As someone in the market for twenty years and interested in hardware anecdotes, please post anything you remember about the computers you have owned and used regularly (not the ones you bought to resell, please).
I'll start.
First computer was a Dell Dimension XPS with a Pentium III @ 450MHz, 512K RAM and 9GB HDD. I believe it had a dedicated graphics card (to run dual monitors, you used to need one). I know it had a $1000 sound card. My father had purchased it for mastering, and when he replaced it around 2002, we inherited it. It was overpowered for its time, and so, was capable of running modern games far longer than it should have. However, we had to uninstall the last game in order to fit the new one. Something like this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404354936052?hash=item5e256eacf4:g:LrkAAOSwhhlj7ldD My interest in computers led me to surreptitiously buy a laptop in around 2016(?). It was the first Vostro model, had a dual-core Athlon and 1GB RAM. My parents made me sell it within a few months.
When they couldn't deny my interest, I bought all the parts and built a desktop from scratch (they figured at least then it wouldn't have wifi - I actually never used that computer on the internet). It had a Core 2 Duo at 2.2 GHz, 4GB RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. The video controller was a Radeon and had 128MB of VRAM. This ended up being the family computer and kept us off my father's workstation.
When I went to yeshiva I got a netbook for typing notes. A 9" ASUS with the 1.6GHz Atom single core, a 160GB spinning drive (this was the brief period when netbooks did not use eMMC drives), and 2GB RAM. For typing, it got an impressive (at the time) 4 hours. Used/Abused it for a year before it died (I used to put it in a backpack playing itunes - which it was barely capable of running - with no venting for the heat!).
Got a job for a camp doing their newsletter (including graphic editing) so I bought a computer with dedicated graphics. This was the first laptop with switchable graphics (two years later rebranded "Optimus"), so it got decent battery life when the video controller was not enabled. Had an i5 and Geforce GT 310M (1GB). My father was already at B&H and he got me a better model (I was looking at the cheaper metal version with half the HDD space) with a bamboo case that stood out (which I would have done without but it shaved a quarter-pound off the weight). I got about 5 hours of typing, which was hugely impressive for the specs at the time. This:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/715018-REG/ASUS_U43JC_A1_U43Jc_A1_14_Notebook_Computer.html/specsThis computer lasted me a few years. When the battery went, I relegated it for housework and got a new one. My needs were not so impressive so I got a Zenbook with a 7th gen i7 (again, upgrade from an i5 model by my father because he got the i7 for less than the i5). This was astoundingly light and got me almost ten hours new. This one:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1348416-REG/asus_ux430ua_db71_bl_i7_7500u_2_7_8gb.htmlMy needs were back to higher power again (about two years later) and I got this monster Aspire 7, assuming that its 5.3lbs would be something I could handle. I was also attracted by its dual drive slots (1 M2 and 1 2.5"). It was also much better value for its $770 price (you got six cores in a range that usually only got you four) and built like a tank. It had a high-watt i7 six-core and a GTX 1050TI. I upgraded it to 16GB RAM and added a 2TB HDD. Also good was the 7 or so hours of battery life.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Acer-Aspire-7-A715-72G-i7-8750H-GTX-1050-Ti-SSD-FHD-Laptop-Review.403021.0.htmlWhen I got tired of shlepping it around (about a year later), I sold it to a photoshop student and bought a lighter model - a 15.6" Zephyrus. I got it open box for $1000, and it was about a pound lighter. It had a Ryzen 7 eight-core and 1660TI - way more power than I needed, but anything with less power either weighed more or costed more. Battery life was better, too - around 9 hours real use.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Ryzen-7-4800HS-Debut-Asus-Zephyrus-G15-GA502IU-Laptop-Review.492255.0.htmlThis one I really was willing to keep until it died, but when another photoshop student proved willing to pay what I paid for it (instead of double for an IL model or waiting a few weeks for a US model to arrive), I sold it and ordered a new one sent to the states to a family friend who came a few weeks later. This was a mechayeh - exactly what I was looking for, a Swift X 14. It was portable and had power (though not as much as the Zephyrus) but still excellent battery life (average ten hours). Unlike a year earlier, when the cheapest I could find something like this was $1400 (and less graphics power too), this brand-new model was on sale starting at $1030 and often $900. I'm still using it today (two years later) and still just as happy with it. It has a Ryzen 8-core 5800U and an RTX 3050TI (4GB), weighs 3.2 lbs.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093TK1PXF/?tag=cl03f-20&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1As of a year ago, I leave that computer at home when I go to yeshiva. In order to minimize distraction (and thanks for that, DDF), I use a dedicated laptop for work. I got it open box in California for $700. It is a 3lb Samsung Galaxy Book Pro with an 11th gen i7. Not only is it freakishly light, I get such great battery life that I often go two days without charging it. It has only USB-C ports, which turned out to be an advantage ("Can you put on that shiur Rabbi Berkovits gave last week?" "Oh, you don't have anything that can plug into my computer! I'm sooo sorry I can't interrupt my editing to help you..."
This is the model:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-galaxy-book-pro-360-15-6-amoled-touch-screen-laptop-intel-evo-platform-core-i7-16gb-memory-1tb-ssd-mystic-navy/6457790.p?skuId=6457790&intl=nosplashSo? What about you people?
