The PB286LP was the first laptop of Packard Bell, a defunct trademark of Teledyne Technologies revived as a computer manufacturer by Beny Alagem, Alex Sandel and Jason Barzilay in 1986.

Packard Bell allowed users to enable a battery-conservation feature that turns off the laptop's LCD and spins down the hard disk drive after several minutes without use.

[2] Reviewers of the PB286LP frequently noted its heft;[17] Bruce Brown of PC Magazine called it "on the high side" for a clamshell laptop in its processor class but wrote that its long battery life warranted it.

He found it a strong contender for a 286 laptop and called its LCD "exceptionally clear" and "terrific for text", albeit with occasional flickering in graphical modes.

[19] He found the quality of Packard Bell's support line unreliable, on the other hand, with him and his editors at PC World unable to so much as leave a message in their computerized answering machine.

[21] In Personal Computing, reviewer Christopher O'Malley wrote that, in stark contrast with Packard Bell's other offerings, the PB286LP was "fast and fashionable", performing as well as or even better than its contemporaries in its processor class, such as Toshiba's T1600 or Compaq's SLT/286.

O'Malley discovered that its battery could last up to approximately four hours in an average use case scenario and rated the machine overall an "exceptionally good buy" when considering that its street price of around US$2,500 was $1,000 less than comparable laptops.

[22] In conclusion, however, he wrote that, "as it is, the Packard Bell offers an impressive mix of price and performance", and while not "the state-of-the-art machine that the SLT/286 and ProSpeed 286 are", "it may be the best full-featured 286 laptop you'll find for less than $3,000".