A suitcase-style turntable with RGB lighting, a feature phone with no social media, and a laptop for €499. Those are the first products from a brand Acer let lapse thirteen years ago: Packard Bell, back for its 100th anniversary.
Acer made the announcement at its press conference at IFA in Berlin, the last item of a show that also covered a 1,000Hz gaming monitor and a repairable laptop.
A hundred years of Packard Bell
Léon Packard and Herbert Bell founded the company in Los Angeles in 1926 to make radios. It moved on to colour televisions and then to PCs, and through the 1990s it became one of the leading household computer brands in Europe, strongest in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Acer bought it in 2008 and had wound it down by 2013.
The revival leaves the old PC business behind. Acer is positioning Packard Bell as a European lifestyle technology brand built on accessibility, affordable prices and bold colours: orange, purple, green, yellow and cyan. It has a new constellation logo with the letters P and B hidden inside, and the slogan “Tech it easy.” Valérie Piau, Acer’s marketing vice president for EMEA, presented the relaunch. “People need technology that helps them study, work, and stay in touch, all at a fair price,” she said.
The first four products
Every product name starts with “Dot.”
The DotBook is a 14.5-inch laptop for browsing, streaming and everyday work. It goes on sale in EMEA in November 2026 from €499, about $578.
The DotLoop is the standout: a vinyl turntable in a 1970s-style suitcase, with built-in speakers, RGB lighting, Bluetooth 5 and voice control. It is due in EMEA in September from €149.
The DotTune is a portable Bluetooth speaker that comes in several bright colours. From €34.99, it is also due in September.
The DotLine is a 4G feature phone with a 2.8-inch screen, a 2MP camera and roughly two weeks of battery life, sold in four colours.
