How to Buy a Computer in 1993...

[MechAg94]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD2fN8YQfFM&feature=youtu.be

It is a reaction video, but the nostalgia is amusing.   The cost of some of those computers is outrageous comparing them to today.  The show covers PC then MAC in the 2nd half.

[lee n. field]

generic clone pc, 386sx cpu, 1MB ram, Windows 3.1, basic color VGA.  At the time would come in about a grand.  Is my recollection.  I'd been in the business for a couple years at that point.

[WLJ]

I sold computers at that time for Sears. Avg total system sold was ~$2,000-$3,000.  Made 10% commission off that.

[Ben]

generic clone pc, 386sx cpu, 1MB ram, Windows 3.1, basic color VGA.  At the time would come in about a grand.  Is my recollection.  I'd been in the business for a couple years at that point.

Sounds about right for my first 386. After that, I was in grad school and doing a lot of modeling, so was on the every 18 months plan on whatever bleeding edge was, and pretty much each new system was around three grand.

I think I went through three iterations of that before a combination of component prices dropping and less than bleeding edge being necessary for higher end computations started lowering the price down to between $1500-$2000.

[Doggy Daddy]

Sounds about right for my first 386. After that, I was in grad school and doing a lot of modeling, ...

Vogue?  GQ??

[Ben]

Vogue?  GQ??

Playgirl.

[K Frame]

Vogue?  GQ??

Think geekier...

Ravel and Airfix.

[MillCreek]

I bought my first PC in 1985 for $ 1500 at Ballard Computer in Seattle. The Leading Edge Model D: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_Edge_Model_D  Two 5.25" floppies and an amber screen.  When I ponied up the cash to buy a 10 Mb hard drive on an ISA card, I thought I was living large.   I was using an Apple IIc in chemistry grad school to drive the HP GC/MS.  I typed my master's thesis on a Smith Corona electric portable typewriter.  The rich kids paid a typist to do their thesis.

[AZRedhawk44]

I built my own.

First was a 486dx4 @ 120mhz, it even had PCI slots!  Windows 3.1 at first, upgraded to Win95 when that came out.

Changed it out 18 months later for a Cyrix 6x86 166mhz quasi-pentium clone, but that thing had so many problems that I changed it out again for an AMD K6 200mhz.

Since the ATX case was a nice standard format, replacing the mobo and/or CPU was only a couple hundred dollars each time.  Sometimes the memory was compatible, sometimes not.  HDD and optical drive were always compatible.

[Ben]

I built my own.

After that first 386, I did too. I recall using a cool primitive website from a supplier that had a gazillion parts for custom builds, and once you put all your parts into a "system" it would analyze everything and make sure you didn't have stuff that was incompatible.

I will say that I fried the MB on my very first build, because I plugged the power supply wiring in backwards, which in those days was really easy to do, and there were no youtube videos where you could doublecheck stuff. I flipped a coin on red or black to the inside, and lost. 

[MechAg94]

The first I bought with my own money was a Gateway around '93 or '94 before that company went to crap.  I had to learn to set up custom boot a up file to play X-wing and Tie Fighter. 

[Nick1911]

I'm a little younger than you guys.  The first computer I personally bought was an eMachines.

I do remember when our family bought our first computer in the 90's though.  1995ish? Think it was a Pentium running at 75mhz, 1gb HD.  I recall that it was quite expensive, maybe $3500?

I bought my first PC in 1985 for $ 1500 at Ballard Computer in Seattle. The Leading Edge Model D: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_Edge_Model_D  Two 5.25" floppies and an amber screen.  When I ponied up the cash to buy a 10 Mb hard drive on an ISA card, I thought I was living large.   I was using an Apple IIc in chemistry grad school to drive the HP GC/MS.  I typed my master's thesis on a Smith Corona electric portable typewriter.  The rich kids paid a typist to do their thesis.

No standalone Z80-based HP Integrator?  What kind of show were they running? 

[lee n. field]

After that first 386, I did too. I recall using a cool primitive website from a supplier that had a gazillion parts for custom builds, and once you put all your parts into a "system" it would analyze everything and make sure you didn't have stuff that was incompatible.

I will say that I fried the MB on my very first build, because I plugged the power supply wiring in backwards, which in those days was really easy to do, and there were no youtube videos where you could doublecheck stuff. I flipped a coin on red or black to the inside, and lost. 

Orange-black, black-red, was the order.   Easy to do off-by-one as well.

[lee n. field]

I'm a little younger than you guys.  The first computer I personally bought was an eMachines.

