I don't really expect any of you to help or care; just feel like posting this before my head explodes.
So, one of the hobbies that's taken up more of my time than video games is trying to jot down every single thing I've played, read and watched from my history. Of course it's impossible, but I'm trying to at least get the most memorable stuff so I can figure out why I remember them.
I've had a few computers over my life time, but trying to place them on the timeline has been a creative challenge, especially since my parents don't remember anything and don't have the receipts any more. Here's the evidence I have so far:
First PC: IBM Aptiva/98SE Machine - Date: ???
- IBM Aptiva 2171: Release Date - 1998ish
- HP Deskjet 680C: Release Date - 1998ish
- Windows 98SE: Discontinued Date - July 11, 2006 (Originally January 16, 2004)
- Microsoft Office Pro 2003 disc: Files on Disc - October 2nd, 2003
- Microsoft Works V7 Disc: Files on Disc - July 13, 2002
- A School Report I Made Using Microsoft Word, and the first thing I ever did on a computer (at least at home): 2003
Second PC: Dell Dimension 8400/XP Machine - Date: ???
- Dell Dimension 8400: Manufacture Date - July 24, 2004
- Dell Photo All-In-One Printer 922: Manual Print Date - 2004
- Windows XP Service Pack 2 Disc: Files on Disc - October 4, 2004
- Dell Resource CD: Files on Disc - July 2, 2004
- Dell E173FP Monitor: Release Date 2004
- Windows XP: Release Date - August 24, 2001
Third PC: Dell Dimension E521/Vista Machine - Date: ???
- Dell Dimension E521: Release Date - Between 2006/2007
- Dell OEM Windows Business 32Bit Reinstall Disc: Files on Disc - 2006
- Dell E207WFP Monitor: Manufacture Date - November 2006
- ATI Radeon X1300/X1550: Manufacture Date(?) - 2006
- Roxio Sonic Digital Media Plus and Roxio Easy Media Creator Disc Packaged with PC: Files on Disc - March 3, 2007
- Roxio Creator DE Disc Packaged with PC: Files on Disc - November 30, 2006
- Game I made on the Vista Machine: September 2009
- Files I have from the Vista machine: 2010
- Halo 2 Vista: Release Date - May 17, 2007
If anything says "Release Date", it's because I don't physically own it any more, so I had to do a bit of research to find it. The computers I owned after these ones I have receipts for when they were manufactured, sold and I first started using them.
The problem stems from logic; I absolutely do not remember having a PC before going to school. I started school in 2000. But why would vendors still be selling PCs with Windows 98SE when XP had been out for 2 years?
Let's assume that I did get this IBM Aptiva in 2003. Would my parents really buy a new PC a year later? We weren't rich, and we didn't have any real need for a new PC since I was mostly just playing budget games/demos and my parents did their work at work. That said, if you look, the original support discontinue date was 2004, so my parents might have been warned and thought that getting a new PC would be in their best interests.
I know that we first got Internet access on the XP Machine, and it would have been around 2006 (same year I got my iPod Shuffle), but possibly could have been a while before that. We were with Unwired Internet at first, but that doesn't seem to help at all.
The Vista machine (E521) is the weird one for me. I really, really want to believe the PC arrived in 2009 as that's what my memory is telling me, but all of the evidence implies it was manufactured in 2006. Would a PC really be sitting on a shelf for 3 years? Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't. I remember playing Halo 2 Vista on both the Vista and XP machines in the same year, and Babelover's XP fix (the one I used) was available around 2008/2009.
Damn my accursed memory. I hope I'll sort this stuff out.
