Computer Help Desk ...

I don't remember what my first computer cost. first laptop cost $2000. I think it took 10 minutes to boot. Or seemed like it. Those were the days you had to multitask just so you had something else to do while waiting.

When I had a 14.4k modem, I coveted a 28. Then later, other people had 56k and that was fast.

Quote: Evenbob

My brother just got a new HP with 12GB of RAM. Don't ask me why, it's a ridiculous amount of memory.

A total of six cellular phones were released last year with 6GB of RAM (all for over $600)
ZTE Nubia 11
Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe
Oneplus 3
Vivo Xplay5 Elite
LeEco Le Max 2
Lenovo Zuk Z2 2 Pro

Rumors exist of 8 GB phones to be released in 2017,

So 12GB laptop doesn't seem ridiculous anymore.

Quote: Evenbob

I knew I was wrong, I couldn't remember the
right amount. It was 8k of course. Terribly
slow, but fast for me. My brother just got
a new HP with 12GB of RAM. Don't ask
me why, it's a ridiculous amount of memory.

What was it? In 1992 for that amount of money it very well may have had 8mb of RAM.

If you spent that much for a "custom built" computer that year with only 8k of RAM, then you really got ripped off.

1st
Commodore 64

Quote: Pacomartin

So 12GB laptop doesn't seem ridiculous anymore.

Usually the best thing to do for any PC is to add more RAM.

But read the fine print. An 8GB RAM PC with only 2GB on the motherboard and 6 on the video card, won't run particularly fast. A 4 GB machine would outperform it in 90% of common tasks.

Back in the late 90s I had a rather slow Compaq with 16MB. A friend offered to upgrade it to 32MB rather cheaply (remember the time when RAM was hideously expensive?) It was like getting a new machine entirely, it ran so fast.

2nd
Tandy 286

Quote: Dalex64

What was it? In 1992 for that amount of money it very well may have had 8mb of RAM.

If you spent that much for a "custom built" computer that year with only 8k of RAM, then you really got ripped off.

Not sure what operating system would have run on 8k either... the Amstrad CPC had 64K on board. I think my Dad's first PC was 1Mb in about 1990. And OS's at the time had to jump through hoops to address the second half of that (640 Kb was the normal memory space).

Though I'm not sure which OS could deal with 8Mb of base memory though, as 1Mb was the standard for 8086 machines, and the 80286 could use up to 16Mb, but only in certain modes, which MS-Dos and Windows didn't deal with. I suspect some of the older office software did access that upper memory though.

Considering we are 3 order of magnitude above that now as 'standard' though, which boogles my mind. a 40Mb hard drive seemed huge. Now I can download that in seconds and watch a stupid video of people doing stupid things.

I'm totally confused now, I don't remember
the RAM correctly. It was slow is all I remember.
I did pay $1200, and the monitor
was expensive too. I had so many computers
in the 90's they all run together in my head.

I got my first cable modem in the late 90's,
it was like another universe opened up. I
started selling on Ebay because of it, what
a wild ride that was. Early Ebay was the Wild
West, you could sell dog poop on a stick
and somebody would buy it. You could call
Ebay and talk to a real person, if you sold
a lot they gave you your own handler. Now
they treat sellers like they're the enemy.

Anybody able to figure out why whenever someone on this board posts a youtube link in a post all I ever see is a large blank space. IF I hit reply, I can see something such as [youtubegibberishnumbers] and I can do a copy and paste and then get there. Why does there original post show a three inch by five inch white space?