I do remember when our family bought our first computer in the 90's though.  1995ish? Think it was a Pentium running at 75mhz, 1gb HD.  I recall that it was quite expensive, maybe $3500?

Timewise, that's about right.  First Pentium was a 60MHz, using a different socket than subsequent Pentiums (Pentia?).  That's the one with the floating point bug.

[RocketMan]

I got a couple of you beat.  My first computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model I.  It was upgraded as time went on with an expansion module, 64kb or RAM, and aftermarket 5.25 inch floppy drives.
Later on I bought a 386-based IBM clone with 512KB of RAM and two 5.25 inch floppy drives and an amber monitor.  It ran a proprietary version of MS-DOS. Added a card-mounted 10MB hard drive and color VGA monitor to it and was really cooking then.  I think it's still in the garage at my ex-wife's place in Oregon.

[MillCreek]

^^^The Leading Edge was my first IBM clone PC. My actual first computer was a Texas Instruments TI/99 4A.  For storage, it used a cassette tape recorder.  And you had to find a special adapter plug for it to reverse polarity or something.

[Jim147]

Early '80s Radio Shack was my first. Then played with some windows 3.1. Then took a break and the next one was a Cyrix in about '96. After that thing I started building my own.

Like MillCreek mine had the tape drive.

[Ben]

Well if we're doing this old codger computer contest again, Timex Sinclair, and  I sprung for the external plug-in module that knocked my ram up to 16K.

[TommyGunn]

Oh cool,  I remember those Timex computers.   I wonder if they had built-in clocks??  

[K Frame]

First PC I ever really worked on was in the mid 1980s in college. DEC Rainbow. Weird assed computer, but man, I could FLY on those keyboards. I could easily hit 120 words a minute typing speed, and maintain it.

First PC we had at home was the Leading Edge Model D. My parents got it through a smoking hot deal also available through my college. It was a quite excellent computer and was a huge hit on the American market.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_Edge_Model_D

We used that thing for years.

Come to think of it, I think I still have my Father's Sanyo 8088 in the basement. It was still working as of a few years ago. I need to see if it still works or if it's finally tin whiskered itself.

[RocketMan]

Come to think of it, I think I still have my Father's Sanyo 8088 in the basement. It was still working as of a few years ago. I need to see if it still works or if it's finally tin whiskered itself.

I've still got my old TRS-80 and its associated hardware.  It's not been powered up in at least 20 years, and I wonder occasionally if it would still work.  I've fiddled with the notion of trying it out.  I need to get off my duff and do it.

[K Frame]

When I went on staff at the newspaper in 1989 we used TRS-80 portables... ah! The TRS-80 100 for filing remote stories and the like. It was functional... sort of.  


Huh. Just found this on its entry on Wikipedia...

"When introduced, the portability and simplicity of the Model 100 made it attractive to journalists,[15][16][17] who could type about 11 pages of text and then transmit it for electronic editing and production using the built-in modem and TELCOM program. "

[Nick1911]

I've still got my old TRS-80 and its associated hardware.  It's not been powered up in at least 20 years, and I wonder occasionally if it would still work.  I've fiddled with the notion of trying it out.  I need to get off my duff and do it.

I've still got the very first computer our family had, an IBM PC.  A neighbor worked for the electric company, and they had a pile of these machines headed to the dumpster in the early 90's.  He rescued some and gave them to people he knew that didn't have a computer yet.  It still had account information on it from utility customers!  

[Ben]

First PC I ever really worked on was in the mid 1980s in college. DEC Rainbow.

Okay, if we're now doing the old codger "first computer I ever used" thing... 

I don't know what kind it was, but a terminal in High School that printed to rolled paper stock attached to the terminal. You saved your programs to punch cards. Hunt the Wumpus ruled! We got our first video terminal my senior year. The actual computer(s) were at a school district office somewhere.

On saving computers, I really regret not saving both the Timex and also my Atari ST. There are neat programs for the ST that have never been ported to any of the emulators. As far as my early PCs, I don't mind not having saved any of them since DOSBox seems to have most anything I would want.

[lee n. field]

I've still got my old TRS-80 and its associated hardware.  It's not been powered up in at least 20 years, and I wonder occasionally if it would still work.  I've fiddled with the notion of trying it out.  I need to get off my duff and do it.

Had a TRS-80 Model III for a while.  Glorious 64x16 text mode screen!  It's probably still sitting in my Dad's chickenhouse.

Had a Model I, full kit, briefly.  Traded it off to a guy who wanted to tinker, about 1990.

You might remember it coded year dates as a 2 bit offset (or was it 3 bit) offset from 1980, which caused hilarity later in that decade.