<thread hijack>
Okay, kiddies - talking about your first computer - yes, I still have my FIRST unit - and it still works! In 1981 (before most of you were sperm) I purchased a Texas Instruments TI 99/4A. Here are the specs:
Hard drive: none
floppy drive: none
removable storage: data cartridges (shaped like old Sega Genesis cartridges)
file storage: external cassette player and cassette audio tape (programs were translated to sounds, sounds were stored on tape!)
video: 8K Video subsystem, using standard TV output. 8 colors on a 25 line by 40 char text screen; (1000 char) - each char was 64 pixels, but could only be one color!
Processor: Motorola, 3.5Mhz
RAM: 8K
ROM: 16K
Base operating system: TI Assembler, 16K
Programming language: TI Cartridge BASIC, 32K
Keyboard: Integrated 64 key
Communications: External 300bps modem (yes, 300 bits per second. Compare that to my current cable speed of 15,000,000 bits per second!)
Additional devices: Atari joysticks (I hard wired them into the comm port), Speech synthesizer
The whole setup, including additional tapes and other program cartridges cost me about $500. Back then, I was only grossing $100 a week, so that was a lot of cash to lay out. I had to borrow most of the money from my Aunt, and it took me three years to pay her back. In that time, Texas Instruments announced it was abandoning the unit, as they could not compete with the Commodore 64.
I plug it in every once in a while, sit back in my rocking chair, and happily hum Ozzy Osborne's "Crazy Train". Ah, those were the good old days!
Note: This image was taken from Google, but it does represent exactly what I have.
</thread hijack>