# Your computers
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [October 6, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783 "2011-10-06T14:20:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/1 "2011-10-06T14:20:40Z")
The death of Steve Jobs has me browsing articles on old computers.
Technically my very first computer was a [Timex Sinclair 1000](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timex_Sinclair_1000). I say ‘technically’ because it was the first computer I bought. But I never used it. It didn’t come with any software, and all I could do was write a bit of BASIC code. I never did get any peripherals, and I think I only hooked it up once or twice.
The next one was an [Atari 520ST](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_520ST). I chose it over the Commodore Amiga because (as I recall) it had better graphics and was slightly faster. I was a ‘kid’, and had visions of doing some totally awesome computer graphics. Not so much. I played with a Mandelbrot program and made some really cool fractal images, but it took forever to render them. I played _The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy_ on it; ironically enough, since that was a text game. It turned out that I used it mostly for word processing.
It was probably 1997 before I got a computer I could ‘use’. I had it built at a computer show in L.A., and it had a 133 Mhz processor. And dial-up Internet. There was a 166 Mhz laptop, which I still have, and which still works. I had to upgrade to Windows 98 when Windows 95 wouldn’t let me check my email online. (I only used it when traveling.) In 2001 I got a Gateway computer and used it until 2006. _Blood_, three or four _Tomb Raider_ games, _Red Baron_, _Redneck Rampage_… Good times.
Then I got my PowerBook G4. And I’m on it now. I no longer play games, except for the occasional web-based time-wasting ones. I’ve done video editing on it, but the studio is no more so now I don’t. With a full-time job and other things going on, I don’t have the time to play with it. (Anyway, it’s pretty slow. Not as bad as drawing pictures on the old Atari, but compared to the quad-core G5 at the studio… 😉 ) This computer is used for surfing. If I’m awake, the computer is awake. Roomie makes fun of me because I’m always looking things up – anything that strikes my fancy at any given moment. Like looking at old computers after being prompted by current events. And I use it for work. In less than an hour I’ll log onto my PC 110 miles away, and start chugging away. Eventually I’ll get a MacBook Pro, or whatever comes after. But that will have to wait until this computer dies, or else I get back into video.
There’s one other computer here: a 2001 Apple iMac G3 Indigo with a 450 Mhz PowerPC processor. I picked it up after the PowerBook because I liked the PowerBook so much. I’ve upgraded the OS to Tiger 10.3.something (as far as I could go with it), and put in a wireless card. It’s my ‘guest’ computer – or was, until roomie moved in, and I use it when the PowerBook is in the shop – twice so far, for new keyboards. It’s hard to believe the iMac was the ‘latest and greatest’ just ten years ago. Ten years. Wow.
Oh, there’s one more computer here. My employer gave me my old desktop PC when they replaced it with a new one. It’s not hooked up. There’s one program on it that I need, and I’m glad to have it here. But the program is on my work computer, so I have no need to use the PC. I have it for emergencies.
Compared to many (most?) people, I haven’t had many computers. The first two were mistakes. I would have done better with a Commodore 64, Amiga, or even a TRS-80. The others have been adequate for their times or better, but I’ve never been much of a gamer. In the '90s I was flying regularly, and that’s better than any video game. In the first half of the 2000s I was struggling and couldn’t afford, nor had a need for, a new computer. I tend to use things until they wear out, or else use them until they are no longer useful. There are no Joneses to keep up with. So I’m still using my PowerBook that’s more than half a decade old. I keep running into software issues, as the new programs require an Intel chip. Those came out on the PowerBooks six months after I bought this one. But the longer I can use this machine, the more I’ll get for my three kilobucks when the time comes to replace it.
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/2 "2011-10-06T15:35:02Z")
I started out with a Timex Sinclair 1000 too, but I used that thing all the time. I taught myself machine code on it. Then I went to a Radio Shack TRS-80. I didn’t get a “real” computer until 1996. I got my first laptop a year and a half ago.
I did have a Mac for a bit, but it was a piece of crap.
---
### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/3 "2011-10-06T15:36:46Z")
I also started out with a Timex Sinclair 1000. Calling it a “toy” would be an insult to toys.
I really couldn’t see the point in owning a computer. I was a newly-minted Engineer, and I had access to computers at work, so, what’s the point in having one at home? One day, a friend of mine from college called and said “have you heard about the ‘Macintosh?’ - I think you might really like it.” So, on my next trip to Silicon Valley, we went to a computer store, and I played with a Mac 128K.\*\* It was freakin’ amazing!\*\* Totally intuitive, and I knew that I **had** to have it. I started to do research, and I found out that Apple was going to come out with the Mac 512K in a few months. I started saving money, and bought a Fat Mac, Imagewriter I printer and external 400K floppy drive in February of 1985. Since then, I have owned:
Mac II
Radius Rocket
Mac II Ci
Mac II Si
8100/80
MDD g4 1.25Ghz
G5 Quad
Powerbook 180
Powerbook G3 “Wallstreet” (still in use!)
