Did you get the classic computer you wanted bitd?

[Keatah]

Back in the day, you had your eye on a certain computer, and no other would do. Did you end up getting it? Or did you have to settle for something else and wait till later.

 

Surprisingly I had to wait, but got nothing in-between either. I seemingly wanted every one of those S-100 computers, and then eventually my interest shifted to single-board computers - seeing as they were more integrated and the wave of the future.

 

For a while I was hard up to get a TRS-80 and a PET. I lost interest in the PET for some reason. It just sort of dropped off my radar. So that left the TRS-80. But as fate would have it things came together at x-time and I got into the Apple II ecosphere. It felt right then and still does today.

 

I got a whiff of the mainboard and my infantile reasoning said OMG it has a hundred chips! And slots to plug in more stuff with more chips like the 16K Microsoft RamCard and the Z-80 SoftCard. With all these chips I got to thinking it had to have been the smartest and most powerful computer ever made!

 

And I absolutely loved the tiny speaker. I had crazy ideas it would be a trampoline for all the bugs we had infesting the house at the time.

[Laner]

I wanted an Atari 800 and an Amiga 1000 at different times, but knew both were out of my family's range financially speaking.

 

For Christmas '83 I really wanted an Atari 800XL, but got a Commodore 64 instead. I wasn't terribly disappointed (my dad had prepped me ahead of time), and in retrospect the C64 had much longer legs, so I have no complaints.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Laner

[+eebuckeye]

I don't really know why I got the TI-99/4A as it was before the major price breaks. Loved the system though.

 

After graduating from that one I asked my parents for a Commodore 128 then a few years later an Amiga 1000. I was very lucky to get them.

[Omega-TI]

If we are talking first computers here, yes I got the first one I really wanted. I had my eyes on Model I's & III's and eventually got a Model III later for other reasons, but the TI-99/4A 'called to me'. The black and silver styling, the color video and sound capability, the availability of the P-Box's modular expansion allowing new items as they became affordable or available appealed to me.

 

During my first run with the TI-99/4A, I also got and got rid of a Model III and a portable NEC PC-8201A. It was finally the calling and utility of the PC's that pulled me away from my first love, the TI-99/4A. Now, decades later, I've returned to the TI and am enjoying every minute of it.

[+save2600]

Oh yeah, and then some. When it comes to most anything electronic or otherwise, yes - have gotten nearly everything I've ever wanted and worked for. First computer was a beige TI-99/4A that I bought from a school chum in 8th grade or Freshman year. Was $200 (my first major purchase), so had to make monthly payments on it. Owned several other popular computers and game consoles since, but my love for the TI-99/4A made it through all of them!

[MarkO]

My First computer experience was the Apple ][+s at my High School in JAN-1982.

 

My Dad and Uncle bought Sinclair ZX-81 kits in APR-1983 and I helped assemble them.. So that was my First Home Computer.. ( My Dad's ZX-81, Front Left, My Uncles ZX-81 Front Right )

 

But I missed the Apple ][, so my friend Randy and I went in 50/50 to get a 6 month old Apple ][e in NOV-1983.. So I got the Computer I wanted, pretty early on..

Edited April 20, 2017 by MarkO

[spacecadet]

I wanted an Apple II and I got one, though later than I originally hoped and not the *specific* model I wanted. I wanted a IIe but ended up with a IIc because it was cheaper, and I was ok with that because it had everything I'd have put in a IIe at that point anyway. Later, though, I did wish I could expand the memory and get a better graphics card. (Later IIc's could at least be jury-rigged with more RAM under the keyboard, but the earlier ones couldn't I don't think.) So in the back of my mind, I was always a little jealous of those with IIe's.

 

It was actually the later computers I wanted but never could get. I ended up stuck with my IIc until 1993. In the interim I wanted a IIGS, then an Atari ST and/or an Amiga, but my parents couldn't afford them and didn't see the point anyway when I had a perfectly good computer already. (They saw computers as something you buy once and use forever, like a dining table or a guitar.) I had to wait until my third year of college before they finally helped me out with a new computer, and by then it was just a boring PC.

[eightbit]

The only one I didn't get BITD that I wanted was the IIGS primarily due to the cost. Got a great deal on one nearly 30 years later however! Haha

[AtariLeaf]

I originally wanted an Atari computer because of brand recognition and we did actually buy either a 600XL or 800XL in 1982 I can't remember which model but it was an XL. Problem was my father didn't want to buy more games or software so he was talking to a family friend and he convinced my dad that it would be better to return the Atari (which he had for less than a week) and buy a Tandy Color Computer instead. The reasoning was he could "copy" any game or program I wanted for free so we returned the Atari and picked up a used Coco 1 with 16k, a joystick and a tape player and a bunch of blank tapes and I spent an hour at this friends house making copies of every game that would work on a coco 1. I love my coco but in hindsight I still would have preferred the atari computer and games, they were just so much better.

