What was YOUR very first computer?

[twoquickcapri]

Packard Bell 386sx 16 Mhz and 124 Mb. harddrive. The harddrive was the size of three 3.5 inch. harddrives of today. It also had a sweet turbo button

 

 

[NerdishTeen]

Atari 600XL, i got rid of it at a goodwill

[RodLightning]

My first computer was the Atari 600XL with 16kb and no accessories, purchased the year it came out as a Christmas present. That same week, I bought a Qix cart so I would have a game to play on it. Weeks later, I bought a 410 program recorder to go with it. This awesome little system was in use all through high school. My mother had searched all over town for the newest Atari and found one across town at Toys-R-Us. I love you mom!

[tep392]

Atari 600XL, i got rid of it at a goodwill

 

I hear ya. I left my 400, 410 and carts on the curb in the late 80's.

[R.O.T.S]

48K Spectrum and before that my first ever console (A2600/VCS)

[Tempest]

An Atari 400 in 1982 and then an Apple IIe in 86. I still have both.

[Rex Dart]

Packard Bell Legend 420CD.

486DX2 @ 66MHz (later upgraded to 100MHz DX4)

Windows for Workgroups 3.11 (later Win95, Win98, Win98SE)

400MB HDD (later upgraded to 2.5GB)

4MB RAM (upgraded to 16MB)

4x CD-ROM

2400 Baud Modem that had been outdated for years (later 28.8, 33.6, and 56k)

 

Looked just like this:

 

[GideonsDad]

A Tandy 1000 EX Personal Computer as a Christmas gift. It came with Demon Attack and Wizard of Id - Wiztype. It also came with a joystick, which was awesome for Demon Attack. I would go on to get mostly inexpensive titles mostly by Mastertronic: Ninja, Prowler, Feud, Vegas Casino. I did have Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy Jr. too.

 

Man, I miss those days. Everything was so much more simple.

 

I did a search on eBay for a Tandy 1000 and most sellers want hundreds of dollars for one. No thanks. I'll just fire up DOSBox and head over to Abandonia.com for my classic PC gaming fix.

[Turbogfx]

iBook G4

[almightytodd]

I'm somewhat surprised at myself for being so late to make an entry in this topic, as I really like nostalgic threads like this. Anyway, my first computer was a Timex/Sinclair 1000 with the 16K expansion pack. It was really a rather remarkable little machine. You can download or play with an online emulator here. While the keyboard was a membrane type like the one found on the Atari 400, they had designed it in a clever way such that all of the BASIC language key-words could be entered with one button-press. This helped teach you the language elements, prevented typo-errors, and made programming less of a chore than would be expected with a membrane keyboard. The programs available on cassette tape loaded in a reasonably short time and were entertaining.

[Gibbersan]

My first one I purchased was a Commodore 64. Got it used with monitor, four 1541 drives and a printer. Got it in 1984.

[JamesD]

I'm sure I answered this in another thread before but...

 

I learned BASIC on a TRS-80 Model I in school and was hooked.

I didn't get my own computer for a couple years but my first computer was a CoCo 1, 16K Extended Color Basic.

 

I originally wanted an Atari 800 but the CoCo's BASIC looked better and the difference in price was significant at that time.

I tried typing on an Atari 400 but that keyboard made the CoCo chicklet keyboard feel good.

 

FWIW, the C64 wasn't out yet, I didn't like the 20 column screen on the VIC 20, the TI had a very different BASIC and a smallish keyboard, and the Apple II was so expensive I didn't even consider it, but I ended up doing quite a bit of programming on the one my friend owned.

 

Most of the people I knew had Tandy or Apple computers. One had a VIC 20, one a TI, and one tried an Adam which got promptly returned due to problems.

 

<edit>

BTW, my first game for it was Space Assult, then I bought Mega Bug.

I can't believe I had so much fun with such a horrible Space Invaders game.

Edited June 6, 2012 by JamesD

[+thegoldenband]

Assuming consoles don't count (we bought a VCS in 1979 or so), then my first computer was a Tandy CoCo (EDIT: actually a CoCo 2), purchased in either 1983 or 1984.

[ed1475]

This is a picture of my first computer, a Coleco ADAM, taken in 1984 along with new computer desk and printer stand.

 

[Rockin' Kat]

Me thinks someone didn't realize that the space under the desk without any shelves was for their legs while they sit at the keyboard until after they took the picture.

[Grig]

Love the 80s flashlight on top of the desk!

[ed1475]

Me thinks someone didn't realize that the space under the desk without any shelves was for their legs while they sit at the keyboard until after they took the picture.

 

Nope. The keyboard is set to the side and the controllers are all set for playing the Buck Rogers Super Game.

 

 

Love the 80s flashlight on top of the desk!

 

It's a First Alert Ready-Lite.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLmzTkSzhTc

Edited June 8, 2012 by ed1475

[tremoloman2006]

My first real computer was a TRS-80 Model III (w/48K and 2 floppy drives).

I think it cost $2500 or so back then. My father purchased it to start is business.

 

We used it for 10 years and it ran like a champ. Wish we still had it around. I miss it. ;(

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTljhKzcP-c

[Grig]

Yup, very good, sturdy computer.

[Emehr]

Commodore 64. I'm thinking it was 1983. No disk drives, monitor, or anything. I remember my dad typing in some programs, playing the subsequent game, then shutting it off and losing everything. It was neat but at 8 years old I was having more fun with Tinkertoys, Legos, and GI Joe. We didn't have it for long.

 

My first practical computer that I actually got real use out of was a Macintosh Performa 6116CD, a variant of the 1st generation PowerPC 6100 models. Got this in early 1996. I made animations on it, edited sound and music, and taught myself C programming and a bit of assembly. I got pretty hot and heavy writing Mac programs with this thing. Compared to the Apple IIgs I used in high school, this thing was limitless. I still have it, if only for nostalgia and because it's the only Mac I have with a floppy drive that reads Apple IIgs disks and boots into System 7.5.

 

iMac DV Special Edition in 2000. Was my parents' first computer too!

A friend recently gave me one of these. Graphite 500MHz Summer 2000 iMac DV SE model. I always wanted a gumdrop iMac. I'm going to try and save it for my son if the flyback transformer doesn't putter out. I'll probably load it up with Oregon Trail and stuff.

[Segataritensoftii]

A relatively joyless Macintosh Classic II. No games, no color, and no internet. I occupied my time typing up gibberish in Word and printing it out, although I did have fun with a Macpaint disk I found one day.

 

In 1999, my family received an IBM Aptiva with the blazing fast AMD K6-2, a color monitor, and the almighty Encarta Reference suite 2000.

[Dave Farquhar]

My first was a Commodore 64, in 1984. I learned a lot about how it worked from typing in programs from the back pages of magazines. I think we had the same desk as ed1475, too.

[Tempest]

I think we had the same desk as ed1475, too.

I think everyone had a desk like that.

[Master Phruby]

Mine was an Atari 400 with upgraded keyboard, a 410 program recorder and the Educators package. I later upgraded it to 48k and then replaced it with an 130XE.

[kenjennings]

Does the Atari 2600 with the BASIC Programming cartridge and keyboard controllers count as a computer? I exhausted all the possibilities of the language/cartridge over a weekend.

 

Then the Atari 800 came out and I spent a year saving everything from my paper route to buy one. Had only a tape drive for years. A floppy disk drive cost way too much back then. There's nothing like saving to tape to teach patience and the importance of multiple backups.