Around 1995. It was a used Packard Bell with no sound card, and it had 4 mg of RAM. I was in heaven. I upgraded it to 8 mg RAM, and bought a 28,000 bps modem, and never looked back.
In college. A piece of shit Dell laptop whose keyboard stopped working a month after I got it and then had some scary scratching noise if I left it on for more than 3 hours. The idiot tech guy told me it was just the fan. Fucking moron. Sold it it to buy a bus ticket to get the hell out of my hometown.
In August 2001 I got an HP desktop with Windows Milennium Edition on it (it was a high school graduation gift from my parents as I started college). It lasted more or less until I graduated and I promptly bought another one with grad money again.
Back in the early Nineties I lived with my boyfriend that was a total tech nerd. He bought some super nice computer and one of the first versions of Windows. I remember how hard it was for him to install, lol. Don't remember what brand it was though. I didn't really use it.
My family has always been all Apple, all the time. I took a hand-me-down to college, but the first one I bought with my own money was a Tuxedo-colored iBook in 2000. Loved it!
In October 2001. Wasn't bad. It was an A-Open computer with 128 Mb ram and 60 Gig hard drive. LOL. I know, right? Gimme a break. It was 2001. Cost $1200. Still works too. Threw out the mammoth clunky 17' monitor though.
We got a Commodore 64 in like 1988. I just bought another one for $50 for nostalgia purposes - monitor, three keyboard/cpu's, 4 floppy drives, and about 100 games. Cheap cheap cheap!
'twas 1986 and I got myself an Atari ST with 512MB RAM and no hard disk, only a floppy drive. the monitor was monochrom amber and there was a needle printer. later I inserted a 10GB harddisk and replaced the grafic card to a CGA. and in 1988 I changed to DR DOS. Even though the maker was Atari, it was a PC.
I have, sadly, never owned a computer. I do have a smartphone. I really would like to get a laptop or tablet device. My 8 year old daughter I feel is falling behind her classmated by not having one readily available. We do use the ones at the public library, if we can get in and it's only for 1hour a day.
If there is anyone out there that is getting a new sevice this Christmas and would be willing to part with, donate, or sell me your used one at a reasonable price, please consider me and my daughter. Even if it is used and is a little old it would be solid gold to us. Thank you!
I don't remember the brand, used a computer at work and bought one from them at a sale when they upgraded. This was in the late 80's. Played Wolfenstein till I was going blind.
My very first computer was in the early 1990s (mid-college). It was a suitcase-sized portable (it's a laugh to call it a 'laptop') that I don't even think had Windows on it. DOS only. It had WordPerfect on it and I was happy.
Then I had another DOS PC (my computer supplier / advisor at the time really had a thing against a GUI) until I got a Mac Quadra at work, in about 1994. Have had a Mac ever since. (No, am not rabid Apple evangelist :) )
It was back in the 70's, it was a Timex, you hooked it up to the tv for the display. you could build and run simple programs,don't think it had anything other than flash memory.
1994, an Apple (don't remember model, though). I had it in storage forever, and just last month took it to a recycle fair... So sad, I was so thrilled when I first got it! I've since owned and used only Apples at home or work since (graphics field).
1989, I think, a no-brand 486 with 84 mb of RAM and an 80 MB harddisk. Cost 2000 guilders at that time which I had earned at my internship in Germany. I mostly used it for college, to write reports (in WordPerfect, tee hee), but had a few games: Dune (which I loved) and some sort of adventure game which I got stuck in about a third of the way through (and no Interweb cheats...) and a pinball machine game which I played quite a lot as well.
It was like there were tiny aliens living inside your telephone and every time you would pick it up to make a call while someone was on the WWW they would start screeching alien profanities and curses until you put the phone back down.
got my very first personal desktop for christmas in the 4th grade. My mom was a computer programmer, and she got me a very nice Dell. I was toooo stoked on it.
My husband still has one of his first computer's (I don't know which model it is) but it works, and he uses it everyday. We all call it his, Boy's in the Hood computer, LOL.
Oh and then my uncle gave us a Commodore 64 when he moved out of state but my dad never could figure out how to hook it up.
