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What computers have you owned?
This will show how old some of us are...
What computers / Laptops / Tablets have you owned over time? I'll start: My first computer was a 486 with only 4MB of RAM. Serial Ports, No USB's! I remember the day we got a sound card and then eventually a CD drive and then came a 56K Dial up modem! In order: Intel 486 33Mhz 4MB RAM, 170MB HDD, Windows 3.11, VGA Graphics, Floppy Drive! Pentium MMX 200Mhz, 128MB RAM, 1GB HDD (Good old 56K modem on Screaming.Net, and then NTL) (I think there was an AMD K6 machine somehwere at this point but I always had issues with it) Samsung Netbook (Not a great Spec'd machine but good for traveling aroundand browsing the web) My first home built machine: Pentium 4, 3.4Ghz 4GB RAM, WindowsXP, ATI Graphics Card, 500GB HDD Apple IMac 27" i7 Quad Core, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD (Loved the large screen on this) Asus Zenbook i7 Laptop 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD My current setup: I much prefer a laptop to desktops now. Apple Macbook Air M1 8 Core, 16GB RAM 500GB SSD Apple 9th Gen iPad As you can see I jumped ship to Apple. :) |
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Atari 400, 800, 800 XL 800 XE
Nothing then till 99 where I bought a Cyrix 233MX SS7 (clock speed actually 133mhz) 2.3GB HDD 32 MB ram onboard GFX. Upgraded CPU to an AMD K6 450mhz 64mb ram 4.4GB HDD and a 32mb Geforce MX 200 PCI as it did not have an AGP Built my first PC in 2000 AMD 1200XP iirc 128mb ram Geforce whatever was about then (checked the Geforce MX440 was 2002) AGP used old ide hdds. That then started my sell and build higher spec cycle that saw me own a hell of a lot of hardware. I Know I had XP chips 1800 2400 3000 all the way up to Barton core I had the first SKT 754 CPU had a SKT 939 . At some point I had a Intel D800 which overclocked like crazy not sure if I went back to AMD for any but I went Conroe E6 something then the old and great Q6600. I then do remember having the AMD 8350 as it had 8 cores and I just had too. I think next was the i7 2700K (system I kept until only a month ago) I think the 8350 might have come after that. Then I had the Ryzen 1700 and now I have the 9900K GPUs my goodness I have seen more than my share. Some include the old Nvidia FX5900 ATI 800 XT PE Radeon HD 7970 RX580 and now the RTX3060TI. I saw hordes of other cards in between Far to many laptops over the years to mention to be honest and I have had a couple of the tiny small form factor things the first one being the old Acer unit when they first started that was pants I would no be surprised if the total number of computers I have owned in the last 23 years totalled over 30 and the number gone through my hands over 500 |
Re: What computers have you owned?
Oh gosh, this could be fun … :D
Well, back in the day I started with a good old BBC model B. Christmas 1983 I think. 1992 brought me an Epson EL2, back in the day when we still troubled ourselves to say a machine was ‘IBM compatible’ … no Windows though. It was a 286 and I had some version or other of DOS on it, with a very basic GUI shell for launching applications. After university I joined the Windows 95 bandwagon and went to Escom where I bought a tower PC with (I think) an early Pentium processor. But that machine didn’t have a modem installed, so when it became highly desirable to have internets at home … I went to John Lewis in around 2001 and bought one of the ‘five colors’ iMacs, original wedge shape, in indigo. It had OS9 pre-installed but I upgraded it to OS X when that came out. I started out with NTL’s 3-2-1-0 phone package, with a second line dedicated to their free dial up internet, but eventually upgraded to 512k broadband with a shiny Terayon Terajet modem. :D That iMac lasted 5 or 6 years but eventually had its network card fried by a thunderstorm (the house RCD protected the electrical connection but there was a nasty power surge on the phone line that took out my broadband modem and Ethernet). Insurance paid for a brand new … Flat panel iMac, my first with an Intel CPU. White with a USB keyboard. Can’t remember any of the tech specs now. Five years or so later and my next iMac due to increasing amounts of software incompatibility. Around 10 years ago was, I think, probably around the worst time for Apple forcing obsolescence like this. My latest iMac is a 21.5” mid 2011 model, 2.7GHz Intel core i5. I upped the memory to 20GB and it still does almost everything I want it to; OS upgraded as far as Sierra (10.12.6) and won’t go any further so that will worsen with time. Still, it has lasted far longer than any Apple computer I’ve owned previously. In the meantime, I’ve also had an original iPad, an original iPad Air, and now a 4th generation iPad Air with Apple keyboard and pencil, and to be honest I do 90% of my work on it (I’m using it now). The only thing I regularly use the iMac for at the moment is an application called Worship Extreme Presenter, which creates slides for church containing hymns, Bible readings etc. There’s a request in to the developer to produce an iPad app which they’re considering. If they do that, then I will no longer have any present need for a full desktop computer at all. |
Re: What computers have you owned?
