Your main rigs over the years

[pianowizard]

I wonder what you guys have been using as your main computers at work, at home, and for traveling. Last night, I looked through an Excel spreadsheet listing all of the 65 computers I've owned and identified the ones I considered my main rigs. I hadn't realized that I've always had at least one Dell machine at any time. I am extremely satisfied with my current setups and don't think they'll change anytime soon.

My main rigs over the years (updated periodically):

At work (all are my personal computers):

08/2002-11/2003: Dell Inspiron 8200, 1.6GHz P4, 1GB RAM, 15.0" 1400x1050 (my first-ever laptop)

12/2003-06/2005: Packard Bell Synera 406, 233MHz Pentium MMX, 128MB RAM, 1024x768 CRT monitor (I used such a crappy computer because at that time we had lots of thefts in our building, so I wanted to use something really cheap -- this one was free.)

06/2005-10/2006: Dell OptiPlex GX110, 1GHz PIII, 512MB RAM, 19" 1600x1200 Dell D1226H CRT monitor (Also a freebie. The CPU was upgraded from 600MHz PIII)

11/2006-05/2007: Dell Inspiron 6000, 1.6GHz P-M, 1.5GB RAM, 1920x1200 (I started using more expensive equipment because we moved into a new building where I had a lockable drawer under my desk.)

05/2007-12/2008: IBM Thinkpad R50p, 1.7GHz P-M, 2GB RAM, 15.0" 2048x1536

12/2008-11/2009: Dell Dimension B110, 2.53GHz Celeron D, 2GB RAM, 24" 1920x1200 Dell 2407WFPb & 20" 1600x1200 Dell 2007FPb LCD monitors

11/2009-06/2011: Dell Optiplex GX280, 2.80GHz Pentium 4 HT, 2GB RAM, two 24" 1920x1200 Dell 2407WFP, one 24" 1920x1200 Dell 2408WFP LCD monitors

06/2011-10/2011: Dell Precision 390, 2.66GHz Core2 Extreme QX6700, 4GB RAM, one 30" 2560x1600 Dell 3008WFP, three 24" 1920x1200 Dell LCD monitors

10/2011-07/2012: HP 8200 Elite, 3.40GHz Core i7-2600, 8GB RAM, one 30" 2560x1600 Dell 3008WFP, three 24" 1920x1200 Dell LCD monitors

07/2012-present: HP 8300 Elite, 3.40GHz Core i7-3770, 12GB RAM, currently with one 40" 3840x2160 Seiki Pro SM40UNP, one 27" 2560x1440 Dell U2711, and one 27" 2560x1440 Acer T272HUL (touchscreen) LCD monitors

At home:

11/2003-02/2006: Dell Inspiron 8200, 1.6GHz P4, 1GB RAM, 15.0" 1400x1050 (same as the one mentioned above)

02/2006-08/2006: Gateway E-3200, 1.1GHz PIII, 512GB RAM, 19" Dell E196FP LCD monitor

08/2006-01/2007: IBM Thinkpad T43, 1.86GHz P-M, 2GB RAM, 14.1" 1400x1050

01/2007-06/2007: Lenovo Thinkpad T60, 1.66GHz Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 14.1" 1400x1050

07/2007-08/2008: IBM Thinkpad R50p, 1.7GHz P-M, 2GB RAM, 15.0" 2048x1536

08/2008-12/2008: IBM Thinkpad T43p, 2.26GHz P-M, 2GB RAM, 15.0" 2048x1536

12/2008-11/2009: Compaq Presario 5WV232, 1.3GHz AMD Duron, 1GB RAM, 24" 1920x1200 Dell 2407WFP & 20" 1600x1200 Samsung 204B LCD monitors

11/2009-06/2011: Dell Dimension B110, 2.53GHz Celeron D, 2GB RAM, 27" 2560x1440 Dell U2711 LCD monitor

06/2011-12/2011: Dell OptiPlex 760 regular desktop, 2.66GHz Core2 Duo E7300, 4GB RAM, 27" 2560x1440 Dell U2711 & 21.5" 1920x1080 Dell ST2210b LCD monitors

12/2011-11/2012: Dell OptiPlex 760 small form factor desktop, 3.0GHz Core2 Duo E8400, 2GB RAM, 27" 2560x1440 Dell U2711 & 21.5" 1920x1080 Dell ST2210b LCD monitors

11/2012-present: Dell OptiPlex 9010 small form factor desktop, 3.30GHz Core i3-3220, 4GB RAM, currently with a 40" 3840x2160 Crossover 404K LCD monitor

