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Taiwanese tech giant Acer kicked off its IFA business with a raft of new product releases, but the most intriguing announcement of the day has to be its revival of the venerable Packard Bell brand.
Packard Bell was everywhere in the days of the early tech industry of the 1990s and 2000s, its laptops and desktop PCs a staple in shops like Dixons (remember them?) on the pages of consumer PC magazines. But in recent years the names has slowly faded into obscurity.
Now Packard Bell is back with the help of Acer, but not – if you remember it at all – as you knew it. Instead of serious, beige boxes, the new range of Packard Bell products are simple, colourful and cheap.
Leading the lineup is the Packard Bell DotBook, a compact laptop with a 16:10 14.5in IPS display. The specifications aren’t anything to write home about. It comes with an slow Intel N150 CPU, up to 512GB of SSD storage and batter life is only quoted at seven hours. But it’s reasonably light at 1.3kg, it’s brightly coloured and the price is low at a mere 499 Euros.
Eclectically, the next product on the list is the DotLoop, a suitcase-style 1970s themed vinyl turntable that comes with built-in speakers, RGB lighting and Bluetooth 5 connectivity so you can also use it as a wireless speaker. It retails at 149 Euro and is set for release in October 2026. Or if you don’t want or need the vinyl capabilities there’s the DotTune, a portable Bluetooth speaker, available in a range of colours for just 39 Euros and out in September.
The DotLine applies the Packard Bell brand’s simple theme to the phone. Not a smartphone, mind you, but a dumb, bar phone aimed at those desperate to escape the doomscroll. Available in purple, orange, yellow and (my favourite) cyan, this phone has only 4G connectivity and a teeny 2.8in IPS display and a weedy looking 2MP camera. The bonus with not being able to run all of your hundreds of social media apps, though, is that battery life is rated at an impressive two weeks and the price is a mere 69 Euros.
No tech line up would be complete in 2026 without that most controversial of all products: smart glasses. However, with Packard Bell’s DotLook, you should be able to get away with wearing them in public without too much comeback as they don’t have any cameras built in. Described as “Smart Audio Glasses”, these are designed to connect to your smartphone and let you listen to your music and podcasts, and answer calls without having to plug headphones into your ears.
The DotLook cost 99 Euros, provide up to ten hours of battery life and are available in the same range colours as the DotLine – cyan, purple, yellow and orange. And you can buy them as either sunglasses with polarised lenses or clear anti-glare clear lenses installed.
There’s also a wireless keyboard and mouse set – the DotCombo – for 39 Euros, the DotBass, a pair of over-ear Bluetooth headphones for 29 Euros and a 10in ring light for budding content creators: the DotShine (40 Euros).
And rounding off the range is, bizarrely, a product called the Steasy, a portable mini-steamer, designed to warm up your food at lunch. I’m not sure where this fits into the theme of bright, simple, cheap tech, especially as it costs 199 Euros, though.
In truth none of this looks like revolutionary stuff, but it’s not meant to be. It’s meant for those on a budget with simple needs and it seems to hit that brief. If it tickles your fancy, the new Packard Bell range will be available throughout September and October 2026.
