The Computers I've Owned
Sep 30, 2026
I can remember every IBM PC compatible computer ("PC") I've owned since the first one I bought in 1994. I won't mention the brand names or other details of the hobbyist computers I owned prior to that.
My First Few Computers
My first PC was a Packard Bell PC, similar to the one in the photograph above. I bought it in 1994. It cost me more than $2000, and it came with a whopping 72 megabytes of memory and a hard drive measured in megabytes. It could barely run Windows.
It was the only PC I owned before retiring from the military in 1998. Between that date and 2006, when I moved to the Philippines, I owned two desktop PCs and one laptop. I built the second desktop PC myself with parts I bought from the now defunct Fry's Electronics.
I bought the laptop just before I moved to the Philippines, carrying it with me. That laptop only lasted a year.
Later Computers
Between 2007 and 2018, I owned two desktop PCs and two laptops (both laptops were gifts). I prefer desktop PCs, but I can't carry one with me when traveling to and from the United States. My wife, Josie, and I traveled to the United States in 2018 to visit our children.
I took the last working laptop, which was also my last working computer, with me. We were only supposed to be there for a couple of years, but it ended up being close to four years because of the pandemic.
Sometime in 2021, I bought a Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard computer ("Pi"). Along with other things we needed, we shipped it to our house in the Philippines. We returned to the Philippines in 2022, and the laptop was still working when I gave it away (but I don't remember when).
When Josie and I traveled to the United States again in 2023, I took only the Pi and a portable monitor with me. I bought a few portable solid-state drives after I arrived. A couple of months later, I bought a new laptop, which I brought back with me to the Philippines in October 2023.
Unfortunately, the battery started to bulge in May 2024. I ordered a replacement battery and because it was going to take more than a couple of months to get it, I ordered a Beelink Mini S12 Pro PC from China (which I'm using right now). It was my first desktop PC with 16 gigabytes of memory.
I replaced the battery in the laptop, and I used it in the United States for seven months in 2025. It stopped working in January of this year, and now it's just occupying space in one of my wardrobe cabinets, right next to the Pi, which I no longer use for anything.
I ordered a new laptop through Amazon.com in February 2026, just before traveling to the United States about a month later. I had it delivered to my older son's house in Arizona because that's where Josie and I were going to be staying. It was my first laptop with 16 gigabytes of memory.
I used the laptop while I was in Arizona. When we returned to the Philippines in June, I put it away in the same location as all of my other unused computer stuff. I've been using the mini PC ever since. It's more than two years old and still going strong.
I've been running Linux Mint on everything since 2018, starting with the laptop I took to the United States with me. Seeing how many problems my relatives have had with Windows over the years, I'm glad I only run Windows temporarily on new computers.
We're supposed to travel to Arizona again sometime next year. I'm fortunate I don't have to buy another laptop considering how much the prices have risen because of the RAM shortages.
Image by Spacekid, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Originally written on March 1, 2026. Rewritten for clarity and updated information.