Powerbook 5600
PowerBook G4 12"
MacBook
MacBook Pro
Mac Mini G4
Mac Mini Core 2
iPad2
I have provided my Wife with:
MacBook
iMac G5
MacBook Air
iPad
Currently I am using a home-built Core i7 2600K Hackintosh as my desktop machine.
Thanks, Steve, for all the great memories.
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/4 "2011-10-06T15:57:10Z")
For me, they are so numerous that they fade away… the ones that had a great effect on my life were:
TRS-80
BTI-3000 (dialup to Call Computer)
IBM 360/30 (but late, it was 1980)
Mac128K
MacII
an endless stream of IBM Mainframes and Wintel desktops, with occasional Macs mixed in
Now in in the post-PC era with an iPad - thanks Steve!
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/5 "2011-10-06T16:09:44Z")
Commodore 64 (with tape drive at first, then a knock-off floppy drive, then finally a real Commodore 1541 floppy drive.)
286/12 purchased from a dealer in the old thick Computer Shopper magazine.
After that I’ve built my own, been through 5 or 6 different cases, numerous hard drives, sound cards, video cards, CPUs, RAM, and motherboards.
Also bought a Toshiba laptop 7 or 8 years ago, it still works.
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### Author:  [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/6 "2011-10-06T16:13:16Z")
Commodore Vic 20
Apple IIc
Some generic Windows PC my dad had (all I really remember is launching Wolfenstein 3D on it from DOS)
Mac Classic
Mac Quadra 630
Mac G4
Mac G5 tower
Mac iBook G4
Mac Pro tower (current desktop)
MacBook Pro 13" (current laptop)
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/7 "2011-10-06T16:49:25Z")
I started out on a Commodore VIC-20, in all its unexpanded 3.5K RAM glory.
A few years later, I moved on to the Commie 128.
From 1993 - 2003, I did not own a computer. I was gifted a G3 “Wallstreet” laptop, but that bit the dust within two months. (I dropped it.)
Afterwards, I have had these:
The cheapest Windows desktop they had at Fry’s (no idea what it was)
(ETA: Actually, this was a desktop with Linspire, a Linux OS, installed on it. The salespeople tried to convince me that Windows XP wouldn’t install on it, but I didn’t believe them. And I was right. XP installed fine.)
MacBook Pro (1st gen)
MacPro (early summer 2008)
MacBook Pro (fall 2009)
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### Author:  [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/8 "2011-10-06T17:11:59Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> I also started out with a Timex Sinclair 1000. Calling it a “toy” would be an insult to toys.
I got quite a bit of use out of mine. It’s how I learned to program.
But MAN, Windows ran slow on it!
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/9 "2011-10-06T17:18:09Z")
I suppose the Timex Sinclair 1000 might have been useful for learning how to write programs, but I’d taken a class at college and learned BASIC on a PDP 11. (Or was it a PDP 1170?) The Timex just didn’t seem to _do_ anything.
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/10 "2011-10-06T17:24:11Z")
TRS-80 Color Computer
Coleco ADAM
Commodore 64
\
HP PC, midrange, circa 1997
Mac G4 Cube
Dell something
Dell something newer, early 2011
Joe
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/11 "2011-10-06T18:34:30Z")
8088 (Packard Bell?). One day we upgraded to… a hard drive! 20 MEGAbytes, like $400.
486
Pentium
… (gets hazy)
AMD K6-2 or -3
AMD 2600
Some sort of laptop
AMD 3500+
Compaq laptop
Intel i5
The last three are still around, although the laptop is having issues. Everything after the …, not including laptops, were homemade.
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### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/12 "2011-10-06T18:50:43Z")
Well my first computer experience was working on some old Tandy machines at work. Little plastic boxes that looked like the monitors on Star Trek TOS.
Then we upgraded to some HP machines that were linked to our local network running a program that used the F-keys for menus. I think it was called MCBA, but that may have just been the local name.
My first home computer was a big old IBM Aptiva I bought around '98. Weighed enough to be a serious boat anchor. The computer box was the normal size for a desktop today, but the monitor was HUGE! Must have had vacuum tubes in it or something.
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### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/13 "2011-10-06T18:59:20Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> I suppose the Timex Sinclair 1000 might have been useful for learning how to write programs, but I’d taken a class at college and learned BASIC on a PDP 11. (Or was it a PDP 1170?) The Timex just didn’t seem to _do_ anything.
it didn’t do anything because you didn’t get the additional RAM so you could write large functional programs.