That is a long list Jaymoss.
Some classic hardware in there! What are you using now? Chris, I hear those old BBC's are worth a bit now. I actually remember using them with the truly floppy 5 1/2" floppies. Like you I've found my Mac's to go a long way. They hardly ever got slowed down and always performed well. |
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I built my first computer with my 11 year old son in 1991/2, we had messed around with a second hand Commodore 128 for a few months but I don't have much memory about using it as it spent most of its life in pieces on our diningroom table.
Trying to keep one step ahead of our son by reading Personal Computer World we went on to build several more until he decided he didn't need my help and at 13 he started to build and sell his creations to friends and family. Over the years he has updated and built new computers for me but my first shop bought laptop was/is a Samsung NP350V5C Core i7 using Windows 8. A heavy thing which wasn't good for carting about plus I was sure was dying. Although I replaced the battery, ditched Windows and my son tried his best to convince me it was OK I replaced it with an Acer Chromebook R13 CB5-312T - (MediaTek MT8173, 4GB RAM, 64GB ) which does everthing I want without have to deal with Windows. My old laptop is still working well and I use it to do any art/photo work. It's now a full Chromebook with ubuntu installed for when I want to wind up my son. :D PS. I am still a scardie cat when it comes to that horrible black screen thingy but I still find closing ones eyes and before pressing enter usually works. :D :D :D |
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Oh I do remember those computer magazines. I used to buy them and then go the shop pages at the back of the magazine and dream of what amazing Spec'd machine I could possibly build.
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Never regretted helping him, his love of computers has led him to a brilliant career which he loves. |
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First computer in the late 70's was an Ohio Scientific "Superboard II" 6502 CPU, cassette tape load and save. A whole 4K of RAM with an 8K ROM BASIC by some tin-pot outfit called Microsoft.:D
25MHz 386 SX with 1 meg of RAM, 40M HDD, VGA card running MSDOS 3.1. Upgraded with a co-processor. With an impact printer and monitor cost £2,000. Fastest machine available at the time. Cyrix 166 ('86 compatible) 4 megs RAM, 250M HDD, VGA. MSDOS 5.1 and Windows 3.1 Home build with an AMD CPU, running W95, later upgraded to W98. Current desktop AMD Athlon 2.1GHz, 4 gigs RAM, FX5200 graphics, 128G SSD for main system and apps. 500G HDD data store and seedbox. 2T HDD for HD films etc. OS is XP SP3 I have a SONY VAIO laptop which has unfortunately died. Current laptop is an HP Probook 450 with an SSD. Intel Core i3 CPU. 1080 screen. Nice well built machine with a metal chassis and long battery life. Running W7 with classic shell. |
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Started on Atari, ZX81, Specky (48k & 128k), C64, Amiga(s). Then a 486, then a few decent up to date PCs after that. On about the 4th iPad. Gone through 2-3 laptops (still got and working but never use).
Keep meaning to update my current PC but nothing warrants it yet. The GTX1080 still ploughs through the latest games (and VR) when it comes to it. |
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Long before my first BBC (in 1982) I had an Apple II (in mid 1979).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II |
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IBM XT Clone in 84 really can't remember the specs I do remember adding a 2nd floppy drive to go with the 5.25
Atari ST Packard Bell in 1997 so from memory Pentium 200 cant remember much of that either. Siemens Pentium 4 with HT (3.2ghz) done a lot of upgrades on that after that mainly home built computers ever since add a few laptops obtained through work. currently an AMD R7 3800, 32gb ram, an starting to show its age AMD RX580, 2x M2's 1 gaming 1 os, 2x ssd's and 1 of my longest lasting HDD's (more than 5 years old now :O) |
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A compaq something 166mhz pentium 1.5GB hard drive, 16 MB RAM. Upgraded to 24 at some point! Windows 95.
