For Today’s MyFive, we’re taking a look at the computers that we (meaning Ryan and I) have owned over the last several years. We’re also interested in hearing what computers you’ve owned over time and which you have found to be the best. The one thing you’ll notice with our computers is that for our “1st generation,” Ryan and I each had a different model, and that’s because they were bought before we got married. Ever since we got married and Ryan sucked me in to technology, we’ve always bought two of the same computer at the same time. Prior to meeting him, I never would have thought I could get so excited about getting a new computer, but I have to admit, I do. 
Our list below briefly includes the specifications and a picture. The pictures you see are real images of the computers that we had and were taken before selling them on eBay (it’s amazing we still had them). Anyhow, on we go with our five “generations” of computers…
1st Generation
The first generation of computers includes Ryan’s first laptop and my first laptop. They were bought before we got married, so they’re the only computers that aren’t the same. Ryan received his for Christmas as a gift, and I bought mine during my 2nd year at college.
2002-2005 – Ryan’s Compaq Evo N800c
- 80GB hard drive
- 1GB RAM
- Intel Pentium 4 Mobile at 1.60GHz
- Windows XP Professional
2003-2005 – Ashley’s Compaq 910US
- 30GB hard drive
- 256MB RAM
- AMD Athlon XP 1.33 GHz Processor
- Windows XP Home
2nd Generation
The “2nd Generation” was the first and only Tablet PC we’ve ever purchased, it was also the first time we bought two laptops at the same time. Being college students, we didn’t have a whole lot of money to spend so we were looking for a great deal. These Tablet PC’s definitely were a great deal, but boy did we have problems getting ones that worked! It took about three tries for each of us before we ended up with a working computer. Averatec did eventually discontinue their line of Tablet PC’s shortly after we purchased ours. Over-heating seemed to be the cause of most of the issues we had which resulted in terrible battery life, unexpected shutdowns, and super-slow performance.
Oh, and these were the only computers we’ve had where they sold for more on eBay than what we paid for them in the first place, even after stating the issues!
2005-2006 Averatec C3500 Tablet PC
- 60GB hard drive
- 512MB RAM
- AMD Athlon XP-M 2200+ with PowerNow Technology 1.66GHz
- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
3rd Generation
After having quite the experience with the Averatec computers, we decided to go with a more well-known company for our “3rd generation” of computers, Dell. Of course Dell isn’t known for using quality parts, but we never had any issues. All in all, these were great computers and it was so nice to not have to worry about the computer over-heating and turning off unexpectedly.
2006-2007 Dell XPS M140
- 60GB hard drive
- 1.5GB RAM
- Intel Pentium M/Centrino 1.73GHz
- Windows XP Professional
4th Generation
Because we never had any issues with our Dell XPS M140 laptops, we decided that we would stick with Dell, but upgrade to a computer with better specs. This is what we ended up with last year:
2007-Present Dell Inspiron 6400
- 160GB hard drive
- 2GB RAM
- Intel Core 2 Duo T5200 1.60GHz
- Windows Vista Ultimate
5th Generation
It’s about that time of year again where we upgrade our machines. We carefully looked at different models and manufacturers to see what would be the best option for us, and over the last two months we’ve been reading all kinds of reviews so that we could make a good decision. We’ll fill ya in within the next week or two on which computer we decided to go with. Stay tuned…
Question: To wrap it up, what computers have you owned and which have you found to be the best in quality and performance?
Update: Some people are wondering how we’re able to upgrade laptops so frequently. This comment helps explain that and how we spend very little to do it.
I owned a custom built PC awhile ago. I didn’t build it- I have no idea how to, and I don’t even remember the specs on it. It was too long ago. Then I got an HP pavilion ze5270 laptop in 2003 which I still use daily. Also, about 2 years ago, I replaced the custom PC with a Dell Dimension 4700. I’ve had like 3-4 problems with it already (no more Dells for me). And 3 years ago when I started attended college, I got a free laptop from them. It’s an IBM Thinkpad R70 (I think) which I basically don’t use because I don’t like it.
I’ve been using the same old cheap computer for about five(?) years now.
I’ve only purchased three computers in my life. The first two were bought a long time ago and I will have to rely on my memory which is not that great. Anyhow, here we go.
