My first laptop was a Lenovo Thinkpad T20
It’s going to date me a little here but let’s go back to 2004. I was getting connected for the first time, ahead of most people my age in understanding technology. Back when connectivity wasn’t great, I was mostly relying off our home computer’s DSL modem which was still dial-up. I played Runescape for the first time on our home computer but wanted something of my own. I looked for alternatives, when my Gameboy Advanced SP wasn’t enough stimuli.
The Lenovo Thinkpad is a popular machine found in the workplace across many companies, so it’s no surprise that’s how I landed my first. My grandmother worked as an executive assistant for Austin Powder Company in Beachwood, Ohio. I spent a lot of time going with her to work, where I was always hanging out with the IT guys.
They gave me a Lenovo Thinkpad T20 from their storage closet, which had the workplace operating system built in. Meaning you’d need a work ID to use it to prevent theft. They removed those settings for me and I took it home. Although it only functioned as a word processor, I was still obsessed with the concept that I could have a mobile computer. Back then, not many kids had that.
Fast forward to Christmas 2024. I’m writing this on a Dell G15 pre-build, NVIDIA RTX 4060 Laptop GPU and 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13650HX. I’m also doing Christmas shopping for my family and friends. My son Theo’s laptop, an Intel i5 pre-build hand-me down, just took a crap. So I had to buy a replacement.
Theo’s first laptop will be a Dell G16 7630, NVIDIA RTX 4070 Laptop GPU and 13th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13900HX, a hotrod of a laptop. I could have gone with a slightly more expensive NVIDIA graphics card but right now all NVIDIA products kick ass. You really don’t need to spend another $500 to get what you want these days. All things break overtime, but this machine has 3 years of warranty. Thanks Dell for making such a great product, having real customer support and for the awesome Dell Gaming Backpack which will help keep our hardware safe!
Meanwhile I’m also buying vending machines for the company, placing and winning bids in government auctions, doing as much as I can to acquire and maintain functional machines. I’ve become more interested in manufacturing than anything else, also studying some history books of the Industrial Age. I’m not a zealot but I have a simple philosophy to share; if I like it, I buy it. It’s a simple philosophy that keeps me going in the age of e-Commerce and let’s face it, you need to do some Kung Fu to weave through the twists and turns. This I was not taught but had to learn myself. I’m still learning.
Investigating the recent dip of Intel stock was a surprising find. My friend Blackcat and I looked into the Intel Arc B580 Battlemage GPU. Sitting at a comfortable $249 MSRP, it seems to be a hit and what gamers have been searching for. You’d think this would bode well for the company’s profits… apparently not. Anyways I might be interested in buying one or two of these for some experiments. Blackcat brought it to my attention that the GPUs aren’t great for crypto mining and are more for gaming. Fine by me, for only $249 that sounds like a deal. There’s also a possibility in using them with a GPU docking station and Thunderbolt interface. This could be a great investment.
It’s a sign of the times, I realize, as I ask myself questions. What will the future of technology hold? Where will we be in 10 years? What can I do now to make a difference? Questions aside, it’s very enlightening to me that I can give someone an even better starting machine than what I had at the same age, for a lower cost. I hope you get some nice gadgets this 2024 Christmas!
