Computing Devices: Past and Present

Current Devices

Gaming PC

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6800
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB DDR4-3600
SSD: Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB
OS: Windows 11
Peripherals: LG 27UL600-W, Valve Index, DualSense

iPad (8th Generation)

CPU: Apple A12
GPU: Apple A12
RAM: 3 GB
SSD: 32 GB
OS: iPadOS 15

iPhone 12 Mini

CPU: Apple A14
GPU: Apple A14
RAM: 4 GB
SSD: 256 GB
OS: iOS 15

MacBook Pro 14" (2021)

CPU: Apple M1 Max
GPU: 24-Core Apple M1 Max
RAM: 32 GB DDR5-6400
SSD: 1TB Apple SSD
OS: macOS 12 Monterey

Past Devices

Packard Bell 486 (1993)

The Intel 80486 was my first PC. This machine was given to me by my grandfather who had an interest in computers for quite some time. This computer existed during a time before computer usage was required for school, so I spent most of my time playing games on it. There was also some light usage of Prodigy during this time, my first experience to the online world.

Unfortunately, due to my young age and having little experience with computers, I do not know the exact model or the rest of the specs. My best recollection is that it was a model similar to the SX-33. The operating system was a version of MS-DOS and Windows 3.1, although I spent most of my time in MS-DOS as the games I played ran through there and not Windows.

Hewlett Packard (1996)

This desktop PC replaced the Packard Bell.

Pentium 2 (1998)

This machine replaced the Hewlett Packard, and was my first custom-built PC.

The case for this custom-built machine is unknown to me, but looked like a typical beige box for the time. This case would stick with me for 20 years. It was an ugly but functional case, kept mostly hidden away underneath my desk.

Post-build upgrades include the GeForce 256 and briefly the GeForce 4 Ti 4600 before overhauling the machine.

AMD Athlon 64 (2004)

This machine was an overhaul of the Pentium 2 machine, reusing the case and the GPU.

Shortly after World of Warcraft was released, the RAM was upgraded to 1 gigabyte. Upon its release, I upgraded the GPU to the GeForce 6800 Ultra.

PowerBook G4 (2005)

This was both my first Mac and my first laptop.

The operating system was upgraded to Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 upon its release.

Intel Q6600 (2007)

This machine overhauled the previous AMD Athlon 64. The case and the GPU were reused. The CPU would end up being the longest I used a single CPU.

This machine was later upgraded to 4 gigabytes of RAM. While this machine would end up being the longest used CPU in my computing history, it was the opposite for the GPUs. My first GPU upgrade was to a GeForce 550 Ti in 2011, and then followed by an upgrade to the GeForce 650 Ti in 2013. The HDD was supplimented with a 60GB Intel 330 SSD to act as a boot drive and for one or two important games.

MacBook 13" (2007)

This laptop replaced the PowerBook G4.

Upon their respective releases, the OS was upgraded to Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 and Mac OS X Lion 10.7.

iPhone (2007)

This was my first smartphone.

The OS was later upgraded to iPhone OS 2 and iPhone OS 3.

Mac Mini (2009)

This was my first Mac desktop.

The OS was upgraded to Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6, Mac OS X Lion 10.7, Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8, and Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9. The stock HDD was later upgraded to a 500 gigabyte HDD.

MacBook Air (2010)

This laptop replaced the previous MacBook 13", and was retired in 2018.

The OS was upgrade to Mac OS X Lion 10.7, Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8, Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9, Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10, Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11, macOS Sierra 10.12, and finally macOS High Sierra 10.13.

iPhone 4 (2010)

This phone replaced the original iPhone.

The OS was upgraded to iOS 5, iOS 6, and iOS 7.

Google Nexus 7 (2012)

This was my first tablet. It was forced into early retirement after the screen cracked.

iPhone 5S (2013)

This replaced the iPhone 4.

The OS was upgraded to iOS 8.

Mac Mini (2014)

This replaced the 2009 Mac Mini.

The OS was later upgraded to Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11, macOS Sierra 10.12, macOS High Sierra 10.13, and macOS Mojave 10.14.

iPhone 6 Plus (2014)

This model replaced the iPhone 5S, and was the first time I upgraded an iPhone after only one year.

The OS was upgraded to iOS 9, iOS 10, iOS 11, and iOS 12.

Intel Skylake (2015)

This machine replaced the previous Intel Q6600 PC. It reused the boot SSD and the GPU.

The GPU was upgraded to the NVIDIa GeForce 780 Ti, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, and finally the Radeon RX 5700. The OS was begrudingly upgraded to Windows 10.

Apple Watch (2015)

This was my first smartwatch.

The OS was upgraded to watchOS 2, watchOS 3, and watchOS 4.

iPad (2017)

This replaced the Google Nexus 7.

The OS was upgraded to iOS 11, iOS 12, and iOS 13.

Apple Watch Series 4 (2018)

This replaced the original Apple Watch.

The OS was upraded to watchOS 6, watchOS 7, and watchOS 8.

Mac Mini (2018)

While owning this machine, I began the process of upgrading all of my monitors to 2x DPI. The GPU built into the Mac Mini was insufficient, so I purchased a Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box and installed an AMD Radeon RX 570.

The GPU was extended using the AMD Radeon RX 570 as an eGPU. The OS was upgraded to macOS Catalina 10.15 and macOS Big Sur 11.

iPhone 11 (2019)

This replaced the iPhone 6 Plus, and is the second time an iPhone was replaced after only 1 year.

The OS was upgraded to iOS 14.

updated: 2022-07-23