For traveling:

09/2002-10/2004: IBM Thinkpad 600E, 366MHz PII, 13.3" 1024x768, 5.29 lb

10/2004-05/2005: Dell Inspiron 700m, 1.6GHz P-M, 12.1" 1280x800, 4.14 lb with integrated optical drive

05/2005-02/2006: IBM Thinkpad 240, 300MHz Celeron, 10.4" 800x600, 2.96 lb

02/2006-11/2006: Toshiba Portege R100, 1GHz P-M, 12.1" 1024x768, 2.38 lb

11/2006-08/2007: Dell Axim X51v PDA, 3.7" 640x480, 0.378 lb

08/2007-10/2007: IBM Thinkpad T42, 1.6GHz P-M, 14.1" 1600x1200, 5.01 lb with travel bezel

10/2007-10/2008: HP nc2400, 1.2GHz Core Solo, 12.1" 1280x800, 2.81 lb with travel bezel

01/2009-09/2010: IBM Thinkpad i Series 1124 (240Z), 500MHz PIII, 10.4" 1024x768, 2.92 lb

09/2010-06/2011: HP Mini 5101, 1.66GHz Atom, 10.1" 1366x768, 2.87 lb

06/2011-03/2012: Panasonic Toughbook CF-Y5, 1.66GHz Core Duo, 14.1" 1400x1050, 3.55 lb

03/2012-09/2012: Dell Latitude E4200, 1.40GHz Core2 Duo U9400, 12.1" 1280x800, 2.23 lb

09/2012-02/2014: Sony Vaio VPCX113KG, 1.86GHz Atom Z540, 11.1" 1366x768, 1.49 lb

02/2014-12/2014: Sony Vaio VGN-P530CH, 1.33GHz Atom Z520, 8.0" 1600x768, 1.23 lb

12/2014-present: Sony Vaio SVP13213CXB, 1.6GHz Core i5-4200U, 13.3" 1920x1080 touchscreen, 2.33 lb

[mgo]

I wonder what you guys have been using as your main computers at work, at home, and/or for traveling.

I won't list all of them, but my work computer experience goes back to 1986 with a Unix machine for graphics and weather data. It was rack mounted. There was no instruction book. (well, there, was, but it said, "to make a map, go to the "make a map menu" and make a map. No howto at all)

I also had a OS/2 box for weather duties. Finally a Silicon Graphics box for weather duties. Crappy build quality with that unit.

At home, a Packard Bell beige box with a whopping 40 MEG hard drive in around 1998. Upgraded it from DOS 6.0 to DOS 6.22 which required a call to PB tech support to change the config.sys with a NOEMS statement. (on hold for centuries!)

Included in home units were two home-builts with off the shelf hardware and the wonderful Avant Prime keyboard. (clacky but wonderful tactile feel)

First laptop was a used Toshiba with dim screen and very slow.

My first ThinkPad was a 760ELD. Horrible spongy keyboard but very strong otherwise.

Currently, three T60s, one X30 for GPS mapping when taking trips, one R50p and one R52. My currents stable is just super dooper and they all work so well with XP or Vista. Messing with LInux a bit, but can't warm up to it yet.

[bill bolton]

The "important" systems are more or less...

IMSAI 8080 - (S100 bus)
North Star Horizon Z80 - (S100 bus)
Morrow/Godbout 8086 - (S100 bus)
Apple II
NEC APC 8086 - (NEC bus)
IBM PC AT - (PC Bus)
Compaq Portable - (PC Bus)
IBM Model 60 - (PS/2 bus)
IBM Model 70 - (PS/2 bus)
AST - (EISA bus)
IBM NetVista PL300 (PC Bus + PCI Bus)
IBM ThinkPad 600X
IBM ThinkCentre M4? (PCI Bus)
IBM T41 Thinkpad *
IBM T43 Thinkpad *
IBM ThinkCentre M50 (PCI Bus) *
IBM T60 ThinkPad *
IBM X61 ThinkPad *
IBM T61 ThinkPad *

Systems with a * are still in active use.

There have also been a lot of systems which have been through my hands but have not stayed long enough to be really memorable, and there are also a number of "built from parts" home server/NAS configs but they are too tedious to describe.

Cheers,

Bill

[kosse]

Let's see if I can remember..

1990 (?)
Amiga 500. I used it for gaming as I was too young to really do anything else with it.

