Retro Unboxing: Unpacking a $3,000 Computer in 1995

Do you think hardware is expensive today? Believe it or not, things were worse in the past. Hard drives as luxury items, RAM that cost a fortune... you had to think things through and study the available configurations carefully before investing. Some of our readers might wonder what we could buy back then, and to satisfy that curiosity, nothing better than a homemade unboxing of a Compaq CDS computer from 1995. That complete beast cost 3,000 dollars...

I remember that feeling very well from personal experience, and because I witnessed many similar cases. Between the late '90s and the early 2000s, many families managed to acquire their "first computer" and bring it into the home. Taking the hardware out of the box and starting the installation was a kind of ritual, with everyone gathered around the new device. Questions, answers, doubts, the occasional sibling fight to try it first, mothers and fathers recognizing the imminent conflict (arguments, falling grades, long nighttime sessions)... but with very good memories overall.

Today, that is lost. Do you want a computer? You buy it in any store or build it yourself. Prefer a laptop? No problem. Limited budget? The second-hand market awaits you with open arms. Options are abundant, and of course we celebrate that... but the magic is just not the same. Would you like to know what it was like? Then we have something special for you: A retro, homemade unboxing of a Compaq CDS... in 1995:

The Unboxing Video

The video was published by Gilbert Arciniega in May 2017, and in the description he explains that his brother decided to buy the system at one of the branches of the defunct Good Guys chain (acquired by CompUSA in 2006). He also states that his brother paid 250 dollars for the printer, and another 500 for the monitor, bringing the total to 3,000 dollars ($5,000 adjusted for inflation).

At first it's a bit tricky to identify, but thanks to a camera close-up we know that the computer in question is a Compaq CDS 972, with a Pentium processor running at 75 MHz and 8 megabytes of integrated RAM. Beyond Compaq's classic proprietary profile, the system could accept 128 megabytes of additional RAM (for a total of 136 MB) and Pentium chips with frequencies of 90 or 100 MHz.

The inclusion of an optical drive was also very important, and on the printer side, it's easy to recognize the classic Canon BJC-4000, from an era when the user didn't end up ripped off when buying cartridges. A table completely occupied, boxes everywhere, manuals and brochures, the women of the house playing Solitaire... not everyone has such distant memories on video, and we thank Gilbert for his decision to share it, especially for its retro-computing value.