What was your first computer by brand.

[ultimatebob]

C 64 connected to a Magnavox TV, what do I win?

Storage was a tape drive, couldn't afford a 5.25" floppy until a few years later.

I got mine at a yard sale for $10, and had it plugged into a Zenith B&W TV

I also only had a tape drive, and I had to replace the fuse on the system board before it worked.

 

[Brainonska511]

I think it was some Compudyne POS running Windows 3.1 in 1993; after several upgrades, it had almost a gig of hard drive space. Then later, we had several Dells, before I started just building my own.

 

[TheVrolok]

Some random company made 386SX, cost like 2 grand back in 91-92

 

[Lanyap]

Started out with a Commodore VIC 20 in 1982 after I started working in an IBM mainframe data center for South Central Bell. Decided that computers were my calling. Started teaching myself basic. Eventually upgraded to Apple II+ and learned how to program in 6502 assembler and writing an IBM ISPF emulator. The rest is history. Retired now after 35+ years in IT.

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Bought my first computer in 1996. Paid like $1300 used.

Had a Cyrix 166 processor!

 

[Ketchup]

The first one we owned was a 486 DX 33 Mhz with the "Turbo" button. I remember using an older laptop with WordPerfect 5.1 in '91 or so, but have no Idea what it ran.

 

[Lanyap]

I should probably start a different thread, but my software experience started with IBM Mainframes writing Assembly language programs on punch cards, then Fortran on punch cards, then COBOL on punch cards, then Assembly language programs on DEC VT100 terminals, on and on and on.

I started out programming with ISPF. Punch cards sucked. We still had to read the billing punch cards into the IBM card reader. I still have one of those metal jam clearing tools. I was in operations and we had the round tape drive cleaner that had a warning that it would make you "giddy". Too bad I didn't sniff enough of that stuff.

 

[MtnMan]

Atari, a present for my daughters fifth birthday in 1978. Yes, I did let her play with it, but when she went to bed it was mine.

 

[Anubis]

other

first and only "branded" computer i got in 2000 when i went to college and i cant even tell you what it was. been building ever since

 

[RLGL]

Acer 50Hz back when DOS 6.2 and Windoze 3.1 came out. Also the only branded box I have owned. Been building since

 

[balloonshark]

Atari 600XL and then a 130XE. I had a tape drive before a floppy drive. I eventually got a 2400 baud modem but long distance rates were killer while making $3.35 an hour at my first job.

 

[rchunter]

Toshiba T100 was the first one. But I also had an Apple II and Commodore 64 around the same time frame.

 

[Paladin3]

TI-99/4a that my dad bought me when they were on clearance at K-Mart for $99. I used to play Adventure games on it for hours and hours.

 

[RossMAN]

I got mine at a yard sale for $10, and had it plugged into a Zenith B&W TV

I also only had a tape drive, and I had to replace the fuse on the system board before it worked.

My grandparents bought mine, probably cost them I don't know a few hundred, maybe $1,000? Sometime in the mid 80s?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Tandy Trash-80, followed by a Commodore 64, an IBM PS2 Model 50Z, a professionally built 486 clone. Then I started building my own.

I had a Trash-80 too. There was a bit of a gap to my next computer which was an Hewlett-Packard 486. I started building my own after that. These days I mostly use a tablet for my personal web browsing but I do have a quad core I7 rig in our home office. My wife has a Toshiba laptop as her main computer.

 

[stargazr]

Gateway 486 DX 50

 

[thebestMAX]

Since I was an Field Engineer for Burroughs Corp, I always had a B-3500 system to play with.
Since I wasnt interested in games and wanted to do word processing, spreadsheets and a small database I needed a printer and said Id buy my own computer when one became available at a reasonable price. Along came the Epson MX-80 so I purchased an Atari 800 for home use. Always did everything I wanted to do even if I had to write some software for it. Had a 40 meg Indus HD that cost around $400, ha.

Still working fine when I got into PCs and gave it to my brother and his family, a move I regret to this day.

 

[ultimatebob]

The PS/2's had a great design back then. Everything was modular, and they were practically toolless.

 

[ultimatebob]

BTW, this is an awesome post, Thebobo! I should send you a Coolcoin for this one! PM me if you want me to send you one.

 

[ScoobMaster]

C-64 was my first. I saved my meager teenage funds up and bought it new in 1983 from a local electronics/stereo store that is long gone (RIP, HART Electronics - Vestal, NY)

 

[Oyeve]

My first brand name computer was an Atari 400. Then an Atari 800XL which I still have and use occasionally. My first brand name PC was an Amdek. It was an 8088 turbo (10mhz) with a then astounding 32meg HD.

 

[Thebobo]

C-64 was my first. I saved my meager teenage funds up and bought it new in 1983 from a local electronics/stereo store that is long gone (RIP, HART Electronics - Vestal, NY)

It was all local stores back then although Sears did start carrying the C=64 and 128 later. I bought my Amiga at a local store. Use to have a weekend pullout in the post with a couple pages that were devoted to computer adds for locals stores, would scour them every weekend. Mostly just to dream.

 

[Triloby]

First computer that I was exposed to by brand was a Commodore 64. We never actually owned one, but one of my uncles did which is where I was first exposed to computers.

The first computer that we were actually able to own in our home was some IBM PC clone with a 386SX at 25 MHz, 2 MB of RAM, one 5.25" and 3.5" floppy drive, and probably one 20 MB IDE HDD. I think the system had VGA built-in from the get go. We expanded it some years later with a Sound Blaster Pro 2.0 and one of those cheap and slow 2X CD-ROM drives. Eventually, we got rid of that system and brought a brand new computer once Windows 95 hit the scene. Mainly spent a lot of time messing around with shareware games from Lucasarts, Apogee, and Epic Megagames.

 

[ScoobMaster]

It was all local stores back then although Sears did start carrying the C=64 and 128 later. I bought my Amiga at a local store. Use to have an weekend pullout in the post with a couple pages that were devoted to computer adds for locals stores, would scour them every weekend. Mostly just to dream.

I miss the small local shops as well as the larger electronics / stereo retailers. Circuit City...REX...Computerland...Comp USA...J&R Electronics...Radio Shack... to name a few.​

 

[Oyeve]

I miss the small local shops as well as the larger electronics / stereo retailers. Circuit City...REX...Computerland...Comp USA...J&R Electronics...Radio Shack... to name a few.​

I soooooo miss J and R computer world. I starting going there when they had only one store in the 70s. Then expanded. I recall their apple department being buried in the lower back rear of the store. And those employees in that dept were complete dicks, pretty much like they are in the apple store today!