1995
Compaq Presario 9538 Pentium 90 8Mb 1Gb

1997
Compaq upgraded to P166, 56Mb, 3DFX Voodoo

1999
P3 500, 128MB, 20Gb, TNT2U. The first computer I built myself.

2001
^ upgraded to celeron 600@1000 (if you can call that an upgrade), 512Mb RAM

2002
First laptop, "Pomi" i.e. some chinese nameless laptop with a local computer manufacturer's name on it. It was P4-M 1,8Ghz, 512Mb, 20Gt 1024x768

2007
E6750, 2Gb, 400Gb, X1950pro. I wanted a modern Desktop.

IBM T41 SXGA+. My first IBM laptop!

2008
Lenovo X61s. It was really cool but then I decided that it was way too good for me.

Tomorrow I'lle be getting a T40 from the customs, that should suit me well.

[KristianJ]

The dates are a bit approximate for the first 2, but here goes:

Mar 02-Mar 03: IBM Thinkpad 760XL, P166, 72MB RAM, 4GB HDD, CD-ROM, 12.1 SVGA, Win 98 -> was my first computer that I bought with my own money

Mar 03-Mar 06: Dell Latitude CPi A400XT, PII 400, 192MB RAM, 30GB HDD, CD-ROM, 13.3 XGA, Win ME upgraded to Win XP

Mar 06-Jun 07: IBM Thinkpad T40, P-M 1.5 Banias, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, CD-RW/DVD-ROM, 14.1 XGA, Win XP

Jun 07-Feb 08: IBM Thinkpad T42, P-M 1.7 Dothan, 2GB RAM, 80GB HDD, CD-RW/DVD-ROM, 15 SXGA+, Win XP

Feb 08-present: IBM Thinkpad T42p, P-M 1.8 Dothan, 2GB RAM, 100GB HDD, CD-RW/DVD-ROM, 15 UXGA, Win XP

The only other laptop I ever used exclusively was a little Toshiba Portege 3480CT, PIII 600, 128MB RAM, 12GB HDD, 11.3" SVGA, Win XP. It was severely hampered by its poor maximum RAM (only 192MB) and the MicroDIMM form that it used, so I jettisoned it rather quickly after my taking it on holiday last October. My others (T23, X31, A31p, A22e, Z60m) I took to work at times, but I wouldn't call them a main rig per se, since they never took pride of place on my desk at home.

I'm currently on the lookout for an ultraportable to take with me to work, which will most likely get more use than my previous secondary systems. Any non-IBM/Lenovo recommendations would be most welcomed, since I've already had an X31 and would like to try my hand at something different.

[zdriver]

Some but not all include...

IMSI 8080 - from the early Altair S100 days
(Bill B. & I may be the only 2 on the forum who know what they are without having seen the movie war games)

Dual Systems - S100 - ran a bbs on it

DEC Rainbow - 2 cpu's could run msdos or cpm

IBM AT - 80286 @ 6 or 8mhz - I don't remember

TI 990 - Mini - could not afford to power it today...

IBM Model 70 - 486/50
IBM Model 95 - Pentium 60

DEC starion - P200

Thinkpad 701C - wish I had kept it - my 1st thinkpad
Thinkpad 560
Thinkpad 600E

Asus/Intel Core2Duo 2.6Ghz (current)
Thinkpad T41 (current)
Thinkpad T43 (current & up for sale soon)

[tylerwylie]

In the beginning, there was a Celeron 333mhz. That was my first machine, it was 256MB RAM+128MB I added in later and a 700MB HD. Then I upgraded to a P3 500mhz with 256MB+128MB RAM, with my first expansion slot my Ati Rage Pro 128 with 16MB of video RAM, I could finally play Diablo 2!!.


After that I went to a P4 2.4ghz on an asus P4P800 motherboard with a NVidia 6800GT with 256MB ram, had 1.5GB of RAM, and an 80GB hard drive.



Now I'm on my Core 2 Duo E6600 with 4GB DDR2 PC6400 RAM, a NVidia 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3, on an EVGA nForce 680i SLI. 2x250GB SATA 3.0GB/S hard drives as well.


Laptops:

First laptop was an Alienware 5500M laptop, had a 1.73GHz Pentium M, 1GB DDR2 RAM @ 533MHz, a 40GB 5400RPM hard drive, a NVidia 6600 GO with 256MB RAM, and the option to switch between the NVidia video card, or an Intel 915GM video adapter.

Current laptop is what you see in my signature.