In 1992 I bought an IBM that had the two different discs (and no not CD) in it. DOS only, WordPerfect and Lotus 123. I also buoght myself an ink jet color printer to go with it. The whole set up cost over $4k. Never did learn how to be very good in Lotus 123 but I was the bomb in WordPerfect for DOS.
1996 - I was in my 40s - got a Dell, don't remember the MB or anything, but I took 3 days off from work so I could teach myself how to use it. It worked great until my house got hit by lightning and never did well after that. (the lightning took out my AC, furnace, garage door opener, cable, 2 phones, a TV and my doorbell not to mention needed new decking in my roof, blew out the side of my ceder sided house and took out 3 trees - thank God for home insurance!) I'm on my 3rd desktop now - a Gateway. Got my 1st smartphone about 6 months ago.
Commodore Vic 20 in about 1982 I think. One of my Dad's "sorry I divorced your Mother and left you with her" guilt gifts. I got so much stuff like that!
I got a Dell dude in the 90s. Bought a HP desktop for college that I gave to my mother (which she ruined) when I bought my POS gateway laptop 5 years ago. The main selling point of the laptop was the salesmen described the color as 'spiderman red' Sold!
At Drexel University, students got the first Apple computer (128K) as part pf tuition costs. It almost immediately was obsolete. I missed it by one year, thank God.
I was given a Tandy computer.. From radio shack. I was a whiz at creating my own programs, all DOS.math programs at that... And I was awesome at the snake/line game. Ahh. Good times.
my first computer was called Emachines...never heard of it then and never heard of it now..lolol....shoot people way older than me have probably never heard of it....
OMG, I just commented on the blind item that my PC is too slow. My kids are students, so they got the newer, more powerful computers in the house, and I am stuck with the first one we ever bought. My choice-I use it for a Kindle, to watch movies, and to read CDAN, but I can't load any internet pages with video anymore on it.
I am typing on my husband's laptop. I am getting a new case soon,and we will send my PC to the beach house for movies and books, then we won't have to schlep the laptop every summer.
We bought it 14 years ago. Added RAM, new motherboard, same monitor and processor.
We're talking of course for personal use. When I was in college in the 70's, we used FORTRAN and punch cards. Tthat experience made me resistant to computer use for most of my career.
I'm an engineer, but I only used the computer as a glorified typewriter for work. I hated CADD, but loved the computer for writing specs. But all my drawings were by hand, TYVM!
1st PC computer@ work was a used Apple in 1986. It had Word & Excel & used 3 1/2 floppies. It was like 172 kb. I used a Compaq Word Processor until we got our 1st home PC, which was an IBM clone w /Windows. Can't remember the capacity but it was the best money could buy in early 1992. PC, printer & software was about $2300. Also, we had AOL and did dial up on a US Robotics modem. THAT was the greatest thing, ever!
lc - In my town, Goodwill operates a computer store in addition to their general charity shop. A friend got a really nice Mac system there for about $250. Their PC's were less expensive.
Sometimes you can get really good deals at retail. This time of year, and back to school time are when they have the best sales. A few years ago, there were cheap laptops everywhere, about $300.
You may wanna steer clear of Best Buy, they "optimize" their computers with extra crap or things you can do yourself, then charge you an extra $100.
The first computer I got for myself was a Mac G5 (desktop model) in 1998.
The first computer I used at work was a Superbrain. Seriously. Had Wordstar on it. I remember having to do *asterisks* beside the words to make them bold. I think you can still do that in Word. Another computer we used was a Hyperion. The thing looked like a little portable tv. It had a handle on it, too.
Apple IIIc (I think?) and it was around 1995, from a friend of mine, who was downsizing and going to China for research. Served me well for about five years, after which I donated to a local elementary school in Seattle. I think I remembered to take all of the Kate Winslet pics off of it before I did.
my boyfriend worked for some computer company, was older and traveled a lot. so he gave me a "lap-top". it was about 8 inches thick and 18 inches across. this would have been about 1988. i remember getting on plane with it one time and people thinking it was really something. sadly, my computer knowledge and skills have not improved much since then.
