My First PC
30 years ago, in early 1995, I bought my first PC, a second hand Compaq Prolinea 4/33. It had an Intel 486 DX processor, 340MB HDD, 4MB RAM, 3½-inch floppy disk drive and a 14-inch monitor with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. It ran Windows 3.11 installed via MS-DOS 6.22. It didn’t come with a soundcard or a CD-ROM drive. I believe I paid around £750 or so at the time, which was approximately half its original retail price. This model was 2 or 3 years old when I bought it. However, at this time, PC specifications did not change as quickly as they do these days. Hence, this was a good starting point for someone new to computing. I subsequently upgraded the processor to a 486 DX2, increased the RAM to 16MB and installed a Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE32 soundcard and CD-ROM drive.
30 years ago, in early 1995, I bought my first PC, a second hand Compaq Prolinea 4/33. It had an Intel 486 DX processor, 340MB HDD, 4MB RAM, 3½-inch floppy disk drive and a 14-inch monitor with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. It ran Windows 3.11 installed via MS-DOS 6.22. It didn’t come with a soundcard or a CD-ROM drive. I believe I paid around £750 or so at the time, which was approximately half its original retail price. This model was 2 or 3 years old when I bought it. However, at this time, PC specifications did not change as quickly as they do these days. Hence, this was a good starting point for someone new to computing. I subsequently upgraded the processor to a 486 DX2, increased the RAM to 16MB and installed a Creative Labs Sound Blaster AWE32 soundcard and CD-ROM drive.
Windows 95 launched on 14th July 1995 and I became an early adopter. At the time home PCs were still not that common and I was fortunate to have two work colleagues that were similarly learning on the fly, like myself. We would often swap information or share news of a successful project or a failed experiment. This coupled with the wealth of PC related magazines that were available at the time, made me feel part of a very modern and dynamic community. Another invaluable source of information and place to hang out was the local PC repair shop. Whenever I visited, the owner would be holding court behind the counter with various acolytes hovering in the aisles asking questions about new products and each other’s latest upgrades. It was a great way to learn, free from the formal restrictions of the classroom.
I quickly began using my PC for both business and leisure. Formal letters and business correspondence were all now typed and saved as files. Finances were tracked via spreadsheets. As internet access was still rare, I had a copy of Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia for reference. I used to enjoy playing Mindmaze, which came with it. I also bought my first game, Doom, which I played excessively. Overall, my initial purchase and upgrade was a major success. My PC did everything that I required and I was content. Until Quake was released the following year and I realised that my PC could not run it. Furthermore, the Compaq Deskpro M could not be upgraded any further. If I wanted to play Quake, it would require the purchase of a completely new PC based around a Pentium processor and a 3D graphics card. So began a decade-long struggle to try and stay up to date.
Today, my relationship with my PC has somewhat altered. It is still an invaluable tool that I use every day but it has lost its novelty and mystique. I have also elected to get off the neverending upgrade treadmill. I now buy what I can afford, as opposed to what I may like. The internet has gone from being a new frontier filled with promise, to just another commercial outlet and a source of irritation. Games are no longer things of wonder but disposable entertainment. The fact that they give them away after a short commercial lifecycle further enforces their sense of being ephemeral. It’s all a far cry from those early days of home computing. Memories of my first PC evoke a sense of nostalgia. Even the Windows 95 startup sound still resonates with me, as it always seemed to be the prelude to an adventure. Mainly because owning a home PC was still novel back then, as were all activities associated with it.