[RealBlackStuff]

The older dates (up to 1994) are estimated guesses.
Desktops:
1977 Commodore 64 with 2 floppy drives and color monitor
1980 Tulip, 8088 CPU, 512KB RAM, 20MB(!) HD, 2x 360KB 5-1/4" floppy drives, 12" green monitor
1981 Sperry, 8086 CPU, 640MB RAM, 20MB HD, 13" NEC color monitor
1982 IBM AT286, 80286 CPU 6MHz, 640KB RAM + extra 1MB RAM, 20MB HD, 60MB external HD, same 13" monitor
1985 homebuilt, 80386 CPU 25MHz, overclocked to 33MHz, 2MB RAM, 80MB HD, 15" NEC color monitor
1988 homebuilt, 80486 CPU 40MHz + 80487 math. co-processor, 4MB RAM, 80MB HD, same 15" monitor
1991 homebuilt, 80486 CPU 100Dx + 80487 math. co-processor, 4MB RAM, 2x 80MB HD, same 15" monitor
1994 homebuilt, PI CPU 120MHz, 128MB RAM (4x 32), 4.3GB + 6.4GB HDs, 4MB S3 graphics, 16" NEC monitor
1997 homebuilt, PII CPU 300MHz, 128MB RAM (2x 64), 10GB HD, 8MB Matrox Millennium 200 graphics, same 16" monitor
2000 homebuilt, PIII CPU 550MHz Katmai, 256MB RAM (2x 128), 40GB HD, 16MB Matrox Millennium 200 graphics, 19" SONY monitor
2002 homebuilt, AMD XP1900 CPU 1.66GHz, 512MB RAM (2x 256), 40GB HD, 32MB Matrox G550 graphics, same 19" monitor
This is my current main machine:
2005 homebuilt, AMD64-3000 CPU 1.8GHz, 2GB RAM (2x 1GB), 2x 80GB HD, 128MB nVidia 6600GT graphics, 15" NEC LCD (temporary)
Received new 19" LCD, HP LP1965 end March 2008.

I'm thinking of building a new machine with Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 or Quad Q6600 and XFX GeForce 8800GT 512MB Alpha Dog.
In between the above, I built another 15 or so other PCs for friends.

Laptops:
Compaq Armada 7400, 400MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, 6GB HD
3x Thinkpad T23, all with 1.13GHz CPU
2x Thinkpad T30, both with 2.0GHz CPU

[jdhurst]

I will start at 1999 as that is the year I switched to NT4 and forget blue screen crashes, apparently forever (awaiting Vista now to see if my record stays intact)

Personal Desktops:
1999 IBM PC 300PL - Windows NT4 and then Windows 2000
2003 IBM NetVista A30 - Windows XP Pro - still running 24x7

Company Laptops:
1999 IBM TP 240 - Windows NT4 very briefly, then Windows 2000
2000 IBM TP 240X - Windows 2000
2001 IBM TP X22 - Windows XP Pro

Personal Laptops:
2002 IBM TP A22e - Windows 2000 - sold and still running
2002 IBM TP T23 - Windows XP Pro - sold and still running
2003 IBM TP T30 - Windows XP Pro - sold and still running
2003 IBM TP T41 - Windows XP Pro - My work laptop for 4+ years.

Personal Laptop Coming:
2008 Lenovo TP 61p - Windows Vista Business 64-Bit

[pianowizard]

There have also been a lot of systems which have been through my hands but have not stayed long enough to be really memorable

Same here. Most notably, I have owned 13 X-series Thinkpads, two of which were tablets, and I never used any of them much. I guess I kept buying them because they looked cute, but I ended up using the Toshiba Portege R100 and the HP nc2400 listed in my opening post instead because they were better in terms of weight (the Toshiba) or display resolution (the HP).

IBM T41 SXGA+. My first IBM laptop!...Tomorrow I'lle be getting a T40 from the customs, that should suit me well.

This T41 is not in your signature. Why did you replace it with a T40?

[ajkula66]

OK, let's see...

1991/92: AT286/16/40Mb monochromatic monitor...

a very long pause...

2001: A20m, P3 700 Mhz, 192Mb RAM, 12Gb HDD, 14" XGA, eventually parted out because of BOD.

2002: A22p, P3 1Ghz, 256Mb RAM, 32Gb HDD, 15" UXGA, still running, although not in my possession anymore.

2002 (late) and on : A31p in every form imaginable...first one being 2653-H6U...new from IBM...still running, 3 LCDs and 4 boards later, not in my possession anymore.