@lc and my dear friends at Cdan The laptop we have in our garage is dead! :(. I thought it was a cast away from when my spouse switched to Mac. Does ANYONE (or one of your friends/colleagues) have a laptop they could donate to lc for her daughter's schoolwork? Her story really touched me and I want this to happen. I believe she lives in Washington fyi
@lc I am sure $ is tight with Christmas/holidays coming up, but maybe if you have family that want to buy you guys gifts they could chip in for something like this? It's in Seattle http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/syd/3444799365.html
Hi Black Cat :) I was hoping it was the battery too, but my husband said it has been given its last rites. Why we still have it is beyond me :( Thanks so much for replying though. I really want to see this happen. I have searched lc's previous comments and read her blog profile - she seems like a wonderful, loving devoted single Mom who could really use someone's help :)
My first was a 386 clone in 1984, I was able to take it apart and put it back together again and did all my own upgrades. It cost $2500 LOL When I discovered the Internet I literally spent an entire week browsing, night and day.
the past couple of purchases I have made for desktops have been at places that sell refurbs and they also buy up a couple hundred corporate PC's that were leased and the customer upgraded to other models. They are not bleeding edge models but faster than what I had currently for $200, some are $150 and lasted 5 years at least before they needed to be upgraded. People are hesitant about buying used stuff but I would never buy brand new anymore for my needs.
In College, a Mac PowerPC. Still have it in a box in storage. Till 2 yrs ago still played games on it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletean Apple II E, circa 1980's.
ReplyDeleteLode Runner was the best!
Around 1995. It was a used Packard Bell with no sound card, and it had 4 mg of RAM. I was in heaven. I upgraded it to 8 mg RAM, and bought a 28,000 bps modem, and never looked back.
ReplyDeleteIn college. A piece of shit Dell laptop whose keyboard stopped working a month after I got it and then had some scary scratching noise if I left it on for more than 3 hours. The idiot tech guy told me it was just the fan. Fucking moron. Sold it it to buy a bus ticket to get the hell out of my hometown.
ReplyDeleteAn Atari 800 back in the 80s.
ReplyDeleteIn August 2001 I got an HP desktop with Windows Milennium Edition on it (it was a high school graduation gift from my parents as I started college). It lasted more or less until I graduated and I promptly bought another one with grad money again.
ReplyDeleteBack in the early Nineties I lived with my boyfriend that was a total tech nerd. He bought some super nice computer and one of the first versions of Windows. I remember how hard it was for him to install, lol. Don't remember what brand it was though. I didn't really use it.
ReplyDeleteCommodore 64
ReplyDeleteI'm old. I got an IBM with floppy drive and running dos in high school. I played the text version of rogue on it, and programmed in basic.
ReplyDeleteAn Osborne One in the early 1980s.
ReplyDeleteMy family has always been all Apple, all the time. I took a hand-me-down to college, but the first one I bought with my own money was a Tuxedo-colored iBook in 2000. Loved it!
ReplyDelete1990 and it was a 386 with a 1400 baud modem. oh the bbs messages and wolfenstein 3d games that thing saw.
ReplyDelete@Leviathan - That thing was a beast!
ReplyDeleteBack in the early 80's - an Atari 1040 ST
ReplyDeleteMy first "real" computer was an 8088 PC clone with a whopping 10mb hard drive.
ReplyDeleteThe whole setup cost me over 2k and this was back in 1989.
In October 2001. Wasn't bad. It was an A-Open computer with 128 Mb ram and 60 Gig hard drive. LOL. I know, right? Gimme a break. It was 2001. Cost $1200. Still works too. Threw out the mammoth clunky 17' monitor though.
ReplyDeleteWe got a Commodore 64 in like 1988. I just bought another one for $50 for nostalgia purposes - monitor, three keyboard/cpu's, 4 floppy drives, and about 100 games. Cheap cheap cheap!
ReplyDelete'twas 1986 and I got myself an Atari ST with 512MB RAM and no hard disk, only a floppy drive. the monitor was monochrom amber and there was a needle printer. later I inserted a 10GB harddisk and replaced the grafic card to a CGA. and in 1988 I changed to DR DOS. Even though the maker was Atari, it was a PC.