I. First Computer: 1983
a. Apple II-E
b. Two 5 1’4″ floppy disk drives
c. 64 KB RAM
d. ProDos Operating System
e. Western Design 65C02 CPU
II. Second Computer: 1992
a. Samsumg 80386SX
b. One 3.5″ floppy disk drive
c. Intel 16-MHz 80386SX processor
d. Can’t recall what RAM I had
3. 4 GB Hard Disk Drive
e. Microsoft Windows 95
III. Third Computer: March 19, 2005
a. HP Pavillion t720m
b. One 3.5″ floppy disk drive
d. AMD Athlon XP 3000+ – Processor 2.10 GHz
3. 80 GB Hard Disk Drive
4. Windows XP Home Edition
5. 768 MB RAM
I really enjoyed my Apple II-E which got me started in the computer hobby. Worked with AppleWorks, PFS productivity series, MS Multiplan, Dollars and Sense financial software. I still miss it.
Is there really such a need to get a new laptop every 1 to 2 years?
Wow you replace laptops fast! I’ve only had about 4 PCs and 1 laptop since 1990, never really felt like I had to replace them until I did (about once every 4 years). How do you justify the costs of replacing them? (just curious, maybe I could replace my stuff more often too
)
Over the past 22 years:
Commodore 64 > Amiga 2000 & Amiga 500 > HP ze5475 laptop & HP m9040n desktop
- 1990, an XT clone 4/8MHz (turbo on/off!), 2 5.25 floppies, no HD, monochrome screen with Hercules card (for CGA emulation, gasp!). DOS 4.0 I believe.
- I kept progressively upgrading this clone until only the keyboard was left. It ended its days as a Pentium MMX, 16MB, SVGA screen, Windows 98SE around 1998.
- An IBM Aptiva Celeron, Windows 98. 1999
- 2001, Dell Dimension: Celeron, 30GB, 128MB with Windows Me
- 2003, Inspiron 5400: P4M 512MB, 40GB, XP Pro.
- 2004, ThinkPad T23: added as second pc in the house: P3 800Mhz, XP Pro
- 2005, Thinkpad T30: P4M, XPPro
- 2006: Thinkpad T42: Pentium M, XP Pro
- 2006: HP Pavilion 2130us: Centrino 2 Duo, XP Pro -> Vista Business, 1GB, 120GB
- 2007: Dell Inspiron 6400 provided by my employer. Don’t like it but works and is free so the T42 went to eBay.
After the ThinkPads no other laptop has felt as one: they mean business, serious business. No complaint.
The Inspiron 5400 had heating issues which finally got solved once I thoroughly cleaned it, unseated the processor and applied new thermal cake.
Now I am having problems with the 6400 charger. I don’t like Dell designs, seems like they try too hard to make something beautiful but still feels cheap.
As for the Pavilion, I had a lot of drivers issues with Vista (surprise!) even as it was sold as Vista Ready.
I. First Computer: 1981
It was an Apple II which in fact had been upgraded to a II+. Cost was $1000 but I added two 5-1/4″ floppy drives at $500 each!! The floppies themselves were I think $50 for a box of 10. Later added a CP/M card which boosted the memory from 48K to 64K and gave me an 80 character display versus the standard 40.
II. Second Computer was purely for my business and was a Vector Graphic running CP/M 86 (a better processor than the 8800). Came with a 10 Meg hard drive and still used a 5-1/4″ floppy. This was just when IBM came out with their PC, and the main reason the Vector Graphic was purchased is it had a BUILT-IN hard drive instead of one outside the case. A built in monitor was part of the system.
III. About 1988 bought a NEC portable with two 3-1/2″ floppies. Bought it for personal use mainly to learn MS DOS and see how it worked. I think this was my first experience with a mouse and remember how difficult it was to use.
IV. For the business about 1989, bought a no-name 386 with 1 Meg of memory and finally sold out to Microsoft running MS DOS. Later added another 3 Megs and ran VM386 (Virtual Machine)having three terminals wired to the main box giving four people use of the one computer. Quite sure it ran at 40 MHz.
V. Around 1994, left company and ended up with a Gateway 486 which I later updated with an alternative processor – don’t remember the manufacturer of the alternative processor. I think my first Windows machine and seem to remember waiting until Windows 3.1 was out.
VI. Fujitsu Laptop about 2000
VII. Bought a Gateway 6400 server about 2002. It did not include the operating system, so I purchased Windows 2000 Professional because I wanted to add a second processor sometime down the line which I did. Still use the computer on a somewhat limited basis (it’s right behind me so I just spin around) mainly for running my stock portfolio. It’s my Quicken machine too since it has a number keypad. I did add a decent 19″ LCD monitor a few years back.