Never had a desktop after that first AT many moons ago...

For a short and oh-so-painful period of about six weeks last year that I didn't have a single A31p, my main rig was an upgraded R50p later given to my wife and eventually sold to mgo...

[bobstockler]

My first computer (not counting a little Sinclair that worked with my TV
and a tape recorder) was a Radio Shack Model II that my company bought,
on the recommendation of our accountants (Coopers Lybrand) when our NCR
Bookkeeping Machine broke down at the same time as our 70+ years old
bookkeeper decided to retire.

Our TRS-80 MOD-II computer had no hard drive, but 4 12" floppy disk
drives instead. The Accounts Receivable program that came with it was
a compiled COBOL program that printed its statements in all CAPS. That
wasn't acceptable to me, so I learned to print the statements to a
spool file, and then learned enough BASIC programming (with the help of
Bob Snapp's enhancements to the TRS-80's native MicroSoft BASIC that
allowed me to use that language without having to learn how to field
variables).

Things went from this to that as I went from TRSDOS to SCO Xenix 2.3.4
to SCO UNIX and then build a LAN with Windows Me and RH Linux.

Now, I sit here in my family room, watching our UL basketball.team in
the NCAA tournement, typing on the G41 ThinkPad I got at a good price
as an IBM shareholder,and which I connect with all of the computers
upstairs in my computer room via WiFi and VNC I wish you all so good
a computer experience I have had.

Bob

[mgo]

My first computer <<snip snip>> I wish you all so good
a computer experience I have had.

Bob

Wow, you sound like one of those legendary trail blazing propellerheads, and I mean that in a most complimentary way.

[leoblob]

Wow, guess I hang onto stuff for quite a while

For work/home (self-employed)...

1984 - 1993 Kaypro 2
1993 - 1995 Gateway 486sx33 (eventually updated to 486/66)
1995 - 2000 IBM PC300-P90 (eventually updated to P240 clone)
2001 - 2003 Homebuilt PIII-700 (eventually updated to PIII-1200)
2003 - 2007 IBM PC300-GL (in my signature)
2007 - date, IBM Intellistation (in my signature)

For travel...

1994 - 1997 TP360
1997 - 2000 TP365x
2000 - date, no more travel

Other computers I have (or had) were not my "main rigs"

[iThinkiAmBen]

Since July 2007... These are going to be in a roughly chronological order.... "*" indicates I still have it.

--MAIN COMPUTERS--

iBook G4 1.33GHz* (mom's house, almost never used)
PowerMac G4 867MH
Powerbook G4 667MHz
PowerMac G4 dual 800MHz, 1GB RAM
got the Powerbook back
Another dual 800MHz Power Mac, this time w/ 1.5GBRAM*
Thinkpad T41....
Mac mini 1.83GHz Core Duo
Powerbook G4 867MHz
Thinkpad T60
MacBook 2.2GHz black C2D
Powerbook G4 15" 1.67GHz, 1.5GB RAM, 128MB VRAM, blah blah blah

--SECONDARY COMPUTERS--

iBook 500MHz G3
two 300MHz clamshell iBooks with AirPort (one donated to kids in Uguanda)
450MHz Power Mac G4
box of iBook G4 1.2GHz.... in disrepair...
iMac G4 700MHz 15" LCD
two Power Mac G4s, 400MHz and 500MHz
another clamshell iBook
Yet another clamshell iBook
Power Mac G3 350MHz, upgraded to 500MHz G4*, donating a hard drive to.....
the Power Mac G4 dual 800MHz from November, the second one
Interwebz laptop- TP X41, 1.5GHz, 1.5GB RAM

This doesn't include all of the systems I just got to resell. If I did, there'd be more than 50 or so here. All this in nine months...

[KristianJ]

Kwoon, I found your Excel spreadsheet and other commentary/pictures on your personal website - very fascinating reading indeed! I'm thinking of doing something similar as part of my blog as a result.

[ulrich.von.lich]

2000 - 2003: homemade desktop which has AMD 700Mhz/256MB/Geforce256 and a still wonderful Sony 17" UXGA Trinitron CRT
2003 - 2005: Fujitsu P5100 10.4"/Centrino (not my choice, the screen is small enough to hurt your eyes and it won't go away)
2005 - now: T43 2686M5U, which I maxed it out later. It's my first ThinkPad.

I also bought a second hand A31p last year. I rarely buy used stuff unless I know it's from a reliable seller.

