As a college freshman in 1984, I was typing papers on a typewriter. It took my roommate the entire semester, but he eventually convinced me that I needed a computer. Actually I think he just wanted a *better* computer, so he sold me his PC/XT for $200 and bought himself a shiny new AT.

After my XT:
1992: 386-DX 33mhz, 100mb hdd, 4mb ram, Win3.1, $1500
1996: Compaq Presario 4504, 200mhz Pentium, 2gb hdd, 16mb ram, Win95, $999
1999: HP Pavilion 4535, 400mhz Celeron, 6gb hdd, 64mb ram, Win98, $950

Then I learned how to BUILD computers, and the fun began. The first pc I built was in 2002, with a Duron 1100mhz chip, FIC AN11 mainboard, 256mb memory, ATI Radeon 7000 graphics card, running Win98. A dozen or so custom-built pc's later, pc building and tweaking remains my favorite hobby.