VIII. Compaq laptop running Windows XP bought in 2004. I still use it in my living room where it is connected wirelessly.
IX. My main computer I bought just over a year ago. It’s a Dell laptop Inspiron 9400 running Windows Vista Premium. I got it with 2 Gigs of memory and a 17″ widescreen monitor. With the 2 gigs of memory I’ve had no problems with Vista (by luck I got a free copy of Windows Office 2007 so I didn’t have a problem there either). Widescreen and higher display setting allow me to make good use of Vista. I did add a USB number keypad so I could more easily run Excel.
Actually 9 in 26 years isn’t all that many.
0th: 1987 – Commodore 64 somewhere back in 1987
I will take care in the future. However, at least 2 of the sold ones are still serving someone.
1st: 1997 – Custom-built (not by me) w/Cyrix P133
2nd: 2000 – Custom-built w/ AMD K7 500
2.5th: 2001? – noname junk notebook w/ Celeron 500, that sucked, so
2.6th: 2002 – Compaq Presario 730 notebook w/ AMD Athlon4 1.2 GHz
3rd: 2005+ Custom-built w/ AMD XP2800+ w/ 24″ Dell display
4th: 2007 – Acer TM 6291 notebook, this rulez!
I am afraid that I had not been very ecological…
I have a Dell laptop, too. I like it…except the fact that it works like shit with ubuntu.
Other than that, it’s great.
I guess I should have explained… we’ve been on about a one year schedule for buying laptops the last few years only because we keep them in really great condition and then sell them on eBay. The year we sold the Averatec’s and bought the new Dell computers, we actually made a profit of about $200 by upgrading (mostly because we were going from a Tablet PC to a normal laptop).The next time around after selling our first Dell computers, we spent about $100 for each of us to upgrade.After the initial investment was made several years ago, we haven’t really had to spend much at all to upgrade.
Also, because we sell every year, we don’t have to worry about the technology depreciating so the laptops always sell for a great price. If you’re only a generation behind on processors, most people will find that acceptable when buying a used computer on eBay.
I guess you could say we’re the type of people that like to keep up with computer technology, similar to how some people like to invest in large flat-screen TVs or other technology (maybe cameras?). We don’t buy into other electronics, just computers and found that by selling on eBay, we get a great return and are able to keep up with the “latest” without spending money.
Hopefully that helps explain things.
I use my trusty Compaq, pre-installed with Microsoft Bob
Do you guys ever look at getting an Ubuntu Dell, just to mix things up?
I didn’t know you guys started in 2002.
You missed the evolution of Windows.
I’ve had a few – I don’t remember the exact models of each. Dates on the earliest machines are approximate.
1. 1994 – IBM 386sx machine
2. 1997 – Dell Dimension
3. 2001 – Dell Dimension 4100
4. 2004 – Apple PowerBook G4
5. 2007 – Apple Mac Pro
At the moment, I’m using both the PowerBook and Mac Pro.
Apple IIe
Amiga 500
Amiga 3000 (still have it, though it’s not being used)
Then, I worked at Radioshack during college for a few years and got:
RadioShack 386SX25 computer with CDROM!
RadioShack 486DX66 computer with MultiMedia!
(Radioshack purchased) IBM Aptiva P2-400, I think?
Then I built a machine that has been with me ever since:
AMD Duron 700 system
-since upgraded to the current status of Athlon 3000 with 7800GS AGP video
I don’t remember any dates, but I was in college from 92-96… the Duron system probably was built in 2000, I’m guessing.
I find it funny that you’re replacing laptops so often. It’s the main reason I always tell people to avoid them – they are not upgradable, and fail too easily.
1. Apple //e (C’mon people…get the “//” correct!
)
2. Apple //c
3. IBM 486 laptop (with a 8.5″ screen!)
4. Compaq Presario 1692 (piece of junk – had a DVD player but could never play a DVD all they way through without crashing)
5. Toshiba Satellite A70 (decent, on it’s last legs, though)
Soon… #6… MacBookPro.
There seem to be a lot of universities that are going that route these days. I couldn’t have imagined not having a laptop through college, but our university didn’t equip us with one.
Wow! What is really shocking is the amount of Apple II-E stuff that is still being sold on eBay about 25 years later.
Do we really need to? Probably not, but Ashley explained our reasoning well. In the end we can upgrade for next to nothing on a yearly basis, and we often avoid problems with the computers that way. After all, a lot of things start breaking after the first year of ownership, right?