I'll be very likely to stick with the ThinkPad lines in the future. I really love their design, build quality and sexy black color. I'd also like to own a Macintosh someday.

[iThinkiAmBen]

. I'd also like to own a Macintosh someday.

*ahem*

*ahem*

How soon is that?

[syedj]

Though its not even remotely as impressive as some of the other postings above but over the years as far as I can remember this is what I have had:

1994 - Toshiba SX25 (25MHz x386, 1MB RAM, 40MB HDD, 12" monochrome) After paying an arm and a leg for it, it helped me through college. I could compile C and run Matlab at home now instead of sitting in the school computer lab till late every night. I used to install Windows 3.0 from floppy disks on it. Word Perfect and Lotus 123 used to rock.

1998 - Compaq Armada 1750 (PII 333MHz, 64MB, 6.4GB HDD, 13.1" TFT XGA, 24x CD) Whao! What speed and performance gain it was compared to my old rig.

2000 - IBM ThinkPad 600 (PII 333MHz, 64MB, 6.4GB, 13.1” TFT 24x CD) My first introduction to the world of ThinkPads. As they say, first love.

2001 - Dell Latitude Cpx650GT (PIII 650MHz, 384MB, 11.5GB, 14.1” TFT 24x) Got this after ThinkPad 600 got spilled on.

2002 - IBM ThinkPad A22M (PIII 900MHz 512MB 18GB 15" TFT 1400x1050) Couldn't stay away from ThinkPads, HAD to come back.

2003 - Dell D600 (P4 1.6GHz 512MB 40GB) Work asssigned, but I still used my own ThinkPad full time leaving the Dell sitting in the closet.

2003 - IBM ThinkPad A31 (P4 1.6GHz 512MB 30GB 15" TFT 1400x1050) Work assigned. Love affair continued.

2005 - IBM ThinkPad T43p (2.33GHz 2GB 80GB Flexview 15" UXGA) Work assigned.

2006 - IBM ThinkPad A31p (2.0 GHz, 256 MB, 40GB, FlexView 1600x1200) (PW remember this one?) My first intro to IPS displays.

2007 - IBM ThinkPad T60p (2.0GHz CD, 3GB, 200GB, 15" Flexview UXGA) After losing the T43p mentioned above I use this as my main rig. My work gives out Toshibas (HOW humiliating!!) which I most respectfully refused to use, so I just use my own ThinkPad T60p instead.

2007 - IBM ThinkPad T61p (2.4GHz C2D 3GB 160GB, 15.4" WUXGA) Whenever I need a little more real estate I crank this one up.

2007 - IBM ThinkPad X31 (1.7GHz 1.5GB 80GB 7200RPM, DVDRW) Travel machine.

[Terrahawk]

Let's see... my collection does go back fairly far and as an added bonus, is fairly unknown outside of the UK, parts of Europe and Australasia.

1983: Radio Shack Color Computer, 16k 0.895 MHz Motorola 6809E
1987: BBC Master 128, 128k, 2 MHz GTE 65C12
1990: Acorn A3000, 2048k, 8 MHz ARM2
1996: Acorn Risc PC 600, 8192k, 33 MHz ARM610 & TI 486SXL (upgraded to 233 MHz StrongARM + Cyrix 5x86/100 and 64 MB RAM)
1998: Digital DECPC 486 DX2/50, 16 MB RAM.
1999: home-built PC, 32 MB, AMD K6-2/300.
2000: home-built PC, 256 MB, dual celeron 400.
2001: home-built PC, 512 MB, AMD Athlon Thunderbird 800 MHz.
2002: home-built PC, 512 MB, AMD Athlon XP 1600+.
2004: upgrade to Athlon XP 2500+
2006: IBM Thinkpad R40 2723-26M
2006: IBM Thinkpad X20, 2662-11M
2006: home-built PC, 1024MB, Athlon 64 3400+
2007: IBM Thinkpad R40, 2722-3GG (swapped parts between the two R40s and kept the best of the two - now upgraded to 1.7 GHz Pentium-M, 60 GB HDD and 1024 MB RAM)
2007: IBM Thinkpad X21, 2662-64T
2007: home-built PC, 2048MB, Athlon 64 3700+

A lot of these machines are still around, either in the spare parts bin (I have long since thrown out old cases - I have a boxed retail copy of XP dating back to 2002) or actually still in use. I use the A64 3400+ machine, the R40 2722 and the X21 regularly. The A64 3700+ is a spare I loan out to people whose computers have died and who really need one urgently.

