Coming from the Future we were promised.
Computer Chronicles
Below is a completely non-comprehensive list of the computers I have owned over the years, basically focusing on the most significant ones to me.
(If I tried to list every computer I’d had over the years this page would be nigh-infinite.)
With one exception these are not pictures of my actual computers as I don’t have pictures of most of them, or they are in poor quality. So on some you might see intel stickers when in fact they were AMD machines.
Also, I have the sneaking feeling I’m forgetting one or two in the period of the 90s, but it can’t be helped. I don’t have pictures from that era really, and it was over 30 years ago. <_<
Hover over the images for more information about the various units.
Atari 800 XL
Primarily used from 1986-1988
This unit had 48k RAM + 16K more from a 1050 disk drive. At one point I even had a cassette drive for it.
I constantly played Boulder Dash (on cartridge) and Realm of Impossibility (on disk) for it, and "drew" in the BASIC area using the extended key symbols.
I also used Math Blaster and a painting program from Electronic Arts but I don't think it was Paint.
Vendex Headstart Plus
Primarily used from 1988-1991
This was the computer I actually cut my teeth on in terms of learning. It was an 8088 with (I think) 640k RAM, and my very first hard drive of 20 Megabytes, which was colossal at the time.
On this machine, which I don't believe had a modem, I learned to use DOS 3.1 - 3.3 properly and began to learn MS BASIC.
I used Print Shop on it a lot and had a 9 Pin Printer hooked up to it.
In a way, more than the Atari, this is the machine that really got me "computing".
IBM PC Convertible
Primarily used from 1991-1992
When Florida's ever present-lightning storms killed the Headstart, I got this machine. It even had a thermal printer attachment, which made it stupidly long.
The Monochromatic screen was a pain, though, and I can't recall if it even had a hard drive. I used it for a while and it got damaged after a flight to NY to attend a Debate final.
I quickly decided I needed to upgrade significantly.
286 Clone PC
Primarily used from 1991-1993
A 286 Clone we bought after checking the local classifieds.
This one had a modem and I think a 40 GB HDD, and I got online and found local BBSes, and that's when everything changed for me. I learned to code Pascal, and got my first install of Windows set up, as well as did my first Digal Art with Deluxe Paint II Enhanced.
As with the Vendex, lightning eventually got it.
486 PC by Magitronic
Primarily used from 1993-1998
This 486 was my pride as I think I was one of the few in my school to have one.
I ran Windows on it, hosted Searchlight based BBSes off of it, learned Photoshop on it and programmed as well.
I upgraded it to a Celeron eventually (one of the first ones that they forgot to block overclocking on.
This is the only picture here that is an actual picture of my machine as I have never found this case online. Magitronic seemed to collapsed as a business fairly quickly, which is sad. I remastered the logo as seem here so I could make a 3D printed case badge to commemorate this machine, which was my workhorse for a long time.
Mystery Tower P166
Primarily used from 1998-2001
I barely remember this even though I must have used it for a while. I only know it had to exist because I saw a picture of it and the bays were in the wrong place to be the Magitronic.
I probably upgraded to have more room for expnasion cards as I did video editing with the Matrox Millennium add on card.
It also would have had a CD-RW which was a rarity at the time, but I always wanted to be on the bleeding edge of tech.
This picture is a composite, to more closely reflect what little details I could see in the low-res, partially obscured picture I have of it from College.
Dell Latitude CPi
Primarily used from 1998-2001
This was the workhorse I used to take notes in college / law school. It had a unique forward dual bay system that could take either batteries, CD drives or Floppy drives. I did a lot of photoshop work on this machine. The lousy viewing angles on it actually made wallpaper look like it had cool color-changing effects if you designed it properly.
It was a decent machine. When I had to send it in to Dell for an in-warranty hard drive replacement, they also replaced the cracked bezels on the front, which I always thought was a nice gesture.
Compaq Presario 2200
Primarily used from 2001-2004
Coming back from Law School I decided to upgrade to this thing, my first multi-core Athlon. (This was back when they were their own company and not part of HP)
It overheated from day one. The silver paint rubbed off almost immediately. I put up with it for as long as I could, usually pairing it with large external monitors, but man, I hated it. Unlike the others here I would never get one back for nostalgia reasons except to burn it.
Shuttle XPC
Primarily used in 2005
Another Athlon system. I got it because I was becoming fascinated with minimalism and wanted a small machine.
One day it stopped turning on. I thought lightning had gotten it, but knowing what I know now as a tech I wonder if all it needed was a static release. I will never know.
Athlon X3 Home-Built machine
Primarily used 2004-2006
Not much to say other than I built it and was becoming fascinated with case lighting.
Dell C521
Primarily used 2006
C521, where "C" stands for "Can't fit any expansion in this narrow case."
I was the idiot who bought the C variant instead of the E variant, which was the same hardware in a full-sized case, so that was on me.
Logisys Green Clear Case Computer
Primarily used 2006 - 2007
Where my fascination with case lighting (in the form of cathode tubes on the interior) met my fascination with clear computer cases.
I actually have a very clear picture of this one, but I'm just showing this stock image fo the case because it turns out clear cases are kind of shit when you actually load them with anything and cable management considerations were not yet a thing in case design.
HP DV 9000
Primarily used 2007
During my brief stint as a working lawyer this was the mobile machine I used.
Sadly, it died a few years later due to a design flaw in the nVidia chipset where the GPU would overheat and internally desolder itself from the mainboard causing the blinking lights of death.
HAF X Tower
Primarily used 2008 - 2011
A Prebuild that I think was my last Athlon.
This stayed with me through my move to Canada and back, but being aircooled it was jet-engine loud and once I knew I wanted to start working from home I knew I wanted something MUCH quieter.
Cooler Master HAF XB EVO
Primarily used 2014 - 2020
A Prebuild fromm Cyberpower PC, this thing was a watercooled, whisper quiet beast. I got it up to 80 GB of RAM.
Over time, the electrical started to go (not just the power supply) and it was long enough in the tooth that I retired it, and pressed my other work computer into service as my daily driver.
Lenovo Thinkpad P72
Primarily used from 2020 - 2025
This Quadro powered beast is an i7 that can drive up to 3 4k displays at once. It's now my replacement home server.
MSI GE66 Raider Laptop
An Intel i7 with 32 GB RAM, it has an NVDIA GPU with 11 GB of VRAM. I bought it as a backup for for the Thinkpad / a travel work laptop, but it primarily serves to run local AI compute tasks.
Framework Desktop
Primarily used 2025 - present
This Desktop sports an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 unified Processor and GPU with 128(!) GB of RAM. It's also the first machine that I'm exclusively running Linux on as my daily driver as I got fed up wtih Microsoft and its games with Windows 11.