A computer shop built AMD Duron 650 mhz, upgraded to 1.1 GHz at some point as it maxxed out the board. I had a couple of Dell laptops, maybe 1.8Ghz centrino at one point. I don’t really remember. I got into the OSX86 thing when Apple moved to Intel I’d a self build Core 2 Duo running Lion/Mountain Lion. It’s in the loft somewhere with a Core 2 Quad that maxxed out the board. I had a Dell Mini 9 at this point because it ran a version of OS X easily installing from an online VMWare image. This was good for fixing problems in drivers/patches for the above Hackintosh. Intel 2014 MacBook Pro. Intel Mac Mini 2018. M1 MacBook Pro. |
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Played about with BBC model B's
Owned a Vic 20 Apple II Gawd knows how many since. Built half of them. Looking after about 12 now (and I'm a Chiropractor, not an IT tech) |
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Sinclair ZX80 and 81 both in kit form
Vic 20 C64 TI-99/4A Electron Amstrad 464 BBC Micro model B Atari STFM Amiga 1200 IBM 286 IBM 386 IBM 486 Apple Macbook Pro (still have it) Then various Pc's right up to now Processor AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16-Core Processor Video Card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Operating System Windows 11 RAM 32 GB Never had a consol |
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Commodore 64, Tatume Eistone ,Pemtiuem and a I7
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I started on a TI99/4a and didnt know much of basic,etc......... Then I got a Commodore64 and I really liked it... Learned basic quite well........ Then the family got Win98se and I started using it alot,it was in my parents room..... Then they got an XP and I got the 98se one in my room here and I love her so much!! Win98s to me is the best Win OS ever released :) |
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I didn't own a computer until the early 2000's when I commissioned a AMD64 bit PC, now I have a Pentium i7-720 with 18GB RAM (2 banks of 3), 1030GT graphics and 2x1TB spinning rust - as prices drop I may get a new build aiming for best bang for buck type design that will also last 10 years or so.
One of the early machines I cut my teeth on was the Altair 8800. My dad would also sometimes bring machines home from work (ICL) that I learnt various BASIC's and O/S's on. |
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Seriously degraded capacitors can explode so I have no plans to plug mine in again, unless I happen to find myself at a convention of some kind where it could be done under controlled conditions (this is unlikely). My BBC shipped without the optional Acorn DFS but as games got more ambitious and disk-only add-ons became a thing, I pestered the parents and got a 5 1/2” floppy drive with a self-install DFS circuit board from Watford Electronics for Christmas, in around 1986 IIRC. Watford was one of the regular multi-page advertisers in all the main magazines at the time. I got Repton 3 for Christmas that year and having the disk drive made the game editor add-on a breeze. I also got my hands on a ripped-off copy of Elite (disc version) which had lots more going on than the BBC tape version. The Watford Electronics 5 1/2” floppy drive was cheap and we got what we paid for …. It worked well 90% of the time but if you used it too intensively something inside would jam and knock rapidly against the outer metal casing in a very alarming manner :D |
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I bought an external hard drive for my BBC Master [ also from Watford Electronics ].
It cost me £478 (in 1992), and was a whopping 30MB :D Three years later I bought a 250MB drive for a mere £230. My first Intel based PC was in 1996, a Pentium from Tiny Computers (£830). |
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Another Acorn/BBC user!
Electron/BBC B then Master 128 and finally the Stongarm. Early days showing my 2daughters the ins/out of basic programming, later my kids passin on their knowledge to the teaching staff pre the PC era. Must have been a good teacher -youngest daughter level 3 support. Couple of home build PC with low spec (now) components. Currently awaiting funds for a decent I7 desktop. |
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Let's see...initially, when the ZX-81 came out, I thought computers were just a fad. A year later they were anything but. Oops.
My very first was a VIC-20; I occasionally wrote in 6502 Assembler. It taught me valuable lessons on keyboards, the VIC's was excellent. Then came the Sharp MZ-700 as part of a course I was doing. I got Hisoft's DEVPAC and discovered the joys of Z80 Assembler. I wrote a routine to bypass load & run, so I could back up games etc. I also wrote an alarm clock program in lieu of an actual alarm clock - very effective. Then...the Atari 520STFM. Programming in GFA BASIC and 68000 Assembler, a pure joy. I still have a 4MB version. In 1998 I bought a 486 computer, quite primitive. Later I built a better one. Then a better one still. I got a laptop running XP, 2 more running Vista, and now I have one running Windows 8.1 - yeah, yeah, but I like it. |
Computers are fun arent they???