I still have all the Acorns and I do all my image editing on the Risc PC.

[Raceboy]

1994 AMD 286 16Mhz, 5 Mb RAM, 40 Mb IDE, 14" mono

1995 Pentium 120 Mhz, 32 MB RAM, 240 Mb HDD, Ati Rage II+Voodoo 1 4MB, 14" CRT

1996 Pentium 200 Mhz, 64 MB RAM, 3,2 GB HDD, video as previous, 15" CRT

1998 Pentium 166 MMX @ 188 Mhz, 96 MB RAM, 8,4 Gb HDD, Ati Rage PRo + Voodoo 2 12 MB, 15" CRT

ThinkPad 560: 133 MHz, 72 MB RAM, 3,2 GB, 12,1" TFT SVGA

2000 Celeron 300A@450, 128 MB RAM, 8,4 Gb, 17" Taxan CRT

HP Omnibook 4100, P II 266 Mhz, 160 Mb RAM, 13,3" TFT, 20 GB HDD, DVD ROM

2002 PIII 733, 512 RAM, Voodoo 5 5500 AGP

Celeron 566@850 Mhz, 256 RAM, Geforce 2 MX

2004 Pentium III-S 1,4 Ghz Tualatin )modified the adapter to work on Asus P3B-F), 1GB RAM, 80 Gb HDD, Geforce Ti4600

ThinkPad 600E, P II 366 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 20 Gb new IBM 5400 rpm HDD, later upgraded RAM to 512 (onboard disabled) and CPU to P3 750 MMC2.

2005 Dual Xeon 900 Mhz (2 MB L2) on Supermicro S2dg2, 2x73 GB Atlas 10K rpm SCSI as main desktop: movies, photos, internet, very nice machine, still have it.

ThinkPad R30, Celeron 900, 256 MB RAM, 20 Gb HDD (crap, got rid of it soon).

T23, 1 Ghz, 256 RAM, 30 GB HDD (sold very soon, got a relly good offer).

ThinkPad T23: 1 Ghz, 512 Mb, 40 Gb HDD, added 2200BG, more ram and lately 1,13 Ghz CPU, still have and use it.



2006 Pentium M Dothan 740 @ 2,6 Ghz on desktop using ASUs CT-479 adapter, Asus P4GD1 mb, 2 GB RAM, 147 Gb SCSI HDD+DPT Century controller, Geforce 7950GT graphics PCIe (gaming rig)

ThinkPad X23´, Pentium III-M 866 Mhz LV, 256 RAM, 40 HDD (travel)

2007 ThinkPad 560E, 150 Mhz, 80 MB RAM, 4 Gb HDD, 12,1" TFT (just for fun)

2008 ThinkPad X20, PIII 600 MHz, 128 RAM, 20 HDD, XGA, bought just to keep, very nice one, looks like new.

There are some more but it's just too many

[Miller88]

I don't have exact dates but ....

Unknown Brand PC. Had 6gb HD, PII 233 MHz, 64mb of memory and 32mb video card. Used it for a few years until it got hit by lightning and blew a vid card. Bought this used Replaced by

Compaq 5005R 40gbHD, 1.1Athlon, 16mb video card, 128mb of memory upgraded to 768mb. Used that until early 2004 until I got my first computer ... Bought new

Gateway E4000 80gb HD, 2.6HT P4, 256mb Nvidia 5500, 1gb of emory. Used it up until September of 07 until it popped the motherboard. Bought used

Thinkpad T60 Got in August 06 as first laptop. Still serves laptop duty ... bought new through college

Dell Inspiron 1520 Got it to replace the T60 when it was out of service for a few weeks thanks to blown motherboard. Serves as gaming rig / desktop. Bought new from dell outlet

My personal servers so far ...
Optiplex GX 150 - Made it to August 07 and blew a motherboard
Bought used

Gateway E4000 - Used for a month as server duty and died

Gateway E2100small form factor - Took the CPU and memory out of the other gateway. Still going strong.
Bought used from ebay


Ugh I've wasted so much money on computers

[Aroc]

Why not ...