$500 for floppy drives is crazy! Who would have thought that they would ever go out of style.
Yeah, we’ve had some of the same issues with out Dell’s. I would think that things would be getting better though since they are now offering Ubuntu on Dell computers.
Yes, we have looked at those. Cost wise though we always come out on top by purchasing a Windows-based version. They are the ones that if you look hard enough and wait patiently you can find some pretty crazy deals on. The Dell computers that we have purchased are typically $500 or $600 off the list price. Compliments goes to Slickdeals.net for finding some truly amazing deals.
What we listed are the computers that we’ve owned personally. Prior to that we had several other generations of computers that we shared with our family, and so we focused solely on our own PC’s. Ashley’s family actually started with a Mac, and mine started with a Windows 3.11 PC.
#1 Windows 3.1 machine (can’t remember the specs on it though).
#2 2003 – Dec 2006 – Sotec Laptop (13.3″, 1.2 GHZ P3, 30 GB HD, 256 RAM, integrated graphics, Windows XP) peice of junk!!!
#3 Dec 2006 – Feb 2008 – Dell XPS 400 Desktop (Dimension 9200 in Canada) (2.13 GHz Dual Core 2, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB HD, 256 VRAM, Vista Premium) Great for what I use it for. Only use as HTPC now because of Computer #4…
#4 Feb 2008 – Present – 15.4″ Macbook Pro (2.4 GHz Dual Core 2, 2 GB RAM, 256 VRAM, 200 GB HD, Leopard) The best computer I have owned to date!
Ahh eBay.. I wish I still had that option over here
I wonder, why laptops and no desktop PCs? I mean, you work at home and all that.
Up until last year, we were both full-time students and so our computers always came with us to school which is why we’ve had laptops. Even though we do work from home now, it’s always nice to have the option to be able to take our computers with us no matter where we go so that work can get done from just about anywhere. We both hook up a keyboard, mouse, and have a second monitor when we’re working at home, so it works out well.
1998: Tandy Sensation II – One of the first, high class multimedia machines out there that played videos, and had a wide selection of production and fun applications, especially for its time in 1994.
1999: Phionex Custon 333Mhz w/ 32 megs of ram, 4 gig hdd, Windows 98
2001: Emachines 500Mhz Tower w/ 64 megs of ram, 10 gig hdd, Windows 98
2004: Custom 1.2 Ghz w/ 512 megs of ram, 40 gig hdd, Windows XP
2006: Micron 600Mhz laptop with Slackware Linux
2007: Custom 2.2 Ghz w/ 1 gig of ram, 320 gig SATA, Debian Linux
2007: Fujitsu Lifebook B2630 – 900Mhz, 256 megs of ram, 160 gig hdd, Slackware
My first “pc” had only a 33Mhz CPU (when using the “turbo” button) and 8 KB of RAM. lol Of course it was running a pre DOS OS. Microsoft or at least Windows did not exist when I got it. Cant remember the year..
I was still using it in 2000 when I finally upgraded to a P3 600Mhz with 256MB of RAM. I was in heaven!
Then I upgraded to AMD 2200+ @ 1.8Ghz with 1GB of RAM which blow away the P3 and thought I was GOD.
j/k
Now I have my AMD 64 X2 5200+ @ 2.6Ghz and 2GB of RAM and could never imagine going back. I would die!
Also love my ASUS F3SV-X1 laptop…
1. Commodore 64 (with the almighty “turbo 250″
). I had a few cell phones that could outrun that, so does it really get to be in the category “computers”..?
2. something… With AMD K6-2/350 MHz and 128 MB of RAM, can’t really remember the hard disc, but about the size of a dual layer DVD disc, I guess.
3. HP Omnibook 4150, Pentium II 300 MHz, 128 MB of RAM, 6 GB hard drive. I loved it. It was my first laptop, I had 2 batteries (you could pull out the CD drive and replace it with a second battery. It looked like it will never have to be recharged again, I mean, it really lasted long. I had it for a long time, used it for car diagnostic programs, because it had serial port, sold it 2 years ago and still regret it.
4. Compaq Evo n800c, Pentium 4m 2.2 GHz, 512 MB of RAM, 40 GB hard drive, ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 (32 MB), with docking station. Still have it, works great, even had ideas about upgrading the RAM to 1 GB, and CPU o 2.4 GHz, but it is more expensive than getting something newer, and I kinda got used to this computer. It still does everything I got it for, and still can outperform some new lower cost laptops.
5. Time will tell…