[Keatah]

I, too wanted a IIgs when it came out. But I had to settle for one of those Amiga thingies. The cost of the IIgs was simply too high. It would be some 10 years later or so I would acquire a complete and fully loaded IIgs for like 400. All the desirable cards and external peripherals included. Still have the machine today.

 

Trivia:

It was through this ad snippet that I learned of the Apple II.

[Arnuphis]

Fir my first computer I wanted a ZX81 since all my friends had one. Parents got me a VIC-20 instead. I think they beat my dream by quite a margin there! Since then I pretty much got the computer I wanted. Usually by selling the one I had and then saving up some cash or getting it on credit (Like an Amiga 500 out of a catalogue my Mother used to get). Its only recently that I have been going back and getting the ones I sold to upgrade.

[Mitkraft]

Haha, funny you should ask NO I didn't!

 

When I was in 4th grade we got introduced to the computer lab with full Comodore 64 setups. We learned basic and did some really cool stuff. I was already totally enamored with anything electronic and I loved the computer. I wanted one so badly! My parents were divorced and dad always had more disposable income than mom plus being "weekend dad" he always got me one big gift for Birthday and Christmas and it was usualy some version of what I wanted (I never asked for anything outrageous). But when Christmas came imagine my disappointment when I opened this:

 

 

I didn't say anything negative but I was devastated. Not because I didn't get a computer, but because he thought that was a suitable substitute. If I'd just not gotten it at all I'd have been less disappointed. So sometime later I was still asking for a Comodore 64 and my mom instead got me a TI 99/4A (through my uncle who worked for TI). I wasn't disappointed by it but I didn't know as much about how to use it so I didn't take to it like I might have the C64. It wasn't till much later that I did much with it but even still I never really utilized it much except for goofing around.

Edited April 21, 2017 by Mitkraft

[Opry99er]

I had a TI-99/4A growing up and never really had any other desires... save 1.

 

My friend had an Apple IIe and we used to ride bikes between our houses in Brighton CO on weekends and play each other's computers. I loved his Apple for the unique feel of the green monitor and Oregon Trail... He loved my TI for Parsec and Alpiner. He never ceased to be amazed by the speech synthesis.

 

Anyway, I always wanted an Apple IIe but never got one.

 

I have my first IIe coming in the mail next week, and I am very excited.

 

My TI will always have the majority of my heart, however, and it will always be in the center of my desk. I am pretty jazzed about the Apple though.

[rpiguy9907]

I desperately wanted a Coleco Adam. It looked like a real computer. It ran ColecoVision games! I was so set on it. My parents got me a Commodore 64 instead, likely on price but also Coleco had serious issues shipping that first Christmas season. Regardless of the reason, it turned out my parent's random purchase was the better one in the end. I would have been so sad not having any games to buy at the local computer store with an orphan system like the Adam. The c64 had a huge community and support. It worked out better than the computer I wanted would have! And I loved the c64 after using it.

[JamesD]

I learned to program on the school's TRS-80 Model I.
That was completely cool but I saw Star Raiders for the Atari and from that moment I wanted an Atari 800.
My parents couldn't afford that so I figured an Atari 400 would do and I'd upgrade the keyboard later.

We happened to drive by the only Atari computer dealer in the area on a trip to Cheyenne, WY, and I talked my parents into stopping.
After chatting with the salesman a minute, I sat down at an 800 and typed in a short program out of a magazine while my parents patiently waited just to see what it was like.
After double checking my work I typed typed RUN.
The program obviously set up a custom display list by the look of the screen, and then it locked up. Ugh!
I hit reset and typed list but my work was gone.
It was at that moment I decided I wanted a TRS-80 Color Computer which I'd already tried out, and that's what my parents eventually got me.
I'm pretty sure I would have been happy with an Atari though.

[spacecadet]

My parents got me a Commodore 64 instead, likely on price but also Coleco had serious issues shipping that first Christmas season. Regardless of the reason, it turned out my parent's random purchase was the better one in the end.

 

Yeah, you dodged a bullet with that one. I had a friend who got both a ColecoVision and then an Adam (expansion version) the first season each was on sale. She was extremely excited about both. She lived literally across a parking lot from me so I was there both nights she opened those systems and set them up. (Before anyone says it again, I was 10 - all I cared about was playing the games.) I remember her setting up the Adam and being really amazed at how it turned her ColecoVision into a legit computer. But literally within a week, she soured on the whole thing. I'm pretty sure she ran across the tape erasure problem, and she basically just stopped using the system after that. I remember playing her ColecoVision literally every night for at least an entire year, but after she got her Adam, I think that pretty much stopped everything. I don't remember much after that first night setting it up. The whole system was so big that she had to actually store it away somewhere, so we couldn't easily just turn it on and start playing, and after her tapes got erased I think everything basically went in a cabinet and probably never came out again.