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Ooft some I can't remember the exact details off but first thing we owned was a
Toshiba MSX when my dad did an OU course. Commodore 64 Amstrad CPC464+ An old 386 with one of those basic orange monitors, ran wordstsr and not much else AST 486 from my dad's work when they upgraded. Played Doom and Quake 1 on it. Some AMD Athlon thing from PC World in late 90s, it had Win 98, with I upgraded to Win Me, eek Then in 2002 I built my first PC don't even remember the specs, but it had a Radeon GPU as I got HL2 free with it. Then a Dell XPS 15 machine around 2007 I think. Then in 2012 I bought a Macbook Pro 15', last one with a DVD drive. Upgraded the RAM to 8GB and changed SATA to SSD and its still going strong. I plan on building a new rig though in late January with a 12th gen i5 12600K, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB M.2 NVME and a geforce RTX 3070. Should get me back into PC gaming nicely. |
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My biggest bugbear with builds today is finding a case that can incorporate optical drive and internal memory card reader. Desk space is a premium so don't want external versions of these. It may be small issues but the rest of the bits are all pretty swappable.
I'd like a machine with multiple discs, one for Windoze, one for Linux and maybe a couple for data, the latter maybe RAID somehow. Partitions for photo's and music would be NTFS or equivalent to share between Linux and Windows unless I can get Windows to read/write Linux partitions. (Always need to be careful as File.txt and file.txt are different in Linux but gets Windoze confused as does author:title.txt) |
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Current case is CoolerMaster HAF 922. Nice big case, lots of space inside (mostly full of fluff after a bit of use), big fans and space for lots of discs. My feeling is more, smaller discs rather than fewer, bigger.
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I was there at the birth I had the following, I'm not sure of the order of the very early stuff.
ZX81 (we had 2) TRS-80 (it died within a week) Video Genie Atari 400 Atari 800 Atari 130XE Atari 520ST Atari 1040ST Then we started PC path 286 386 486 Pentuim 4 (IIRC) Then I went down the laptop route Toshiba Compaq Sony VIAO (My current System) I still use my Samsung NC-10 for travel |
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The 1st ones I owned were a ZX Spectrum +2, ZX Spectrum +3(with 3" floppy).
Followed by my 1st PC in 1989, a 386DX2-66. I spent £1,000 just on the 330Mb HDD. Prior to that I had used various computers at school, University and work. Recently semi-retired a 4th gen i7 self-built system from 2013, which amazingly still works. Currently using a 12th Gen i9-12900K, RoG Maximus z690 Hero, RTX3060Ti self-built system. ---------- Post added at 11:29 ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 ---------- Quote:
A general tip(not just for computers) is to check out the manufacturers website for pdf manuals. You then then check whatever item can do what you want it to do. |
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I always multiboot off separate discs but each set as primary when installed so each has its own loader. I then set the main OS as primary and just use boot select to switch drives. The corsair cases I mentioned are traditional cases with decent storage options. There is plenty of choice in the cheap pressed steel cases also with the old traditional set up. I really do not like all the flashy RGB cases on the market today and I also hate glass side panels that reflect the screen and distract me |
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The first Computer I had access to was an Acorn Electron when my parents surprised me and my sister after school when they set it up on the kitchen table and that's when my gaming properly started as I was blown away.
Then I bought myself or built the following. Amiga 500 as it was the better choice over the Atari ST for gaming. Amiga 1200 and added my first ever HDD to it. Then got a second hand 386 PC and eventually upgraded it to a 486DX4 100 so I could be mind blown by DOOM 2. Then it went something like this. Built a new Celeron PC and I believe this is the point I discovered online gaming and the internet with Quake 2. Upgraded CPU to Pentium 3 New build using Athlon 64 3200 Intel Dell laptop not used for gaming. Saw the light and stopped gaming on PC and moved to Consoles solely for gaming and haven't looked back. Still built PCs but not used for gaming so have had a few with i3 processors which is my current and fine for normal computer use, although using a Tab 7 has pretty much replaced that now. Consoles owned Playstation 1 Xbox Xbox 360 Xbox One (big regret) Saw the light again and moved to Playstation 4 Playstation 5. |
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OpenSuse used to let you install GRUB on a different disc to the O/S so I had disc 1 setup with Windoze booting and disc 2 with GRUB but both O/S's on disc 1 and data on disc 2.
GRUB can boot both Linux and Windows, my normal booting but when Windows wants to do updates it also wants to reboot multiple times so I can switch to that loader when needed. Now it forces GRUB to same disc as the O/S which is a pain so I'd want separate discs for each O/S type, GRUB should still load Windows and Linux. I don't want a flashy case either but since it lives under the desk it's looks are less problematic. The lights in mine are a feint red behind front fans, normally switched off. My issue with the case is it blows cool air into the desk and chills my lap. |
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I had it's brother the N310 Was alright as an Internet browser but I eventually found it way too slow. Those atom processors were not the fastest of CPUs. |
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