This was cutting edge tech… I remember the excitement of replacing floppy discs with CDRs…

  • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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    5 days ago

    I’m exactly that old.

    Edit: The PC in the image is a bit anachronistic. This is the workhorse we’re all thinking of:

      • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.org
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        4 days ago

        I had an Optipex from that era too. It was “horizontal” but could also stand vertically. It was the business model.

        This one, but beige:

        The image is the Precision Dimension model which was the consumer version of it.

        • kbotc@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          You’re real close to the “capacitor of death” models there. GX270s failed like a motherfucker.

            • kbotc@lemmy.world
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              5 days ago

              Between the capacitor plague and the tin whiskers from the phaseout of lead, hardware from that era failed constantly.

              • Natanox@discuss.tchncs.de
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                4 days ago

                We somehow avoided that, luckily.

                I had the pleasure of getting sold a cheap power supply though. It was rather fascinating to learn that, indeed, even burning hardware can still provide sufficient power to play games (for a few seconds).

        • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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          5 days ago

          We use to flip the light gray flap all shift in computer lab in middle school. When we got bored with that, we figured out how to pop out the Dell logo and flip it upside down

    • FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee
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      4 days ago

      Dell Dimension 2400. My family had the entry level model, and it still absolutely destroyed every prior computer we’d had performance-wise

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 days ago

      That or the ol’ tan cased dinosaurs.

      The gray Dell helped me through many-a “100 Games!” disc…

    • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
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      4 days ago

      This was the first desktop I used with a big ol’ chunky CRT. I played around installing so many different windows XP themes

    • f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4@sopuli.xyz
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      4 days ago

      I maintain dozens of the black & silver Optiplexes, they’re used in Raw Thrills arcade games like The Fast and the Furious, Big Buck Hunter Pro, Guitar Hero Arcade… They are workhorses; usually clean it and recap the power supply (which are kind of a bitch to disassemble) and they’re good for another few years.

      I still run into the blue/grey ones like your picture, but not in use. Usually stored in the basement of a bar.

      My personal collection includes a couple of first-generation Optiplexes, the beige GX1. Dell is a bigger part of my life than I ever imagined or hoped. 😅