Jason Howell had David Piece, from The Verge, on his podcast today to chat about memorable tech. It got me wondering what was my most memorable tech.

I couldn’t think of a single one that I’d call memorable. Yea, I’ve had some great smartphone experiences, but those are still fresh. After going through my mental Rolodex – even typing that makes me feel old – I was able to remember the Dell Inspiron e1405, my first personal laptop that I got for college in 2006. I loved it so much. The large (at the time) screen, sleek design, media controls on the front, and full Windows XP. …Just to refresh my memory of it, I had to look up the specs. It’s funny how these numbers can bring back a flood of memories. Check out what this machine was packing back in 2006:

  • Intel Core Duo T2300 CPU (1.66GHz)
  • 14.1" WXGA LCD (1280x800) Display
  • 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
  • Intel GMA950 integrated graphics
  • 100GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive
  • Windows XP Media Center Edition
  • 10/100 BaseT Ethernet
  • Combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM optical drive
  • 802.11b/g wireless card
  • 85WHr 9-cell Lithium-Ion battery
A laptop with a CD/DVD drive open, showing a disc inside.A laptop with a black keyboard and a blue screen is placed on a wooden table.A Dell Inspiron laptop is displayed on a wooden surface, showing Windows XP on its screen.

This isn’t my exact laptop. I pulled this image from Ars Technica. I’m still digging around to see if I can find it. Once I find it, I’ll definitely update this post. Either way, I have fond memories with this laptop. Not only was it my first personal computer, but it was the computer I took my first Computer Science courses at University of Mary Washington. The memories of being frustrated trying to set up Putty SSH client on this machine as a freshmen came rushing back as soon as I saw thought about this laptop. It ran smoothly, I just didn’t know what I was doing then. When I should have been studying, I used this laptop as a gaming laptop, before I knew about gaming laptops. It was my first forray into MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) with The Matrix Online. Easily one of my favorite games I’ve ever played. I could go on and on about that game, but it was also my first experience with having an online community. From the forums, the chatrooms, and even podcasts. It was just an amazingly nerdy time. Just allow me to nerd out for a moment.

Back to the laptop. If I remember correctly, I held onto this machine until 2011. Towards the end of my relationship with this lovely machine, I replaced the hard drive after years of heavy use. I installed Ubuntu OS, and even purchased a new battery from eBay to try to salvage it. After a couple of months of troubleshooting driver issues, the motherboard officially called it quits and made it’s way tech heaven. It pushed through so much. Burning CDs, LimeWire, Skype Video calls, coding projects, online exams, etc…

Now I know how Jason Howell feels when he talks about his Commodore 64. If you can, check out his podcast and this conversation with David Pierce. It will definitely get you thinking about your old fond memories of technology.

What was your most memorable piece of tech?