So I Bought Those Weird New AliExpress Retro PCs…

I give the one guy in China building these total respect and doing it for less than $200, he is obviously a lover of old computers and software, what he has pulled off is kinda amazing, with a little more refinement he will actually have an awesome little machine. Props to the builder!!!

I love how these replicate the experience of old LCD color screens where you have to look directly in front of it or you can't see anything.

One of the biggest things I enjoy about your videos is that you never get too crazy to watch, you don't scream, you don't talk too fast, you don't play loud and obnoxious electronic music, you don't toss in unnecessary jokes and memes and all your captions are typed by you (or maybe someone else) and not automatically generated. You understand that people watch your videos for the subject matter and you deliver what we want and nothing we don't. Very commendable!

I'm kind of shocked there isn't more "modular" kits that use these old legacy/machine tool parts that are still being produced. It seems like some kind of cottage industry you could easily start making tiny DOS PCs for old games like that.

80's sci-fi series (totally set in the future!) high tech props made reality

The New Hand 386 by Compy: "Yesterday's technology of tomorrow! Today!" I need a drink…

Honestly, given that the Book 8088 is held together with phillips screws and made from off the shelf components, i imagine swapping the terrible screen for a better one is a piece of cake. 7 Inch displays are a dime a dozen, too.

I'd love to see someone with a 3D printer make a sort of docking station with the ISA breakout board.

Lack of I/0 is the worst thing about these devices

Your verdict sounds about right - a Proof Of Concept of legacy hardware crammed into a modern small form factor. Good to see you covering this though.

This is my favourite genre of YouTube video. It stops me buying dumb stuff on Ali express when I can watch someone else do it for me

clint, because of you (and a couple others) i discovered that retro computing was my special interest. for a few years now ive been religiously watching your videos - new and old - and im glad you've always been so entertaining! thank you for covering these old hunks of metal and silicon :)

I've wondered why these weren't more common. I'm sure the OS freaks out with the wrong pieces/parts. I would kill for a brand spanking new windows XP machine to relive those janky games my family used to play together

Clint, you are the longest-lasting retro-tech subscription on my account. Thank you for the years of "getting some" and running out of bubble gum on these funny boxes.

Thanks for covering those, now I can relax knowing I'm not missing out on much 😊

I was hoping you'd cover these eventually! My hope is someone else does these concepts just a bit cleaner. That, or someone finds a way to mod systems like the Libretto with modern screens and batteries, like we've seen in the Gameboy space.

My main issue with the Hand386 was the lack of built in mouse they could have included some kind of nipple pointer as without a built in mouse it makes windows use very limited

That the heck are these! Talk about brand new oddware

The stickers on the laptop really sell it for me. MSDOS one hit some nostalgia inside me.

I think bringing back the 80s aesthetic fits well with the future of design in electronics. The dusty Ridley Scott spaceship esque design can be applied to computers aswell as cars, ships and other items. As a designer I honestly think that we have been kinda stagnating design wise, trying to achieve designs that look as clean as can be, which was the development set into motion by the iPhones evergrowing simplicity. You see it with toasters and fridges aswell. Things all have that carbon metal finish and don't get me wrong, that surely fits some households. But I do enjoy the BladeRunner aesthetic a whole lot more for myself. Cables, consoles, old display. This can be explored artistically not only for retro PCs