How old..? How many..?

I got my first computer when I was 22. That was in '79-'80. I say 79-80 because it was an Apple ][ (intiger machine) and now many would say that was not a real computer. 6502 cpu, 16k, audio cassette storage, rf moduator to tv, etc... I didn't get a 140 k floppy drive (at a SPECIAL deal for $595 with a controler card) until early '80. But in "those days" that was a computer.

I just piece systems together now. I don't buy complete computers. Currently I have 4 computers networked, just because I can ( that and to let my 11 year old son kick my but in the Command and Conquer series.)

About 4 years ago I bought a totaly state of the art FOSA notebook. $3500. following that ******** I swore I would never buy a new notebook again. I just got a couple of "older" used ones since and made due. Notebooks outdate so quickly, are so expensive, and WHEN you have problems you are sol.

But it looks like PCTorque and Sager are about to convert me back once again very soon. After all, notebooks are very convient, the Sagers are state of the art and quite a bit less than $3500.

I almost ordered a 5660 just before Christmas, but decided to wait just a little bit longer to see what will be offered. These things change on a weekly basis. I would like to see if the 8886 comes out soon with the 16.1" UXGA. Otherwise everything looks great.

Well I first started using computers when i was about 4ish (earliest i remember). My first comp was a hand me down 233mhz cyrix w/ 64megs of ram and a 2g hd. Then I started to upgrade it. First a Voodoo3 3k and more ram, Then I built a 750mhz beast... my Sager is the first computer i purchased from a company. But my first lappy that was givin to me was earlier this year, 2 Texas Instrument TravelMate 4000E's, one 75mhz and one 40, pretty nice actually, I have win 95 on them and work awesome for messin around with.

My family got our first computer when I was about 7 (circa 1983). It was an IBM, with no hard drive, and two 5.25 floppy drives. You booted with dos. I am sure it cost my dad a fortune then. I have had only 2 computers of my own, starting when I went to college, but I know I drove my parents nuts on our family computer, playing games till all hours, during high school. A laptop like these is not much different than a desktop, and it allows some portability, a nice option. I don't see why a parent would object to a laptop, unless they really do upgrade their desktops to make them last longer. Most people probably really do not, they just say they will, but then when it comes time, just buy a new model.

the first was the Atari 512 ST it was the great new computer !

my first was a TI994a, a real piece of work, but it did actually serve the purpose of teaching basic programming. i must have been about 7 then . 1982.. i somehow inherited my aunt's hideous IBM XT which had two 5.25 floppies and no HD.. i remember at that point being envious of those with the apple ][e. then my parents spent half a fortune to get a very fine 286/12mhz with cga and a 20gig hard drive. one of my family's friends who works/worked at nasa said i'd never fill it up..

.. . . hah.

at that time i began to be envious of how good Bard's Tale looked on EGA and VGA was seriously expensive. i was also envious of those who had atari ST's..

how things have changed.

That's so cool, my first computer was the TI994a too!

I never would've remembered that if you hadn't said it first though. I mostly used it for games, but I remember my dad being on that thing for LONG hours programing something called "Mr. Bojangles". It took many, many hours and all you got was this blue (I think) robotic-looking guy dancing around. I remember thinking it was pretty sweet when we got the COLOR monitor....

Games... I think one was called Parsec (that I liked) and I remember that I had a bunch of educational games that were lame (or so I thought at the time) but I played them anyway. Crazy memories... thanks for that Proteron..

I guess I'll make everyone feel old and say that my first memory of computers was when I was 5, using a 386. Used to play games like "Treasure Cove" and "Math Blaster." All educational stuff. In a year I was up to playing Raptor: Call of the Shadows. Good stuff.

I've only built one computer and it wasn't for myself; one of my friends wanted to build it but had no idea how to. I find it pretty easy, actually. All you have to know is what a data cable is, what a power cable is, and a motherboard manual.

I used to use a Pentium, then it was a refurbished pentium 2 from HP. I found the old Pentium recently and see that not much has changed, really. The slots are smaller and the RAM is bigger.

I currently use a P3 500 MHz Dell with 192 megs of ram (as if i haven't said it here enough) but the fastest computer in the house is a 2.4 GHz.

I still remember windows 3.1 and think about how silimar it looks to a mac OS. I know the reason, no need to tell me.

Because I was running a 386 I still know some DOS commands, which is somewhat rare for people in my school now.

Lol I just noticed these smilies added...:snoball:

So yeah. I've been through 4 computers, and hopefully my fifth will be a Sager.

Seems that folks on the thread are now threading on memory lane.

My first computer was also in 1983 - an Apple II clone which was broken down more of the times than it was ever working. And it was the sort of machine that could not be "cold" started.

These days I'm using at home three computers hooked up via a wireles network; a desktop rig of AMD 1900XP+, another general purpose desktop with P3-750, and this HP Omnibook 500 that I bring to and fro from home and work.


Rob

My first computer was too long ago for me to remember... I know it was a black and white (actually black and yellow) moniter and it ran in DOS. It had a 5.25" floppy drive and wow I loved that thing... I played Tetris on it :-) Not to mention I could get the computer to say cool things like "bad command or file name", lol. We had wordperfect and a program called database on it...

Then we bought our first computer, cuz the first one was from my mom's work. This was a Packard Bell... top of the line, lol, I had bragging rights for a full week :-) before there was something better. It was a 486, 50MHz... It had a cdrom though, and I played Megarace on it... that was fun. Lol, and I also played Raptor :-)

Then came the Toshiba which is still chugging along at our house... it had "gasp" MMX technology, lol. A pentium 166MHz, 32 megs of system ram, and 2 megs of video ram, lol. It did play Red Alert though, and that was fun.

Now we've got an HP 1.4GHz P4 with RDRAM and a radeon 9000... I love that machine, but I've got a sager right in front of me so I say that with a little asterisk, lol, the condition being that if I love that computer, I adore the 8886 :-)

I can't wait to see what's around the day I look back on this 8886 and laugh at its primativeness, lol.

Yeah! Raptor! If you still want to play it I know where you can get it.

anytime, sir. hey i remember Mr. Bojangles. That was in one of those old BASIC books that you used to be able to buy in stores when basic programming was cool that were full of all kinds of source code. i believe the book was yellow. i recall that during the big (rare for houston area) freeze of 1982 we had to go back to my grandparents' house on Christmas eve because all our pipes had frozen! then the next day my dad brought over my TI994a and i had that book and i spent the whole day (i was 7 i guess, not nearly the typing speed racer i am now) typing in mister bojangles.. and it was yes, some dude.. SORT OF.. and his "dance" was his "legs" changing positions.. like flipping over .. and of course at that time i did not yet have the fantastic TI cassette tape storage that i would later acquire ... so my day of work was sacrificed...

Good ol' cassette tape storage... My oh my I'm glad we don't use those much anymore, lol. :-) Although it would be nice to have a VHS drive so I could just copy the contents of the VHS tape to a cd... :-) But I'm fine with the coaxial way, lol.

I haven't even heard of cassette tape storage. Wow. That must have been fun, though, to see technology evolve to this point.

OLD OLD computers didn't even need fans, I hear? And now we may be needing water cooling ...

Heh - the way I remember it, the problem with my first computer - an Apple II - was that it wouldn't work when it was too cold; it needed warming up.


Rob