$4,000 Laptop From 1997: Unboxing a NEW IBM ThinkPad 380ED! 

I just want to say thank you to the person that sent this in so that those of us that watch LGR could all enjoy.

Laptop: *wakes from long slumber and realizes its 2021, that all of it's factory brethren are probably long gone by now*

That guy kept this sealed on his shelf for 24 years and decided to send it to a youtuber to unbox. Bruh, what a legend!

New old stock is definitely my fetish Something about seeing old products completely fresh and untouched is just magical

I think Clint can easily identify computers, what brand of computer, the year they were made simply by smelling the computers themselves. A true computer Connoisseur.

I love how he's treating the laptop and everything with it with incredible respect, like a museum curator. His enthusiasm is obvious and really endearing.

Man I could only dream of having a beast like this back in '97, capable of playing doom on a portable device. Now that I have a tablet that can easily do it, I just use it to watch videos of people playing Doom on '97 hardware...

It´s crazy to think that the last time this box was opened was back in 1997 before it got sealed just to be opened in 2021 ! The box literally traveled in time !

"An acrid, rubbery, pepper note that hits the back of your throat, hinting at what pleasure it could have been had it not suffered the deterioration....A 97 I think...." - Clint, sampling the rare IBM Thinkpad 380ED.

1:56 Subtitles: "Version 1.666. [chuckles in evil]" Brilliant.

Dude. I was working at Geek Squad about eight years ago and a guy brought one of these in asking if we could fix it. Got to say that was one of the best days on the job. Amazingly, it still worked for the most part. He had been using this thing since it was new. I would love to find a non-functioning one of these just for the case though. Switch out the screen and put new parts in it. Make a gaming machine out of it and stun people when I take it out on a long train ride. XD

In 1997, playing realistic video on a PC was still fairly new and would have seemed really cool to a lot of new users when starting this thing up.

The way Clint talks about the box before he even opens it is relationship goals

Hey clint, I just want to give a quick shoutout for your subtitles. They are entertaining, yes, but they also make it possible for hearing impaired people to enjoy your fantastic videos. I don‘t think you get enough credit for it!

What's interesting about this video is it shows how insanely fast tech was changing at the time. The 90s was the era that consumer dollars hit the computer realm, and you can see that in what just two years did to the performance. It wouldn't be until about 2004 or so that the sheer variety of tech began to standardize. And even then, not until about 2010 before the rate of improvement finally slowed down.

Having been a PC gamer since the late 80's and an IT pro since 1997, this was very cool to see. Love it. Takes me back to a simpler time where everything was more exciting and magical in the IT world. So many types of OEMs to choose from, so many IT super stores to go to and the unbelievable exuberance of the emerging "information age." I rolled many of these (and many other) laptops out back in the day. Bravo a time capsule indeed. :)

I love how that intro video is focused entirely on preventing buyer's remorse!

The black rubber gloves, red cloth and subdued blue lighting give this a whole early 90s Adult Film vibe 😆

Just in the first 6 minutes, I appreciate your attention to the donors wishes; you cut around the stickers that you could. Awesome stuff, Clint. Matt definitely picked the right channel to send this piece of history to for an unboxing.

I love 1997. The best year of my life. Life actually felt good in that time. No heavy technology and no social media and net, it felt so chill and carefree back then!

This was way more sensual than I expected

I almost forgot how many ads where crammed into PC boxes. I remember my parents saving all that paper work "Just in case they needed it" They never did.

The ThinkPad 380ED was the first computer that was in my house when I was just a child and it was the one that made me understand that computing was my thing, I squeezed it so much that I managed to make it work until Windows XP and after working so much one day It did not turn on again but I still have it saved as a souvenir.

You know you made it when a fan trusts you enough to lend you something amazing like this to do the first unboxing so the internet can see.

Playing DOOM with black gloves is the next level of playing DOOM

Forget imaging the disc, I want a rip of that promo video. Nothing says nineties like cartwheeling in your business suit against cool rock music

Very cool! My father's boss also had a ThinkPad in 1997 (I was 9), while the accountants had to be satisfied with ancient terminals and DOS. My father was a delivery driver for frozen food and the drivers were still working completely without computers at that time. One day on Saturday I was helping my dad with the inventory of his truck and we entered the company early in the morning and I heard the distinct sound of Doom coming from the boss's office. I shouted "Hey dad, your boss is playing on his computer!" and all I heard was the boss shouting through the closed door...... "No, I'm not!" 🤣I caught him, about entering inventory lists into the software and sending them to the head office, of course! 🤣Later, after the inventory, I played doom with the boss and showed him a few tricks and he gave me ice cream in return (it just so happened that there was a "damaged box" of ice cream sandwiches that had to be written off during the inventory), my father was amazed and didn't know that I was always playing on the neighbor's kid's computer 🤣Good old times!!

