What was your FIRST COMPUTER and how much did it cost?...we've come a long way.

[dionx]

FIRST COMPUTER: (bought at a computer fair)

~$1500 around the year 1996
Pentium 200MMX
16MB RAM
4MB S3 Video Card
Generic ISA Sound
24X CD-ROM
4GB Harddrive
Generic Case
Shamrock 15" monitor
keyboard/mouse
Generic 2piece speakers
floppy
33.3K modem

SECOND COMPUTER: Compaq Presario 1260 Laptop

~$1800 around Spring 1999
12.1" TFT
AMD K6-2 333
4GB HDD
2MB video
64MB RAM upgraded to 160MB
24x CD-ROM
floppy
56K modem

THIRD COMPUTER: homebuilt

exactly $1,402.14 during October 2001

the rig is described here

 

[DonNiggera]

First computer for ME was a $4,000 486 w/ 25mhz.. Mom thought I needed one, so she got me one. While she still used her $3,500 386 w/ 16mhz. We traded, cuz back then I didn't care about computers... Mom's first computer was the IBM PC, wasn't it like, $2,500 back then? (Which would be about $7000 in today's money) :/

 

[Perknose]

Wow, Memory Lane for me here today. My first computer was a Victor 8088 (NOT 8086) IBM clone, back in the day (1985) when clones would proudly emphasize "fully IBM compatible" 'cause reverse engineering the bios was still a "work in progress" thing.

It had 640k (Hey, Bill Gates his own damn self said that's all anyone would ever need!) at a time when Commodores with 64k were touted by some as business computers, LOL !

Also had the ubiquitous Seagate 20mb hard drive with the Western Digital controller. I really splurged, though, with a genuine Hercules bw vid card (not Herc compatible, as all others were at that time) with some kind of special software/hardware based screen font program, and a 14 inch monitor that the salesman swore had a Sony tube, but which anyway was the best looking of the monitors they had.

The whole thing set me back $1,500.00. I then ordered a Panasonic 1080(?) dot matrix clickety-clacky for, I think, $150-$180 from 47th St. Photo.

My word processor was PFS Write, a great and greatly underrated program, that, IMHO, for outpaced Word Perfect or WordStar in elegance and simplicity. That was a great program.

I loved the simplicity and accessability of DOS, too. Make a directory, install your exe. file and, voila, you had yer program. Didn't like it? Delete file, or files (but few, and all in one directory of YOUR making), and delete the damn directory! Nothing happened on your hard drive that YOU didn't initiate and create.

I still remember my excitement, a year or two later, when I got a 2400(?) baud Cardinal modem for the then unheard of bargain price of $50 from a table vendor at one of the PACS (Philadelphia Area Computer Society) meetings. PACS meetings were like Band of Brothers back then, you know?

I'm sure there are tons of guys here who were way into all this PC stuff before I was (I came from Cobol and mainframes, even going back to Fortran and punch cards), but, for me, those were the days.

 

[LemonHead]

Wow, no old folks on this board.
First computer around 1982.
Sinclair 1000. Had 8KB RAM and no drives whatsoever.
Loaded and saved programs using a standard cassette tape recorder.
Booted to a command prompt, BASIC on the boot ROM.
Used TV as a monitor.
Still have it in the closet.

Cost a few hundred dollars, can't remember exact price.

YES!!! I had a Timex Sinclair also. I had the 16k memory expansion unit.

 

[arigato]

First computer was an Atari 800. My dad bought it new but I don't recall the price.

 

[sciencetoy]

Atari 800 new (1975) was about $2500, with the cassette drive, printer and all the other stuff. I have the receipt somewhere.

By then we already had an IMSAI and a Heathkit, but those were for the business. The Atari blew them away. We still use it for games - kids (ahem) still like frogger, pacman, etc. My youngest likes to show it off to his tech-loving buddies.

 

[swayinOtis]

d00d, my first puter was a Hyundai with a HUGE, PHAT 10 MHz 8088 processor with two floppy disks, as well as a monochrome monitor. Bought in the summer of 1987 for $1800, I think.

I bought a 1200 bps Everex modem for $125. My first hard drive was a $250 40 MB Maxtor.

I absolutely loved BBSing. That's what got me started. At work we had a modem pool and someone was kind enough to show me how to dial out and log on to the BBSes. I was hooked. I just had to have my own.

 

[SSP]

286, 12Mhz system. Dunt know how much we paid.

 

[Kanalua]

My curent one...here

only it had a BTC 32X cd-rom drive, 6 gig Western Dig HD, 64 MB RAM, Intel 910 2d/3d vid card, Soundblaster 64 ISA sound card, 15" monitor, ASUS P2B mobo, and that's it!

My uncle bought it for me for Christmas 1998, still use it, though beefed up a bit now.

 

[Chipset]

386SX-16, 1mb RAM, 40mb hard drive, DR-DOS, 14" monitor. ~$1000
Staring at that monitor for hours probably made me nearsighted. :disgust:

 

[SCSIfreek]

Quantax Pentium 90 w/ 64MB RAM, 720MB Harddrive, No Brand PCI Video Card w/ 1MB, 15" VGA Monitor, Crappy Keyboard, Crappy Huge ass case, crappy 2 button mouse and some software. costed $3000 dollars


--sCSI

 

[ricerx]

IBM PC jr.

intel 8086 @ 4.77 Mhz
64 kb ram (got the upgrade to 128 kb) woo wee!
video 2 kb - 16 color 320 x 200 / 640x200
sound 3 channels
5 1/4 Low density
No hard drive
2 cartridge slots
OS: Dos 2.1

Paid in1984: $2,600 with an Okidata Microline 92 9 pin dot matrix printer.