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### Author:  [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/14 "2011-10-06T19:07:23Z")
> [@control-z](#):
>
> 286/12 purchased from a dealer in the old thick Computer Shopper magazine.
One more thing on the 286/12MHz, I couldn’t afford a hard drive for it so I got by with two 1.2MB 5 1/4" floppy drives. I could get most software to run on it even if it “required” a hard drive.
On a later computer with a mini-tower case I acquired some hand-me-down full-height hard drives (think twice the height of a CD-ROM drive.) There was no room in the case so I ran the power and data wires out the side of the case and ran the hard drives sitting on the table.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/15 "2011-10-06T19:57:06Z")
First home computer I touched was an early Apple model that a friend owned; he kept it at Typo Knig’s apartment for reasons that still escape me. We played Ultima on it, a lot. I guess the next one I had my hands on was a PC owned by the Junior League - it had a 10 meg hard drive. I learned to program Basic on that thing to create the annual membership directory from a truly awful address “database”.
Then we bought a Mac SE. I hated that thing at first because I was used to being able to type commands, and I didn’t like having to use the mouse for everything (something I never DID entirely get over; I like to keep my hands on the keyboard). We splurged and got a 20 meg hard drive for 600 dollars. I have a thousand times that memory now, on a card the size of my pinky finger… for less than 100 bucks.
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### Author:  [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/16 "2011-10-06T20:46:19Z")
Growing up, our first computer was a Commodore Vic-20, which my mom bought at Wal-Mart (actually Woolco at the time, before they were bought out by Wal-Mart) as an obselete product they were just trying to get off the shelves for $15. Played a couple crappy games on it and that was it. We finally upgraded to an Amiga around 1990, which ran some pretty excellent games, considering the meagre 500K of RAM (we later upgraded to 1MB – Woo!) and no hard drive. It did very little actual computing, aside from me writing a few university papers on it before I became an editor at the student newspaper at my university and started writing all my stuff on the Mac II there.
After graduating, it took me a couple years to get to a position where I could actually afford my very own computer, but when I got there in the mid-90s, it was a Mac Performa 5260/120, which introduced me to the wonderful world of the internet, by way of AOL.
In the fall of 1999, I bought a lime, second-generation iMac G3 which served me very well for several years. Then most recently, I stepped up to an Intel iMac just a couple months after they were released to the market end that’s what I’ve been using ever since.
My wife has a slightly newer but similarly configured Intel iMac to mine, but spends most of her time on her MacBook. All five of the Macs still work and I still fire up the old ones now and then to piddle around with some of the old software.
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### Author:  [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/17 "2011-10-06T21:10:22Z")
And do we remember when the computer games magazines used to print the source code for the games… and you spent the hours typing them in yourself… and then fighting with the audio tape recorder to try and make a copy your could reload?
Ah, the good old days. 😃
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### Author:  [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/18 "2011-10-06T21:23:30Z")
Mine:
Tandy Color Computer
Sony NEWS
Sun SPARCstation
a VA Research Pentium-based PC
a Gateway PC
a series of two or three home-built PCs
Apple iMac
Apple MacBook Pro
The MacBook and two of the PCs are still around.
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### Author:  [@Dorabella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorabella)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/19 "2011-10-06T21:24:01Z")
I have had a lot of computers.
Started with a Commodore 64 and tape drive. Eventually bought disk drive and printer.
Second Commodore 64 when they were going cheap.
Commodore Amiga 500 and then Amiga 600.
Switched to PCs and bought a NEC PC off the shelf. Upgraded hard drive from 1.2 to 4 GB. Installed Voodoo graphics card.
PC built at a computer shop. Upgraded video card. Bought it a flat screen monitor which cost a fortune back then. Gave computer to son but it has recently died.
PC built by work colleague to my specifications (still going strong)
Mac quad core i5 - best computer ever
In between there was a collection of around seven Commodore 64s, one C128 computer and an Amiga 1200 when I went on a nostalgia kick. All given away when I got sick of the clutter.
Laptops:
HP Win XP machine - still working but who cares
Asus Vista laptop - given to daughter and now broken
Macbook - given to son
Toshiba notebook - given to another son
Ipad
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### Author:  [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-computers/598783/20 "2011-10-06T22:08:55Z")
Here are the computers I’ve owned over the years, in order…
- VIC-20 (still have)
- TRS-80
- Original IBM PC
- Packard-Bell 286
- Apple Lisa
- Gateway 386 desktop (piece of crap)
- Gateway 486 desktop
- iMac G3
- PowerMac G4 Cube
- iMac G4 (iLamp)
- Dell Optiplex (piece of crap)
- 17 inch Macbook Pro (current laptop)
- 27 inch Quad core iMac (current desktop)
I also have an iPad, but that’s not a computer, I don’t care what anyone says.
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