I think I had this exact model when I was growing up. My uncle gave it to me after his work upgraded him, and I loved it so much. It couldn't really run anything apart from some old flight simulators and Diablo, as well as the demo for Delta Force which I played to death. By the time I reached high school, I primarily used it to make all sorts of non-RPGs in RPG Maker 2K3 and sold them for a bit of extra cash. The hardware always seemed to be faulty and my uncle replaced the motherboard twice, but I loved it up until it stopped working a third time and I finally got a proper, up-to-date desktop.

"Don't use your laptop inside a volcano, don't throw it off the cliff." User guide was not totally boring it seems.

The Internet is full of epic moments, and I consider this to be one of them.

13:01 "it doesn't smell as good as it would've completely brand new" - the kind of minutiae for which I love this channel.

Watching this thing install Doom is like inventing a time machine and going to the past to watch your grandparents learn to walk. So cute!

i love how Clint gushes over old tech, im so glad someone in this world has so much love for old computers

This takes me back! That was my FIRST laptop, I bought it on ebay in 1999 for $350. I had no idea it was originally $4000!

This was my first laptop model! Used to play AOE on the school bus, with it, circa 2003/2004.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane! I really hate how much the world has changed. I'll keep building and living in my bubble from yesteryear

Somebody needs to make a scented candle with a late-90's computer smell.

The fact that Canyon.mid was ready to go means it was fate that this computer would sit waiting in its box since 1997 just for LGR to unbox it in 2021.

I love these new old stock unboxing. Thanks for sharing.

You really show respect for the items people entrust to you. I am sure thats why they send them in. Thanks for the review.

Thanks to the patreon for letting us all experience this together. Seriously! I also wonder if any IBM employees watch this, and what they think!

This thing had been sitting in that box since I was 20 and I’m now 43. I miss 1997.

Thank you Matt, for sharing such an amazing experience!

Oh man, that demo video gave me chills. I love the little promotional easter eggs that would come on computers prior to the early 2000s. The last time I saw a great promo video was actually from a 2004 AsRock motherboard. The motherboard utility disk came with a promo video that included a tour of the AsRock offices, and a was hosted by a woman in a silver outfit that looked like something from Space Channel 5.

I love how clint handles that thing and respects the wishes of the owner. THATS how you do it 😁👍👍👍

20:00, lmao! “Hhmm, Y2K compatibility.” 😏 I was 11 years old when people freaked out about Y2K and still remember it like it was yesterday.

I love how we've been using the same software for 30 years but just polished over time. They got it right back in 95.

Found your channel thru this video and I ain't leaving without subscribing. Your enthusiasm plus the feel-good BGM are immaculate!

"Uploaded 10 Minutes ago". Well... time to call it a week, get home and watch some LGR (it's 4:30pm where I live). Have a nice weekend, everyone!

And if you want to be sent a fresh vintage laptop for free (limited trial), all you have to do is produce computer related content about two times a week for ten years, learn extensive computing history, have an atomic personality, and leave offerings to a sacrificial stone.

Lol it's amazing to see how modern thinkpads have an eerily similar keyboard design.

1:57 [chuckles in evil] I just love your subtitles xD, keep the good work

13:05 Clint has such a way with describing the odors of vintage electronics

"Hey Flerbnerb, what time is it?" That got me laughing pretty good. Thank you, I needed that.

I had an early IBM Thinkpad 486 laptop in the 90s. It cost $8500 with all options. It was a great computer!

Now this was an amazing video seeing this old school ThinkPad still working and pretty much brand new and still in it's original box.

this win95 startup sound, i'm melted on my chair! oh god it's so good feeling!!!

Clint huffing the ports and providing tasting notes is my favourite thing ever lmao

Thank you for sharing such a joyful session. It kept me genuinely entertained, and some parts even excited. My boss sends you a message: "thank you for making this guy waste nearly an hour of his shift". It told him not a single second was a waste of time lol

My dad has used ThinkPads for work for as long as I can remember. They upgrade his machine through a program every few years or so and they are some of the first computers I've ever remembered or seen. Even now, they are still some of the coolest laptops I've ever seen, and they have such a cool and unique history both for notebook computers and for IBM.

