Swan Computers in the 1980's

[rpenc]

Swan was considered a very high quality American PC maker in the early 90's. I bought a Swan 386sx/20 laptop in 1992 but was sad to learn it was made in Korea. It was, however, a reliable machine for the next 5 years.

Swan had a stellar reputation during the earlier days of mail-order PC's (c. late 80's early 90's).

I decided against Swan and bought a Northgate. A 486-DX50. Northgate was a higher quality brand back then. Until I plugged in the Teco monitor they decided to substitute for my Panasonic. We heard a loud snap at the dinner table. What was that? My Teco blew up. So much for my pro-Northgate feelings. The Teco went back (at their expense) and they Fed Ex'd a new Panasonic the very next day.

 

[Tech198]

This was the Swan computer that came to my mind when I saw the title...

i can't believe u'd actually look at a PCB board and solder.. by hand and expect it to work always

 

[tateofpa]

Does anyone recall this mail order company?

I bought my first mail order PC from them based on an ad in the old 2" thick Computer Shopper catalog.

I bought the turbo xt model complete with the turbo button to really kick it into high gear!

Did Swan morph into any worthwhile company?

In fact, I still have it!

I use to work in the tech support of Swan and Taylor was my boss a group of us ended up @ NEC in Mass. when they bought them out. Love working @ Swan had a blast, not so much for NEC, did a year and then came back to PA.

 

[nullport]

I use to work in the tech support of Swan and Taylor was my boss a group of us ended up @ NEC in Mass. when they bought them out. Love working @ Swan had a blast, not so much for NEC, did a year and then came back to PA.

[doublepost=1549609550][/doublepost]I was also there at the end. I was one of those that didn't go to NEC/Packard Bell.

 

[mostly.water]

[doublepost=1549609550][/doublepost]I was also there at the end. I was one of those that didn't go to NEC/Packard Bell.

I worked there right up through the auction. It was surreal, wrapping pallets of equipment and parts, and taking them to the docks for the winning bidders. Afterward we threw a packing tape football around the huge, empty space. I had only been there a year, but I had hoped to make my way from the production line up to R&D eventually. It wasn't meant to be, unfortunately.

 

[Ctrl+Alt+Del]

I worked there up to about '93 or '94 on Research Drive, Cato Park. Excellent group of people, throughout. We treated the customers well (tech support, sales, everyone), and the customers appreciated the quality and service we provided. I bought a 486 VESA-Bus PC under our "employee discount" - it was still over $3,000 !!! When stuff started moving to Massachusetts, I wanted to stay in the State College area, and was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to move to Raytheon, right up the road in Science Park.

 

[GDRobins]

I had a swan PC, I can't remember if it was an XT or a 386-25. It came with a lifetime warrenty. ;-)

 

[Sdvaden]

I use to work in the tech support of Swan and Taylor was my boss a group of us ended up @ NEC in Mass. when they bought them out. Love working @ Swan had a blast, not so much for NEC, did a year and then came back to PA.

I was sitting here talking to my wife and watching an interview with Bill Gates on TV. I was thinking about some disks back in the 80s that had SWAN on them. Was trying to research them. Finally ran across this forum. Wow, nostalgia city.
My first computer was a Tandy Radio Shack TRS—80, 16k Color Computer. Cassette recorder for storage. Had to connect it to a TV for a monitor. I think it was about 1982 or 83. It’s been awhile. Later moved up to a Commodore 64, Commodore 64+, Commodore 128 and eventually an XT. Seems to me, it used a DOS labeled as SWAN. Eventually bought MS-DOS. Moved up the MS world through Intel 286, 386, 486, Windows, NT, 95…
As of two years ago I switched over to Apple M1 iMac, MacBook Pro, 6th Gen 12.9 iPad Pro. and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
It’s been a long journey, but a fun trip down memory lane.