ReplyDeletea Commodore 64 too!
ReplyDeleteLOAD"$",8
RUN
I have, sadly, never owned a computer. I do have a smartphone. I really would like to get a laptop or tablet device. My 8 year old daughter I feel is falling behind her classmated by not having one readily available. We do use the ones at the public library, if we can get in and it's only for 1hour a day.
ReplyDeleteIf there is anyone out there that is getting a new sevice this Christmas and would be willing to part with, donate, or sell me your used one at a reasonable price, please consider me and my daughter. Even if it is used and is a little old it would be solid gold to us.
Thank you!
I don't remember the brand, used a computer at work and bought one from them at a sale when they upgraded. This was in the late 80's. Played Wolfenstein till I was going blind.
ReplyDeleteCommodore 64 in the 80s, it was the family computer.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine set his up in my apartment in college in 1989. All I ever did was play Larry the Lounge Lizard.
ReplyDeleteMy very first computer was in the early 1990s (mid-college). It was a suitcase-sized portable (it's a laugh to call it a 'laptop') that I don't even think had Windows on it. DOS only. It had WordPerfect on it and I was happy.
ReplyDeleteThen I had another DOS PC (my computer supplier / advisor at the time really had a thing against a GUI) until I got a Mac Quadra at work, in about 1994. Have had a Mac ever since. (No, am not rabid Apple evangelist :) )
My first gaming system was a Colleco-vision but my first real computer was a Commodore 64! God I loved that machine. I was amazing at Q-Bert.
ReplyDeleteIt was back in the 70's, it was a Timex, you hooked it up to the tv for the display. you could build and run simple programs,don't think it had anything other than flash memory.
ReplyDeleteMy first computer was a Vic-20, which I got at Canadian Tire, in the early 1980s.
ReplyDelete1995 - Mac Performa.
ReplyDelete1994, an Apple (don't remember model, though). I had it in storage forever, and just last month took it to a recycle fair... So sad, I was so thrilled when I first got it! I've since owned and used only Apples at home or work since (graphics field).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMine was a Toshiba T2000 Laptop circa 1991. Damn, I'm old.
ReplyDeleteHP Desktop in 1999, it was my high school graduation present.
ReplyDelete1989, I think, a no-brand 486 with 84 mb of RAM and an 80 MB harddisk. Cost 2000 guilders at that time which I had earned at my internship in Germany. I mostly used it for college, to write reports (in WordPerfect, tee hee), but had a few games: Dune (which I loved) and some sort of adventure game which I got stuck in about a third of the way through (and no Interweb cheats...) and a pinball machine game which I played quite a lot as well.
ReplyDelete@Tuxedo Cat - they sold computers at Canadian Tire?? Weird!
ReplyDeleteI got a Commodore 64 for my birthday in the 80's.
A Zeos 386 running Windows 3.1 in about 1991.
ReplyDeleteOhh dial up. The original dubstep.
ReplyDelete"eeeeehhh errrrrr jadfjashjadsfadsfjafsjsfkjadsfsfjhdsjhadssdf dodungdodung eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekk"
It was like there were tiny aliens living inside your telephone and every time you would pick it up to make a call while someone was on the WWW they would start screeching alien profanities and curses until you put the phone back down.
got my very first personal desktop for christmas in the 4th grade. My mom was a computer programmer, and she got me a very nice Dell. I was toooo stoked on it.
ReplyDeleteIt's was an HP, and it was 1999 because I remember because it was
ReplyDeleteY2K protected.
Now, I've been using computers since the mid-'80's at work.
I got a Commodore 64 way back in 1981 or 1982. Don't laugh.
ReplyDeleteMy husband still has one of his first computer's (I don't know which model it is) but it works, and he uses it everyday. We all call it his, Boy's in the Hood computer, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI got a Ti 99/4A in grade school. It was pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteTI/994a for my 30th birthday - which was 29 years ago last month.
ReplyDeleteApple IIC ("portable" -- it even had a handle). Wrote my MA Thesis on that thing and played lots of Zork and Moon Mist!
ReplyDeleteDoes Pong count?