I still have the computer and printer. They both still work.

 

[ricerx]

<< Mom's first computer was the IBM PC, wasn't it like, $2,500 back then >>



if she bought it when they first came out, it would have been about $6,000. My friend bought it when it first came out and he also still has it and the original receipt.

 

[MajesticMoose]

Tandy 1000
I know it still works, and so do some of the 31/2 inch floppies that we had for it even though they've spent umpteen years up in the scorching/freezing attic.

m00se

 

[RossGr]

Apple II+
Motorola 6502 (1MHz)
48KB
5.25" floppy drive (143KB)
Epson FX70 dot matrix printer
rf modulator for color tv
around $2,000

The MX 70 printer did not have true decenders, no letters went below the line so there was only 1 dot difference between a lower case s and a lower case g. Made for funny looking text, not recomended for resumes!

This was in 1980, served me very well. I used this to complete every Numerical Analysis course in the OSU catalog. Fun Stuff!


Bought my first PC in 1986. a 8086, with dual floppies, for $600.

 

[Hellblast]

486 DX 40, 4MB Ram, 340MB HD

No CD-Rom until I bought one for $150 (2X)

Hellblast

 

[Wik]

Commodore Vic 20 and a tape drive. Was like $299. A year later I got a Commodore 64 and a 5 1/4 disk drive for Christmas.

 

[cuteybunny]

c64 199, and 5 1/4 drive 199. major rip off if you ask me, bought it at Service merchandise.
and a few other games too adding up to 500 soemthing... oh well thats the old day a complete waste of money I should have waited til now then I would got something much better. patient is virtue.

 

[UOPtech]

TRS-80 Model 1

Specifications
CPU: Z-80 (1.77 MHz)
RAM: 4K-48K (4K Standard, Expandable to 16K in the Unit - Additional 32K through Expansion Interface)
ROM: 12K
Language: Microsoft Basic (in ROM)
VIDEO: 12" RCA white-on-black monitor (16 lines x 64 characters text; 48 x 128 graphical 'squots')
I/O: 250 Baud (Level I)/500 Baud (Level II) Casette (5 Pin DIN), Video Out (5 Pin DIN), Power (5 Pin DIN), Printer Port (40 Pin Edge Connector)
I/O Option: Expansion Interface which would house a RS-232, Disk Drive Controller, Printer Port, and up to 48K RAM.
I/O Option: 5 MB Hard Drive
I/O Option: Exatron Stringy Floppy
Storage: Casette. Optional 89K Floppy Drive (with DOS) / 102K (without DOS) -- 184K Floppy if Double Density was user installed.
Option: Voice Syntesizer (Radio Shack)

 

[worth]

CIP 003, which was a ZX80 clone. Less than $50, new.

 

[compudog]

My first computer hmmmm.....
Texas Instruments TI-99 Cassette Tape, 16K Ram

"Upgraded" it to a TI-99/4A ($350.00) bought the Peripheral Expansion Box ($500.00 with 90K 5 1/4" floppy, 32K Ram expansion, RS/232 communications card and a UCSD Pascal Expansion this thing was about the size of a small microwave and connected with a big flat ribbon cable) Had lots of cool game carts and some programming carts as well. I sold the whole thing on eBay for $400 last year!

Moved "up" to a PB Legend 8088 with 640K, CGA graphics and 2 5 1/4" floppy drives

First Windows PC was a AMD SLC-40 with 4MB RAM, 170 MB HDD

Then a Intel DX2/66. then an AMD DX4/100, then an AMD DX4/120, next an AMD 5x86/133, then a Cyrix 6x86 PR166, then a Intel Pentium 200MMX, then an Intel PII-400 up to my current PIII-600

 

[Muadib]

Apple II+
About 2000 bucks.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

<< Wow, no old folks on this board.First computer around 1982.Sinclair 1000. Had 8KB RAM and no drives whatsoever.Loaded and saved programs using a standard cassette tape recorder.Booted to a command prompt, BASIC on the boot ROM.Used TV as a monitor.

<< Oh, there are still a few of us alive ... ... BTDT

My first real PC though was an IBM PC, mods consisted of extra memory & dual floppies. My first clone was a Leading Edge brand, there's a name long gone. Moved on to an IBM AT. Typing right now on the keyboard that came with that machine. IBM made great f@cking keyboards back then !!

My first mail order was a Zeos ...

 

[atrowe]

Leading Edge (Long dead PC vendor)
286 8/12 Mhz
1 MB RAM
two floppies
40 MB hard drive
No Modem
No sound card (PC Speaker)
14 inch VGA monitor
Dot matrix printer that sounded like a machine gun. I had the first color dot matrix printer in the neighborhood.

Cost around $1500 new, I think.

I spent many-a month playing Kings Quest and Falcon 3.0.

 

[Atlas]

TI99-4A costs around $99 or so back in 81. Can't remember exact price as I was only 5yrs old. The only reason I got mine, was because my older brother got one and I was always messing with his so my folks bought me one too. That thing ruled too. Had all kinds of fun typing in those programs. I remember one in particular. It's was called Mr. Bojangles. Tons of fun watching little stickman dance on the screen. I was entertained easily back then. LOL

Atlas