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GabeU's avatar
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV
5 years ago

First computer you bought?

What was the first computer you ever bought?  

 

Though my former in-laws got my ex and I a computer for Christmas 1997, which was a Pentium 166MHz clone computer sold by a small computer store in the area, the first computer I ever bought was an eMachines eTower 366i in late 1999.  I got it from Staples or OfficeMax.  I can't remember which it was, though I remember where it was and I think it was the former.  

 

At that time, MSN was offering a $400 instant rebate for those who signed up for three years of their dialup service, which I needed anyway, so the computer only cost $399, and this was back in 1999!  I can't remember how much the monitor was, but it was a steal.  $400 off a computer for signing up for a service I needed anyway, and it wasn't any more per month than it would have been had I signed up in the normal way.  So, it was basically $400 for nothing.  I used insurance money that was supposed to go toward fixing my bumper on my car to pay for what the instant rebate didn't.  LOL.  I was rear ended a year later, so I ended up getting the car fixed, nonetheless.  

 

I used the 366i for two years, at which time I got a Dell, and I gave the 366i to my folks.  They had it for a couple of years, at which time I bought them a Gateway and then sold the 366i on eBay.  It was a great computer, built when eMachines had a very good reputation.  

 

A 366MHz Celeron and dialup.  How times have changed.

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  • maratsade's avatar
    maratsade
    Distinguished Professor IV
    5 years ago

    I had a Commodore , and then some Apple/Mac thing, and then the one I remember the most, an iBM that needed a giant floppy disk to run.  EDIT: All of these were betweeen 1982-ish and 1990.

     

    The Web didn't exist then. Things have changed indeed, and it's been awesome. 

    • GabeU's avatar
      GabeU
      Distinguished Professor IV
      5 years ago

      When I was a kid we got a Commodore VIC-20, then a Commodore 64 a few years later.  Why we got the second I really don't know, as we barely used the first.  Probably my incessant begging.  LOL.  

       

      I didn't really know how to use one properly.  I tried a few of the short programming examples in the manuals, like one that made it make a sound that progressively went from a low note to a high one.  There was one in the back of the manual to program a game.  I tried it three or four times, with each time taking at least three hours to enter everything, and it didn't work.  I didn't have tape storage, so I would have to redo it the next time.  A kid down the road came up one time and connected his tape recorder to it, which fascinated me that you could save programs on a cassette tape, but I didn't really understand the significance, nor how to do it myself.  I had a tape recorder, but not the cables needed to connect it.  And again, I wouldn't have known what to do anyway.  

       

      The neighbors had an Apple IIc, which was even more alien to me.  :p 

      • maratsade's avatar
        maratsade
        Distinguished Professor IV
        5 years ago

        I don't remember much at all about the computers I had before the IBM. I remember that one because I could play games on it.  I do remember MS-DOS and that everything was command line.  :)

  • Rumblshack's avatar
    Rumblshack
    New Poster
    5 years ago

    Buncha NOOBS! (LOL)

    My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 2 in the fall of 1980 (TRS-80 stood for Tandy-Radio Shack 1980... Great imaginations, eh?)

    No Windows then, nor MS-DOS. Everything was done in BASIC.

    My parents said that was the future so I needed to learn it.

    • maratsade's avatar
      maratsade
      Distinguished Professor IV
      5 years ago

      LOL!

       

      I bet you didn't experience any buffering in those days, old timer! ;)

       

      Ah....good old Radio Shack! I used to love that place; they had great stuff. 

       

      Rumblshack wrote:

      Buncha NOOBS! (LOL)

      My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 2 in the fall of 1980 (TRS-80 stood for Tandy-Radio Shack 1980... Great imaginations, eh?)

      No Windows then, nor MS-DOS. Everything was done in BASIC.

      My parents said that was the future so I needed to learn it.

       

      • MarkJFine's avatar
        MarkJFine
        Professor
        5 years ago

        Not a computer, but the best thing RadioShack ever made: DX-160. So sorry I gave mine away. Classic radio.