ReplyDeleteOh and then my uncle gave us a Commodore 64 when he moved out of state but my dad never could figure out how to hook it up.
In 1992 I bought an IBM that had the two different discs (and no not CD) in it. DOS only, WordPerfect and Lotus 123. I also buoght myself an ink jet color printer to go with it. The whole set up cost over $4k. Never did learn how to be very good in Lotus 123 but I was the bomb in WordPerfect for DOS.
1996 - I was in my 40s - got a Dell, don't remember the MB or anything, but I took 3 days off from work so I could teach myself how to use it. It worked great until my house got hit by lightning and never did well after that. (the lightning took out my AC, furnace, garage door opener, cable, 2 phones, a TV and my doorbell not to mention needed new decking in my roof, blew out the side of my ceder sided house and took out 3 trees - thank God for home insurance!) I'm on my 3rd desktop now - a Gateway. Got my 1st smartphone about 6 months ago.
ReplyDeleteCommodore Vic 20 in about 1982 I think. One of my Dad's "sorry I divorced your Mother and left you with her" guilt gifts. I got so much stuff like that!
ReplyDeleteI got a Dell dude in the 90s. Bought a HP desktop for college that I gave to my mother (which she ruined) when I bought my POS gateway laptop 5 years ago. The main selling point of the laptop was the salesmen described the color as 'spiderman red' Sold!
ReplyDeleteI think it was a Commodore 64. and I vividly remember playing all the ZORK games. All text, no graphics.
ReplyDeletemy mom was/is an accountant so we kinda always had one since 1987.
ReplyDeletewe got the internet in 96.
I think they were Acer or HP, no idea.
My first computer i bought was an HP laptop.
@jsierra: Ohh dial up. The original dubstep.
ReplyDeleteBWAHAHAHA! Used to be able to, at one time, predict the connection speed by the sound it was making...
1978, the Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor). I still have it on display.
ReplyDeletecommodore 64
ReplyDeleteOregon Trail sucked ass on it
At Drexel University, students got the first Apple computer (128K) as part pf tuition costs. It almost immediately was obsolete. I missed it by one year, thank God.
ReplyDeleteA Packard Hell desktop. I don't remember the year. What a POS.
ReplyDeleteI was given a Tandy computer.. From radio shack. I was a whiz at creating my own programs, all DOS.math programs at that... And I was awesome at the snake/line game. Ahh. Good times.
ReplyDeletemy first computer was called Emachines...never heard of it then and never heard of it now..lolol....shoot people way older than me have probably never heard of it....
ReplyDelete1995. It was an HP with a Pentium 75 in it which was state of the art when I bought it as Pentiums were the next big thing.
ReplyDeleteApple IIGS in 84-85! I played some stupid game called Tass times in tone town all the time. Along w caren sandiego
ReplyDeleteA laptop by some company that no longer makes computers in 1998. I kept using work computers up until that point.
ReplyDelete1999; a blueberry iMac.
ReplyDeletecommodore 64 , in the 80's and I played some game called "stampede"....
ReplyDeleteOMG, I just commented on the blind item that my PC is too slow. My kids are students, so they got the newer, more powerful computers in the house, and I am stuck with the first one we ever bought. My choice-I use it for a Kindle, to watch movies, and to read CDAN, but I can't load any internet pages with video anymore on it.
ReplyDeleteI am typing on my husband's laptop. I am getting a new case soon,and we will send my PC to the beach house for movies and books, then we won't have to schlep the laptop every summer.
We bought it 14 years ago. Added RAM, new motherboard, same monitor and processor.
We're talking of course for personal use. When I was in college in the 70's, we used FORTRAN and punch cards. Tthat experience made me resistant to computer use for most of my career.
ReplyDeleteI'm an engineer, but I only used the computer as a glorified typewriter for work. I hated CADD, but loved the computer for writing specs. But all my drawings were by hand, TYVM!
TRS-80 from radio shack. i didn't/couldn't really do anything. IRC it has a cassette player looking thing that was some sort of disk drive.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete1st PC computer@ work was a used Apple in 1986. It had Word & Excel & used 3 1/2 floppies. It was like 172 kb. I used a Compaq Word Processor until we got our 1st home PC, which was an IBM clone w /Windows. Can't remember the capacity but it was the best money could buy in early 1992. PC, printer & software was about $2300. Also, we had AOL and did dial up on a US Robotics modem. THAT was the greatest thing, ever!
