What computers have you owned?

[Halcyon]

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.

[Jaymoss]

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

Oh gosh, this could be fun …

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.

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.

[Halcyon]

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.

[Jaymoss]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

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.

i9 9900K 32GB Ram RTX 3060 TI 3x M.2 SSD 3x 4TB Sata SSD 1x 2TB Sata SSD. Can not justify an upgrade even though a 12 series i5 matches the 9900K which upsets me haha

[joglynne]

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.

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.

[Halcyon]

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.

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

Oh I do reember 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.

I admit I shamelessly hid mine so that our son actually believed I was this awesom mum who understood evrything about computers.

Never regretted helping him, his love of computers has led him to a brilliant career which he loves.

[heero_yuy]

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.

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.

[peanut]

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.

Long before my first BBC (in 1982) I had an Apple II (in mid 1979).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II

[DocDutch]

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)

[jfman]

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.

[Ramrod]

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)

[Sirius]

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