My mini-computer, which took 41 days to ship to China using USPS, was shipped back to me on Monday using DHL Express. It has already reached Indianapolis.
Friday, April 4, 2025
My Computer Being Shipped Back From China
Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Magnetic Core Memory
512 byes of RAM costing $2,000:
One of the biggest limiting factors of early computers was the cost of RAM. In the late 1970s, I remember seeing an advertisement for 64K of RAM costing $1,000. Today, you can get 64 gigs of DDR4 for under $100.
This is why the Atari 2600 video game system released in 1977 only had 128 bytes of RAM.
The first TRS-80 came with 4K. The VIC-20 had 5K.
The Sinclair ZX-81 came with 1K. Its American counterpart came with 2K. Both were expandable to 16K.
The Nintendo Entertainment System, first released in Japan in 1983, had 4.25K RAM.
By late 1983, RAM had gotten cheaper, so we saw the Commodore 64 released with 64K, and the Timex Sinclair 2068 with 48K RAM.
The REAL TechDweeb
This is most likley an April fools joke, but maybe the real joke is that it is true.
Computer Failures
My 2017 iMac just suddenly quit on me last night. I think that I got it mid-2019.
This is my second computer to fail recently. It can have similar issues as far as heat. I wasn't doing anything major on it. I was only streaming video.
One possibility is the power supply died. This happened to my 2009 iMac and I got it repaired for reasonable cost. Twice. Eventually the 2009 iMac had multiple failures and I had to get a different computer.
I tend to leave my main computer running all the time. I was in the habit of leaving my iMac on too, but I started using the sleep mode.
It is probably a mistake to leave the computers running all the time. Some people claim it is better to do that, because the spike in power can wear electronics, but I just had two computers fail.
This means my only working computer is my slow laptop I got used, hooked up to a 1440P monitor.
Good thing I have three computers.
I paid $1050 for the iMac, which was reasonable at the time. I've seen the same model for sale on Facebook Marketplace for about $400-$450. I have also seen discounted Mac Minis.
Took my iMac to the repair shop. I would have to factor repair cost with getting a replacement computer.
This is my second computer to fail recently. It can have similar issues as far as heat. I wasn't doing anything major on it. I was only streaming video.
One possibility is the power supply died. This happened to my 2009 iMac and I got it repaired for reasonable cost. Twice. Eventually the 2009 iMac had multiple failures and I had to get a different computer.
I tend to leave my main computer running all the time. I was in the habit of leaving my iMac on too, but I started using the sleep mode.
It is probably a mistake to leave the computers running all the time. Some people claim it is better to do that, because the spike in power can wear electronics, but I just had two computers fail.
This means my only working computer is my slow laptop I got used, hooked up to a 1440P monitor.
Good thing I have three computers.
I paid $1050 for the iMac, which was reasonable at the time. I've seen the same model for sale on Facebook Marketplace for about $400-$450. I have also seen discounted Mac Minis.
Took my iMac to the repair shop. I would have to factor repair cost with getting a replacement computer.
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