33:24 the bluescreen cracked me up, ah good ol´ windows 95 :D

Not gonna lie, Clint's absolute joy at seeing, opening, and using these amazing things is just pure loveliness. It reminds me of the joy I get when I see something I really like. So, so good.

My dad worked for IBM for 25 or 30 years. We had a bunch of these. I'd always get his hand me down when they issued him the newest version.

im so glad i found your channel brother! keep up the goodwork!

Watching this on my modern work-issued Thinkpad, and I'm fighting the urge to say to it: "look, it's your grandpa!" XD

I bet with how much he cared for things in the box of this laptop that Clint will return it in excellent condition, the guy is just that kind of guy...caring and considerate.

My very first computer that I ever bought for myself was in May of 1997. It was an IBM aptiva the one with the fancy MMX as well as Windows 95 of course I recall sending away for the name plate that was mentioned in this video and I had it on the front case of that aptiva which must have weighed in excess of 30 lb! Wonderful memories reviewing all the form factor and stylistic choices that were inherent to that magical time of marketing and advertising for IBM home PCs!

Just realised my work laptop is a Lenovo thinkpad, which is actually pretty decent! This is it’s distant great grandfather 😂 I used to love my first laptop which ran on XP…and before that I had a desktop 95, great times🙌🏽

I love the dramatic contrast between your almost reverent level of respect for old hardware, and then naming your voice assistant "Flerbnerb".

18:55 "I swear I am not TRYING to sound dirty with this, it just happens!" I get that, I get that. This is the ultimatest computer porn if there ever was. 20:02 "Hey Flurbnerb, what time is it?" I thought for a second you had a strangely exotic wife speaking from another room...

I love how all these old stuff comes with a lot of boxes and paperworks, feels like really buying something, not like new stuff and pc components where they come with less to nothing of that

such a beautiful time-capsule!

Can’t be the only one smiling during the first boot. Such a nice feeling.

"Only one ED and that was a long time ago." Glad to hear things are looking up for you.

I opened this video on tab at the day you posted it, but watched this only now. a year and 3 months later.

Awesome video! Loved this old new stock! Props to the person who sent it in too!!

12:47 Clint smelling hardware always makes my day :')

25:04 The electric guitar cracked me up 🤣 HOT SOUND 🎸🎸😩

I worked for IBM in the early 90s when the first ThinkPad models were just being introduced to the market. It was instant love at first sight and I still have my 760XL running OPENSTEP 4.2 for Mach working flawlessly to this day.

Wow nearly 1 MILLION people have been witness to this unboxing. That's pretty incredible. Thanks for sharing the experience LGR.

I remember my mom bringing home her boss's laptop in 96 and letting me play "mouse pointer-ghost trails" fuzzy solitaire lol

this may be the most gentle unboxing i have ever witnessed on youtube

Thank you Matt and Clint!

I love even though it's new, in package: Everything gets wiped off, it's so clean even a little dust shows. xD

I love how "hot sound" was considered a good thing in 1997.

36:36 "Everything will be gone. This place will be forgotten." "Not by me it won't." Perfect, definitely chuckled.

WOW that's awesome! bringing those old timers back to life. Thanks for the video

the excitement you get when powering it on and when the video plays .

“Geek hand juice” - I learned something new today!

"I am not TRYING to sound dirty" Later: "The volume knobs are touching, OoOOo"

Brilliant and how exciting this must be for you to do this for a living. I'd LOVE to have a channel like yours and to be able to experiment and play around with retro tech all the time. Never stop doing what you're doing, I love your work and material. I'm going to keep an eye out for something that you might find useful.

One of my favourite RU-vid channels. Thanks LGR

The @12:49 big whiff. Its wild smelling old tech. Hits kinda weird.

I miss 90's design aesthetics. They were so fun and flashy while today's design interfaces are so minimalistic and boring

Excellent video! Thanks for nostalgic memory trip... (Thanks for subtitles by the way!)

We had one of these as an ex government lease laptop, it was still chugging away in 2016. Such a great design. Love the vid!

That was amazing, Clint. It's a real treat to see a completely pristine machine that works right out of the box after 24 years! Thank you to the lender who allowed Clint to share this with the world!

"Hey Flerpnerp, what time is it?" killed me lol

So nostalgic, remeber those years very well!

I love IBM ThinkPads, awesome review.