I've spent my whole life being around and using computers. I have my dad to thank for that. He's had a computer since the '70s when the personal computers started popping up. In fact, he was so hardcore about computers that he drilled holes into one of his old Mac desktops and installed pinball machine buttons (the flipper controllers) to give his pinball games a more realistic feel.
The earliest computer I remember having is a MAC desktop that used the big 5" floppy disks--the ones that actually were floppy. Another one soon after that was DOS-based, around when Windows 3.1 came out. But that was still when DOS was the primary OS, and most of your programs were accessed through it. My dad wrote a program for that computer that made it easy to choose programs: push one number to go to either a games list or a non-games application list, then push another number to load the program of your choice. I even remember when dot-matrix printers where the sheets were all attached together were the only printers you could have!
Well, for a lot of you, I'm sure that doesn't sound all to amazing, but you have to remember that I'm 22 now (10/28/08), and this was in the '90s when I was about 8 or 9.
1997 was the last time the family bought a desktop for everyone to share; after that it was just laptops. My dad did have an old Toshiba laptop, purchased around 1993, I think, through this time, but in '97 we bought a Dell PII and soon after a Dell laptop, which actually played Half-Life decently well. Perhaps a year or so after getting this computer, my brother succeeded in effing up the DVD encoder by putting a non-Dell-made graphics card into the computer, a Voodoo 2, which was a pretty boss card for the time. He later went on to build his own computer.
Around age 15, which, if my math is correct, was 2001, I got a barebones computer for my birthday. It came with everything except for a hard drive and graphics card (which I guess is the definition of a barebones computer). I spent about $300 for a hard drive and a nVidia Geforce Titanium 200. I had that computer for quite a while, actually, and made little upgrades. I added a second hard drive, b0rking the original one in the process so I lost 95% of my data, including the first poem I ever wrote (still sad about that). It took a year and a half to figure out why the original hdd read as only 2gb when it was really 80gb (it somehow got formatted as FAT-16, which only lets you use 2gb of the hdd, or it did then).
In 2004, I started college. My parents wanted to buy me a computer to go away with, and I was left with the choice of a laptop or a desktop. I went with a laptop so I could bring it home with me, but I couldn't get the Alienware one I wanted because my dad didn't like the reviews he read. So instead I got a Dell Inspiron 5150 (my college has an agreement with Dell so it was slightly discounted, like 5% or something). It ended up being a piece of ****, but I managed to muddle my way through Doom 3 on it; though, the game ran so slowly I had to use cheat codes to avoid dying every five seconds.
A year later we moved. It wasn't a far move, but my parents were downsizing from a house house to a townhouse. That meant I had to downsize, too, which meant selling my old desktop. I can't remember how much it sold for, but I don't think it was much. Until the summer of 2006, I was left with just my laptop. My piece of **** Dell laptop that needed everything except for the monitor, battery, and case replaced within a year and a half of purchase. Yay. From February to June I was studying abroad in England, and when I came back I decided it was time to purchase a new computer (detailed in my first-ever blog post). I got it for about $900, which I was happy with, but it was out of date about a year later =(. But in the course of the year, I replaced the graphics card: started with a eVGA 7600GT (overclocked), and then went to an ATI Sapphire XT1950XT because the 7600 crapped out on me. eVGA overclocked it, but didn't bother upgrading the cooler
So in 2007 I started work on my current system. It started out with just a new case, then escalated into a whole new computer. My primary hdd, an IDE 112gb, is the same one I've had since my first computer (the one I added in to give me more storage). But even still, I've upgraded it since original purchase. I started out with a single 8600GT, then bought my friend's when he upgraded to an 8800GT. I've also got three hdds, plus an external one in an enclosure, as well as a wireless NIC. I also have a different mouse from when I first bought the computer. I'm quite happy with my current system, but, of course, if I had the money I'd upgrade it again. The only thing I can say is wrong with it is the amount of dust it inhales, though the basement is rather dusty. It's good enough that I can play Crysis on "high" graphics and still get a decent framerate.
But despite all this, it's quite agonizing being away from my own computer. The one I'm typing this on is my work computer, which is probably eight years old (the mouse still has ball, and my mouse at home uses a laser), but that's a result of the company having to have it's computer issued to it by our customer. This computer is slow, the mouse sucks, the screen sucks (it's a CRT), and the keyboard blows. I want my computer where I can blast through websites like a railgun through a piece of paper. Okay, so my computer isn't quite that fast, and the DSL my future in-laws have is rather slow, but it's tenfold better than this work computer. That's not the worst part, though. Since last Sunday, I've had to stay over at my fiance's sister's house. Her husband is away and she's too scared to stay by herself at night so instead of coming over to our house (which is really her parents'), we've instead had to stay with her (which is utter bu*****t). Sure, I could bring my laptop with me, but it wouldn't do me much good since she doesn't have any internet. So I'm limited to about twenty to thirty minutes on my own machine (a day) during the little time we're at my future in-laws. I haven't gamed in a week and a half, and it's driving me bonkers.
My fiance definitely has it better in regards to computers. She really only uses hers for work and to check a few things on the internet. But she didn't grow up with them like I did. Even being in England for six months I had my own computer. Living and growing up with computers has definitely made me dependent on them, but even though I've got free reign on the internet on my work computer (within reason, obviously) I'm still not satisfied. I want my computer with the settings the way I like it and hardware that doesn't suck.
I've also noticed that I've reached the pinnacle of my computer skills. The easy parts I've got down: I can build a computer in my sleep and can learn new software with relative ease. Now, though, I want to expand my skills. I want to learn to overclock, learn to use liquid cooling, and try my hand at building a custom case. But there are a few snags. It's difficult for me to learn a skill merely by reading it; I like having someone show me what to do and be there to help me in case of emergency. I've got a Q6600 processor, which I believe can be OC'ed rather easily, but I don't know how (or anyone who does) and if I eff it up, I risk ruining my whole system. If I had some money, I'd buy a separate setup just to learn how to OC to avoid damaging my current rig. Liquid cooling, while potentially easier to learn than OC'ing, is expensive; a good setup might run $300US or more, and that's money I don't have. And again, there is the inherent risk involved. I'm thinking now that maybe I shouldn't have sold my old computer and instead used that to learn these trade on, but I needed extra cash (damn failing economy). I'm hoping at some point to have the money and the time to be able to learn these things (the first and last more than the second). Perhaps one of you readers can provide some insight in to OCing that would convince me to try it on my current rig, thereby negating having to spend money beyond (possibly) a new cooler and more thermal paste (I can live with spending 20 or 30 bucks on that).
So there you have it. A life of computers has tied me to them, in more ways than one, and has placed me in a sticky position of how to progress my skills: I need money (in some instances) to go on, but at the same time have to save money for my wedding next year. And the risk itself isn't that big a deal; I'm a poker player so I know all about risk. It's more the having to spend money I might not have in case I take a risk, and it shits on me. I guess it's just a matter of a flip of a coin (and getting a paycheck that's more than $276 >=( ).