Commodore 64. We were the first ones on our block to get a computer. That was a LOOONG time ago...
ReplyDeletelc - In my town, Goodwill operates a computer store in addition to their general charity shop. A friend got a really nice Mac system there for about $250. Their PC's were less expensive.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you can get really good deals at retail. This time of year, and back to school time are when they have the best sales. A few years ago, there were cheap laptops everywhere, about $300.
You may wanna steer clear of Best Buy, they "optimize" their computers with extra crap or things you can do yourself, then charge you an extra $100.
IBM/1999
ReplyDeleteAtari TRS80...you had to type 8 pages of script in order for it to repeat your name across the screen indefinitely! lol
ReplyDeleteThe first computer I got for myself was a Mac G5 (desktop model) in 1998.
ReplyDeleteThe first computer I used at work was a Superbrain. Seriously. Had Wordstar on it. I remember having to do *asterisks* beside the words to make them bold. I think you can still do that in Word. Another computer we used was a Hyperion. The thing looked like a little portable tv. It had a handle on it, too.
@lc
ReplyDeletecheck your e-mail (or junk mail) for subject line: laptop
You are a gorgeous person Sunny, big karma points coming your way....
ReplyDeleteOMG I totally forgot about the Commodore 64! Yep, we had that first.
ReplyDelete@Mish
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm pretty sure it was from Canadian Tire -- they were the first ones to sell it in my area...
I could be wrong about that though...So long ago.
Apple IIIc (I think?) and it was around 1995, from a friend of mine, who was downsizing and going to China for research. Served me well for about five years, after which I donated to a local elementary school in Seattle. I think I remembered to take all of the Kate Winslet pics off of it before I did.
ReplyDeletemy boyfriend worked for some computer company, was older and traveled a lot. so he gave me a "lap-top". it was about 8 inches thick and 18 inches across. this would have been about 1988. i remember getting on plane with it one time and people thinking it was really something. sadly, my computer knowledge and skills have not improved much since then.
ReplyDelete@lc and my dear friends at Cdan
ReplyDeleteThe laptop we have in our garage is dead! :(. I thought it was a cast away from when my spouse switched to Mac. Does ANYONE (or one of your friends/colleagues) have a laptop they could donate to lc for her daughter's schoolwork? Her story really touched me and I want this to happen. I believe she lives in Washington fyi
@lc
ReplyDeleteI am sure $ is tight with Christmas/holidays coming up, but maybe if you have family that want to buy you guys gifts they could chip in for something like this? It's in Seattle
http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/syd/3444799365.html
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletemaybe the dead laptop just needs a new battery? That's an easy fix.
ReplyDeleteHi Black Cat :)
ReplyDeleteI was hoping it was the battery too, but my husband said it has been given its last rites. Why we still have it is beyond me :(
Thanks so much for replying though. I really want to see this happen. I have searched lc's previous comments and read her blog profile - she seems like a wonderful, loving devoted single Mom who could really use someone's help :)
My first was a 386 clone in 1984, I was able to take it apart and put it back together again and did all my own upgrades. It cost $2500 LOL
ReplyDeleteWhen I discovered the Internet I literally spent an entire week browsing, night and day.
the past couple of purchases I have made for desktops have been at places that sell refurbs and they also buy up a couple hundred corporate PC's that were leased and the customer upgraded to other models. They are not bleeding edge models but faster than what I had currently for $200, some are $150 and lasted 5 years at least before they needed to be upgraded. People are hesitant about buying used stuff but I would never buy brand new anymore for my needs.
ReplyDelete1982 or so. IBM PC. My dad was a computer engineer and worked for them, so I barely remember not having at least one computer.
ReplyDeleteDitto for programming in BASIC. I was writing programs from around 8 years of age.
ReplyDeleteOMG, Zork! I still have the maps my mom drew when she played it... fweeep! lol
ReplyDeleteAlso, text-based Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and In Search of the Most Amazing Thing!