My major systems have been as follows:

Personal Desktops
1987 Commodore 64 with dual 5.25 floppy drives 13" CRT **
1990 Packard Bell 386SX/20 2MB 120MB (upgraded to 4MB) 15" CRT
1996 Whitebox Pentium 166 32Mb 1.6GB (upgraded to 96MB/5GB) 17" CRT
1998 homebuilt dual Pentium PRO 200 1MB, 320MB 4.3GB SCSI 9.1GB SCSI 17" CRT **
1998 Apple SE/30 68000 30Mhz 5x2GB SCSI 9" CRT (??)
2001 homebuilt AMD 1.33Ghz 512MB, 18.2GB 15k SCSI 21" CRT (upgraded to 80GB, now a dedicated Linux PVR, on its third motherboard due to bad capacitors) **
2007 homebuilt Intel 1.8Ghz 1GB, 36GB 15k SCSI 19" LCD **

Personal Notebooks
1996 TI Extensa 515 Pentium 75 8MB 10" TFT
2001 Winbook 150Mhz 56MB 1.2GB 12" TFT
2004 Gateway 9100XL 266MHz 128MB 5GB 14" TFT **
2006 Lenovo T43 1.8Ghz 2GB 2x100GB 14" TFT ***
2008 Lenovo T61p 2.5Ghz 4GB 200GB, 100GB 14" TFT **
2008 Apple Macbook 2.4Ghz 2GB 250GB 13" TFT **

Work provided Desktops
1996 Gateway P5-120 32MB 1.2GB 15" CRT (work study job)
1997 Gateway G6-300 128MB 6GB 21" CRT
1998 Whitebox 486/33 DOS 6.22 14" CRT (new job)
2000 Gateway G6-300 256MB 9.1GB SCSI 21" CRT (new job)
2000 Apple Macintosh 120Mhz 96MB 4.3GB SCSI 17" CRT
2000 Apple G4 400Mhz 192MB 40GB 21" CRT
2004 Dell Optiplex GX280 2.8Ghz 3GB 40GB 21" CRT
2008 Dell Optiplex 755 2.2Ghz 3GB 2x80GB 2x19" LCD **

Work provided Notebooks
1997 CTX 166Mhz 96MB ??GB 13" TFT (work study)
2000 Gateway Solo 2300 166Mhz 96MB 2.1GB 12" TFT (new job)
2001 Gateway Solo 2500 233Mhz 288MB 2.1GB 13" TFT
2003 Toshiba 7200CTe 366Mhz 192MB 10GB 13" TFT
2004 Dell Latitude D400 1.4Ghz 1.25GB 40GB 12" TFT **
2008 Dell Latitude D430 1.33Ghz 2GB 120GB 12" TFT **
2008 Lenovo X61s 1.8Ghz 2GB 160GB 12" TFT **

Wife's systems
2004 Gateway 200 1.0Ghz 384MB 40GB 12" TFT **
2007 Samsung Q1b 900Mhz 512MB 40GB 7" touchscreen **

Primary Desktop OSs:
1987 Commodore BASIC
1990 MS/DOS 5.0, later Win 3.0, Win 3.1, and OS/2 Warp
1996 Windows NT 3.51, later NT 4.0
1996 Linux 2.0 kernel and later (primary OS for many years)
2000 Windows 2000
2001 Windows XP
2007 Windows Vista x86
2008 Windows Vista x64

Calculators:
1984 TI-52 scientific, red LED display (from the '70s)
1990 TI-34 scientific, LCD display
1991 slide rule **
1995 TI-85 graphing 32KB
1996 HP 48G graphing 32KB RPN **
1998 HP 12C financial RPN **
2008 HP 35 scientific RPN **

Personal favorites:
Commodore 64, Pentium PRO, Lenovo T43, Apple Black Macbook.

** means still operational, in use or limited use
*** T43 is functioning as my primary system

I believe that about covers it.

[alfio]

1987 - commodore64 - purchased used at a yard sale, came complete with cassette recorder and all (never could get that part working).

1995 - apple macintosh performa 6200CD - 75 MHz processor, 8 MB of RAM, and a 1.0 gb hd. spent an insane amount of money on this and it didn't even come with a modem! (it did feature something called RAM doubler which supposedly doubled your RAM via a floppy).

1998 - Packard Bell Multimedia C115 - 120MHz Pentium, 16MB of RAM, and a 1.2GB hard drive plus a 33.6 kpbs modem. this one i got cheap, about $300 with 0% credit for 6 months from circuit city.

2001 - Intel Pentium III processor 733 MHz 512 MB SDRAM, 20.0 GB hard drive, 15.0" TFT screen, approx. (a mere) 7 lbs light, about 2" thin

2005 - T43 Thinkpad - 2.0ghz, 2gb RAM, 100gb hd, 14" SXGA.

2006 - 600X Thinkpad - 650mhz 576 RAM


alfio