500 pounds (~$2,400), you can build a machine with...
2x Xeon E5520 (2.26GHz, SMT enabled) + coolers @$400 apiece
12GB DDR3 RAM @ $100 per 3x2GB pack
Asus Z8NA-D6C motherboard @ $260
$200 for case & PSU (board is ATX)

which ($800+$200+$260+$200) leaves you close to $1000 for a graphics card and drives, although you'd probably have to find some way around the VAT.

[Major4Play @ Jul 11th 2009 10:52AM]

Easy buy a large silent copper heatsink (Zalman are good) and a silent PSU for the PC you already own or azny you want to buy or build.
Problem solved. Have a listen to an iMac when it's under stress it is certainly not silent, and laptop parts are generally slower than desktop parts.
I own an iMac and they are lovely machines but they are not silent and not really that powerful either.

[Rod @ Jul 11th 2009 11:16AM]

Cheers, of course I'd have to get a screen too! The old HP can't even play 480x320 .flv files any more, so that's strictly for web surfing only :)

I am tempted to build my own PC, but TBH I really don't want the hassle on the driver / software front and would love to just get one over the counter. Be using it to edit 5DMk2 photo's in CS4 and 1080p video in Adobe Premier and After Effects. Was even thinking of getting a 2.26Ghz Mac Min with 4GB RAM and a 7.2k drive and a 24"NEC screen - but i'll probably miss the grinding power of a faster CPU.

I know I really want a Mac Pro - But i'll never pay that much, even if I had money to burn!

[John @ Jul 11th 2009 4:17PM]

I completely forgot about the necessity of a rather expensive 24 bit monitor - that does make things more difficult ;). However, if you wanted, you could scale down to a single processor i7 setup. I'm not as knowledgeable with desktop type equipment as I am when it comes to servers though, so if you were feeling up to building your own you might want to start checking newegg for components and asking people doing similar work what their bottlenecks tend to be.

[Rod @ Jul 11th 2009 4:28PM]

Thanks John, good idea on the i7 suggestion. After looking at whole Mac range long and hard, I still can't justify the price / performance ratio...so it's definitely to be a 64bit W7 with 8GB RAM and overclocked i7 home build. If I have any money left over I might experiment with a bottom line Mac Mini...purely for research purposes, of course :)

[Ed T @ Jul 11th 2009 9:35AM]

Ling ling, ling ling. Herro? Hey P-B, it 1990s carring, they want PCs back.

[Major4Play @ Jul 11th 2009 10:49AM]

"No word on a release 'round here, of course, but folks in the UK will be able to pick this one up this month with a starting price of £599 (or just under $1,000)."

Guess what Engadget as you have said in the past Acer are using their own brand for budget stuff they bought Gateway and Packard Bell to use as slightly more premium brands, Gateway for the USA and Packard Bell for Europe, they are basically the same machines.

[Arman Khan @ Jul 11th 2009 11:38AM]

Yea, I remember my beige box packard bell I bought in 1999. It was my first computer. 400 mhz pentium 2 processor, 10 gb hdd, 128 mb ram (later upped to a whopping 256 mb) and a cd player (upped to a cd burner) and we had dialup internet. that was awesome. we had a tankass crt monitor, but we got a tankass crt flatscreen monitor after. we went through countless mice and speakers, but the keyboard lasted forever. I've been using this comp for like 7 years.

it's good to see the brand still exists...gooooood memories. *sigh*

im just kind of surprised that my mac mini is so much more powerful, but i can't even run red alert 2 in parallels :(

[rsm @ Jul 11th 2009 12:34PM]

I had two Packard Bell's back in the day (and when I didn't know any better) -- the first was a 386 which promptly lead to some of my gray hairs on my head. The second was a Pentium, which it ran infinitely better than the 386. Although, I had been adding components to computers for some time before the two PBs -- it was the second PB that got me into full scale system building. When I got around to cracking the case on the second PB -- I noticed how poorly it was built (i.e., PCI slots were on a riser card instead of directly on the motherboard.) This lead to my first system build -- which left the PB in the dust performance wise. I haven't looked back since -- and I have Packard Bell to thank opening the door to this experience.

Don't think Acer should take a chance in marketing this under the PB brand, however -- as that name has such a bad rap associated with it -- AKA Puckard Bell.

[metooplease @ Jul 11th 2009 12:35PM]

i thought this company went out of business back in the late 90's

[Adam @ Jul 11th 2009 1:43PM]

Oh gawd...wow...Packard Bell. There's a name that haunted me through the 90's. My family owned 3 of their machines at one point.

Our first computer was a PB 386SX/20 w/ a whole 2MB of RAM in it and it ran DOS 5 & Windows 3.1. We upgraded it to 4MB of ram, added a SoundBlaster card and a *gasp* double-speed CD-ROM drive! (I remember when those were impressive specs!). Along the line my younger brother got mad that I was always on the computer, so the parents found a used PB 386SX/16 for him to use. And then sometime mid-late 90's when the family's "main" PC had been upgraded to something in the 200MHz range (and my brother had gotten an Acer w/ a 166MHz Pentium in it), I found an old low-end Pentium PB so my mom could check her e-mail and do basic internet stuff. (Even though we had a cable modem at that point, she still was using AOL for e-mail because, well, she to this day, can barely use a computer.)

-Adam

[nailz420 @ Jul 11th 2009 3:02PM]

Ixtreme - so whats the target demographic for this thing? Apple-loving skaters? And by the way, spelling extreme with an X is so last century. At least use multiple X's for XXXtra XXXtremeness!!!!

[TheDoctor @ Jul 11th 2009 3:25PM]

Alright! I can't wait until I can buy it in the US... wait what? Like so many cars, it is basically assumed that an American couldn't POSSIBLY want some products. There aren't that many reasonably priced systems in the US that don't make me want to puke, and last I looked at PB's laptops, they were pretty nice. But oh snap! You don't get one yankee!

[Maxwell Ash @ Jul 11th 2009 6:11PM]

Don't Packard Bell laptops have circle touchpads? Circle touchpads aren't nice.

[Michael Holmes @ Jul 11th 2009 8:55PM]

Eww Packard Bell. Last one I had broke down 3 times, then their repair service lost it.

And don't give me the whole "it's not the 90s now, they've changed".

This was in 2007.

[GingerFox @ Jul 12th 2009 1:43PM]

They lost it? haha thats priceless...

[Mike @ Jul 11th 2009 11:44PM]

Last Packard Bell I owned was my 486sx 25Mhz machine. I upgraded it to 6 megs of memory and that thing rocked. X-Wing, Scorched Earth... Those were the days.

[zodduska @ Jul 13th 2009 9:44AM]

Sounds similar to my first and only Packard Bell, 1992ish if I recall.

486SX 20Mhz
2MB RAM
80MB HDD

I also upgraded to 6MB of RAM after a while for a ridiculous sum of cash.

[John Svec @ Jul 12th 2009 11:55AM]

Can it compete with my Mac Pro? Will it run a flavor of "Hackintosh" out-of-the-box?