what was the specs of your first computer/?

[Bodhitree]

Lets see… the first computer I used was an Apple ][e, but that was a school model. I believe I was 12 at the time, so I don’t remember much about it. I spent most of my time writing a Space Invaders clone in Basic, with quite a lot of success, I remember trying to work out a good way to do collision detection when I moved house away from that school.

The first computer our household had was an Atari 1040 ST. This was about four years later. It was pretty advanced for the time, with a decent GUI and a mouse. I remember playing Ultima IV: The Quest of the Avatar on it, which was a lot of fun.

The first computer I actually bought was a 486DX-33 PC, which I made good use of for a few years, untill I moved to Macs after a career shift into graphic design.

 

[theluggage]

To stretch the definition of computer slightly, this:

...still works today!

Or if you want "definitely a computer" ~1979, OSI Superboard 2, 6502 processor (1MHz I think) and massive 4K RAM (user-expandable to 8K!!!) - with BASIC in ROM and "tape storage" which was little more than a 300 baud modem that let you record program listings to tape.

Alternatively, now we're all talking about this fancy new ARM instruction set that Apple have switched to, the first ARM-based computer I used was one of these (~1988):

https://www.retro-kit.co.uk/page.cfm/content/Acorn-BBC-Archimedes-A310/

1MB of unified RAM (well, video RAM was taken from main RAM) - yay!

 

[Rafterman]

1985 IBM PC-XT with 8086 and 10M hard drive. Coupled to an Okidata dot matrix.

I want to say it cost around $5K back then, but made college sooooo much easier. Upgraded to a color monitor a couple of years later.

A hard drive, huh? You were livin' the life back then

 

[netdudeuk]

To stretch the definition of computer slightly, this:
View attachment 2035571
...still works today!

Or if you want "definitely a computer" ~1979, OSI Superboard 2, 6502 processor (1MHz I think) and massive 4K RAM (user-expandable to 8K!!!) - with BASIC in ROM and "tape storage" which was little more than a 300 baud modem that let you record program listings to tape.

Alternatively, now we're all talking about this fancy new ARM instruction set that Apple have switched to, the first ARM-based computer I used was one of these (~1988):

https://www.retro-kit.co.uk/page.cfm/content/Acorn-BBC-Archimedes-A310/

1MB of unified RAM (well, video RAM was taken from main RAM) - yay!

I had the non-programmable version of this. I'm pretty sure that the answers could be wrong once the batteries got tired enough. I wrote my first ARM software (under an NDA) on a pre-release system from Acorn called an A500. I ended up with an Acorn R140 which eventually went to the dump it site with a pristine Master 128. I really shouldn't have. I still have one of these

 

[chrono1081]

I technically had two computers before the one I'm about to mention but both were obsolete by the time I got them.

The first was a Leading Edge IBM compatible that ran DOS, the second was some early Windows computer that ran 3.1.

The first internet usable computer I got was a:

Gateway 2000 with a 450 Pentium II processor with MMX, 4 GB hard drive, I think 16 MB of ram, maybe 32. It ran Windows 98. It was my "birthday present" and by birthday present I mean the financing was my birthday present, I had to make all payments and everyone else in the house got to use it.

 

[Allyance]

Around 1998-99 I desperately needed a powerful workstation for my AutoCad work designing communications systems for military hospitals. I paid over $10k ($22,900 in todays $) for the first 486/25 called a Cheetah Gold, with a Rendition II graphics card, special hard drive controller for an ESDI drive and a 20" CRT monitor! Paid another $500 to upgrade the CPU when Intel came out with the 486/50 CPU! Technically not my first computer which was some white box 386, a real slug.

 

[velocityg4]

Around 1998-99 I desperately needed a powerful workstation for my AutoCad work designing communications systems for military hospitals. I paid over $10k ($22,900 in todays $) for the first 486/25 called a Cheetah Gold, with a Rendition II graphics card, special hard drive controller for an ESDI drive and a 20" CRT monitor! Paid another $500 to upgrade the CPU when Intel came out with the 486/50 CPU! Technically not my first computer which was some white box 386, a real slug.

Do you mean 1989?

 

[AlumaMac]

Do you mean 1989?

😂 hopefully!

 

[MajorFubar]

Sinclair ZX Spectrum with a 48K RAM. Processor was a Zilog Z80A running at 3.5MHz.
My brother had a hugely more powerful Commodore 64 with sprites, higher-resolution graphics and a four-channel synthesizer for sound. But because the BASIC on the Commodore sucked balls and had absolutely zero dedicated commands to interface with the computer's comparatively-advanced hardware, I could actually do way more on my Spectrum, which at least had an extended BASIC to make full use of its user-programmable 16 colour graphics and single-channel audio.

 

[wordsworth]

I wasn't interested in the earlier computers, Sinclair et al, and instead stuck with my typewriter. Discovered the joys of the Macintosh SE, though, and coveted Mac technology thereafter. Eventually got a Macintosh Performa 450 circa 1996. 030 processor, 40 MB hard drive, 4 MB memory and the delightful grey pizza box-style case. I loved it. I plugged in my Apple ColorOne scanner and Stylewriter II and successfully published magazines using it (though Condé Nast were never threatened). While the technology is pretty amazing these days, I do miss the thrill of those 'classic' Macs.

 

[Rafterman]

My first Mac was actually a Dell Hackintosh laptop. I got everything working on it, even a built in cellular modem. So Dell had the first "Mac" with cellular service built in

But it led to my first ever actual Macbook Pro - circa 2011.

 

[jav6454]

My first Mac was actually a Dell Hackintosh laptop. I got everything working on it, even a built in cellular modem. So Dell had the first "Mac" with cellular service built in

But it led to my first ever actual Macbook Pro - circa 2011.

Was it one of those Mini Dell?