 

The Adam was a buzzkill at the time. Nowadays if you know its issues and can work around them, I'm sure it's a fun system, but it's not like much was made specifically for it either. You definitely did a lot better with the C64. I hope you thanked your parents.

[rpiguy9907]

I was the oldest and my parents were what I call not quite poor (there weren't many spare pennies and they all were saved) back then, so I never dreamed I would actually get a computer. I thanked them probably a thousand times.

[eightbit]

The Coleco Adam was another one. I wanted this so bad when I was a kid. That super massive box on the very top shelf by the checkout area of Kay-Bee was beckoning me. But my parents would absolutely not absorb that cost. I ended up with a tabletop Pac-Man from Woolworth instead

Edited April 24, 2017 by eightbit

[JamesD]

I remember a friend wanting an ADAM. He talked about it a lot.
When it was released his parents order him one and hew was psyched!
The BASIC tape got erased the 2nd day and it went back.
I think he got a VIC

[Omega-TI]

Wow... the Adam Computer, that brings back nightmares for retailers at the time. One of the biggest hunks of junk to ever be called a computer. QC issues and EMI nightmares. IIRC many were broken straight out of the box.

[zzip]

In 83 I knew I wanted a computer for Christmas, but deciding on one was hard. Hated the 400's keyboard, the 800 was out of the question because of cost. The Vic20 looked weak. The C-64 was probably a little too much to ask. I didn't consider the TI 99/4a or CoCo as options for whatever reason. Then suddenly the 600XL came out and it was the right price, better keyboard-- sold!

 

But when it came to the ST vs Amiga. I kinda really wanted an Amiga, but then I was a teen financing the purchase with my own (paper route) income. The price of the Amiga reminded me I didn't want an Amiga THAT badly Bought an ST instead.

[MarkO]

I desperately wanted a Coleco Adam. It looked like a real computer. It ran ColecoVision games! I was so set on it. My parents got me a Commodore 64 instead, likely on price but also Coleco had serious issues shipping that first Christmas season. Regardless of the reason, it turned out my parent's random purchase was the better one in the end. I would have been so sad not having any games to buy at the local computer store with an orphan system like the Adam. The c64 had a huge community and support. It worked out better than the computer I wanted would have! And I loved the c64 after using it.

 

My Uncle bought an Adam, and had to return it to get another, before finely getting a C64.... ( I still have a set of Adam Manuals )

 

Your Parents got the better Computer to begin with...

 

MarkO

[Keatah]

A little more info in the "battle" between TRS-80 and Apple II when it came down to getting my first "real" micro. My parents and grandparents thought I would outgrow the TRS-80 because it didn't have color graphics. They kinda-sorta knew I wanted to play games and immediately recognized the Apple II could do color. But that's as far as they went, they didn't note the higher resolution or other advantages.

Edited April 25, 2017 by Keatah

[Keatah]

Let's shift the discussion a little. Wants are sometimes different than practicality or what is the right & logical fit.

 

So, in retrospect again, did you end up with the right computer with the right fit for who you were or what you wanted/were doing at the time?

 

---

 

I wanted to play "Mission Control" a lot, you know have a console like the guys did at NASA. And the TRS-80 seemed like the perfect fit for that want. B/W only screen, semi-blocky low-res graphics. Fast on the playfield with pushing text. Lots of business/tech/statistic software.

 

Couple that with my Globe Patrol, crystal radio, VCS, CB, and project kits and I was godammned IN BUSINESS! What more could a kid want?? Alas it was never to be. Aside from the parents bringing to light the lack of COLOR graphics, cost may have been a factor, as well as the un-likelihood of any other kids having a Model I/III.

 

So you see, what I wanted might not have been a good match for me. Ohh they tried to pawn off some other micros (which I forget), I would hear none of it. My next option turned out to be begging and pleading for assistance in buying the Apple II. I used the fact that it had slots and I could work summer jobs to get the computer up-to-spec. Didn't have to get it all at once. And I truly did that. Bought nearly all the expansion cards and stuff myself.

[JamesD]

Let's shift the discussion a little. Wants are sometimes different than practicality or what is the right & logical fit.

 

So, in retrospect again, did you end up with the right computer with the right fit for who you were or what you wanted/were doing at the time?

...

I have to say yes. If I hadn't changed my mind and had gotten the Atari I originally wanted, I probably wouldn't have gotten a job that really started my career rolling.