Name: Mitchell Oke
Location: Australia
First of all, I would like to congratulate Julie and Judie for their fantastic site. My interest in gizmos and gadgets has kept me coming to your site daily (or every two days) for the last 3 years.
I love new toys. Being 16, the toys I like aren’t the cheapest things to buy, but I have managed to gather myself quite a good collection over the years, much of which has been updated in that time.
I got my first laptop when I was 10. It was an old Toshiba 200CDS with a P100, 2Gb HDD, 40Mb RAM and a CD drive. When my dad gave it to me, it was running Windows 95, at 16 colours. About 3 days after I had it, I had it running Windows 98SE, at 16-bit colour, and its was great!! I bought myself a 56k (superfast!!) PCMCIA modem, and I had that for almost two years.
I managed to sell that laptop for AU$800!
After that, I decided that I wanted some more power, more HDD space and a better screen. That passive matrix display was painful after a while. The contrast slider was a waste of time :P. So, I looked around (I am 12), mostly online, and I found a great deal on my second laptop. It was a Toshiba 2750DVD, with a PIII 600Mhz (with that special MMX Tech.!), 64Mb RAM, 6Gb HDD, DVD-ROM and builtin modem. It also had a beautiful Active Matrix screen, which killed my old 200CDS in comparison. Part of the deal included a free upgrade to 128Mb RAM and a free Toshiba case. I managed to convince my parents to just give me money for that birthday, and with the money I had save, the money from the old lappy and my birthday money I was just able to afford it.
While I had that lappy, I upgraded it to 192MB RAM, Windows XP Home and added a USB 10/100 Network adaptor. I had setup my dads desktop to share the internet over our wired network, and it was great!! My friends (who barely knew how to use a computer) were sooo jealous!
After about a year, I got the urge again for something new. That is when I started to look at Dell. I waited a few months, and finally found a great deal on the Inspiron 5100, with a P4 2.8Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 60GB HDD (what a boost from 6GB!!), CDRW/DVD, 15″ XGA screen and XP Home. When I got it, this thing was a beast. It was sooo fast! I could run XP at a normal speed (unlike on the PIII 600), and I also got into video editing. This new found ability helped me make the money to buy some of the other gadgets I have today.
Now 13, I bought myself a PC Card WiFi (for my i5100) and a Wireless Router, and hooked it into my existing wired network. I was wireless!! I could surf from anywhere in my house, without any long extension cables. It was soooo cool! My dad was so impressed with it that he decided to pay for half the router and buy himself a WiFi card too. I had the i5100 for a year and a half before once again I started looking for my next lappy……
I had been quite happy with my Dell, and with the money I earned from my video editing, and what I got for the i5100, I decided on a Dell Inspiron 8600. I packed this one to the brim with as much as I could afford. It has a P-M 1.5Ghz, 512Mb RAM (later upped to 1Gb), 60GB HDD (later upped to 80GB), 15.4″ WSXGA+ 1680×1050 screen, 128Mb ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo CDRW/DVD, WiFi and BT, and XP Home. I was so excited about this laptop, as it was better than any other computer that me, my parents or my school had!!! The screen is absolutely gorgeous, and now it year 11 at school it is great for Software Design in VB6. All that widescreen!
I haven’t also had my laptops, I have also had some PDAs. I have had (in order) a Palm V, Jornada 545, Dell Axim X5, Palm m100 (briefly), iPAQ 1930, iPAQ 2210, iPAQ 4355 (Damn good PDA!) and my current device an XDA II Mini. I also had a Nokia 8210, N-Gage and T610 (which was replaced with the XDA Mini).
I also have a stack of other electronic stuff including:
Sony PSP with 512MB MS Duo and several games
Casio EX-57z 5.0MP Digicam
160Gb and 200Gb Maxtor Ext. HDDs
60Gb Ext. HDD
Logitech MX900 BT Mouse
Several Card Readers
Two 1Gb SD Cards
External LG DVD+/-RW/RAM Burner
Modular Battery for my i8600
Sandisk SD WiFi Card (for XDA Mini)
Logitech R-20 2.1 Speaker System
256MB MP3 Player
So that is my current stash of gadgets, all bought myself, and I’ve just turned 16!! Do I qualify as being a gadgeteer?
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