This section is more about my technology than it is about me.
About my interest in computing
Since about the age of 7, I have always had an interest in computers and technology. We got our first family Windows 95 system in 1997 when I was six - a Tiny desktop featuring a Pentium II with a 3GB hard drive and 64MB of RAM.
At the age of 7, I got my first computer, a 600MHz Pentium III and boy was it fast. It started up in about 30 seconds running Windows 98. It also had a dedicated 4MB graphics card (unbranded).
From age 7, I decided I wanted to go into teaching. At first this was primary school teaching. In secondary school I changed this slightly when I decided I wanted to become a secondary school History teacher. This did not last long and I suddenly wanted to become a secondary school teacher in IT/Computing as I discovered my talent.
People were coming to me with problems they had with computers and my nickname Binary Balfour came about.
By third year of school, not only my friends knew me as Binary Balfour as teachers occasionally referred to me as just 'binary'. Teachers were also often asking me to help them with IT problems and so on.
The technology
The following are the specifications of my desktop PCs (all custom built):
| The Red Revolution (2019) | |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte X470 AORUS Gaming 7 motherboard |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 2700 3.2GHz @ 4.3GHz |
| RAM | 16GB Corsair Vengence DDR4 RAM @ 3000MHz |
| Case | Corsair 780T Black case |
| PSU |
Corsair HX850i PSU (from July 2019) Corsair HX850 PSU |
| Primary drive | Corsair Force MP510 NVMe SSD |
| Secondary drives |
|
| GPU | Sapphire AMD Radeon 5700X |
| OS | Windows 10 Pro x64 |
| Primary display |
Dell U3421WE 21:9 monitor (from December 2020) Dell U2518H InfinityEdge monitor |
| Speakers |
Dell U3421WE monitor built-in speakers Logitech Z333 speakers |
| Headphones | Gigabyte AORUS H5 Gaming headset |
| Mouse | Logitech G500 gaming mouse |
| Keyboard | Logitech G910 gaming keyboard |
| The Zebra X2 (2013) | |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z87-UD3H motherboard |
| CPU | Intel Core i7 4770K 3.5GHz CPU @ 3.5GHz |
| RAM | 8GB Corsair Vengence DDR3 RAM @ 1333MHz |
| Case | Corsair 600T Special Edition |
| PSU | Corsair HX850 PSU |
| Primary drive | Samsung EVO 840 250GB SSD using SATA 6Gbps |
| Secondary drives |
|
| GPU | XFX AMD Radeon 7950 DD Ghost |
| OS | Windows 8.1 Professional with Media Center x64 |
| Primary display |
Dell U2518h professional IPS monitor (from March 2018) Dell UZ2315h multimedia IPS monitor (from April 2015) Dell S2340T touch screen IPS monitor |
| Speakers | Dell S2340T built-in speakers, Logitech Z200 speakers |
| Headphones | Marley headphones |
| Mouse | Logitech G500 gaming mouse |
| Keyboard | Logitech G510 gaming keyboard |
| The Zebra (2011) | |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3 motherboard |
| CPU | Intel Core i7 2600K 3.5GHz CPU @ 3.4GHz |
| RAM | 8GB Corsair Vengence DDR3 RAM @ 1333MHz |
| Case | Corsair 600T Special Edition |
| PSU | Corsair HX850 PSU |
| Primary drive | OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD using SATA 3Gbps |
| Secondary drives |
|
| GPU |
XFX AMD Radeon 7950 DD Ghost (from November 2012) XFX AMD Radeon 5670 x2 |
| OS | Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
| Primary display | Asus PA238Q LED backlit IPS display using DisplayPort |
| Speakers | Corsair SP2100 speakers |
| Headphones | Marley headphones |
| Mouse | Logitech G500 gaming mouse |
| Keyboard | Logitech G510 gaming keyboard |
| The Platypus (2009) | |
|---|---|
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3 motherboard |
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz @ 3.2GHz |
| RAM | 4GB OCZ Platinum DDR2 RAM @ 1066MHz |
| Case | Lian-Li PC60-Plus B case |
| PSU | Corsair HX850 PSU |
| Primary drive | OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD using SATA 3Gbps |
| Secondary drives |
|
| GPU | XFX AMD Radeon 5670 |
| OS | Windows XP x32 and Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
| Primary display | Dell P2310h professional LCD monitor |
| Speakers | Labtec Arena 685 speakers |
| Headphones | Philips SHC5100 Wireless headphones |
| Mouse | Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 v3 Mouse |
| Keyboard | Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop 6000 v3 Keyboard |
More
- MacBook Pro: CPU | Integrated GPU
Everything Apple
When I got my first iPhone in 2009 I experienced my second Apple product, after the iPod Shuffle I won at school. Later in 2009, I tried to convince my mother not to get an iMac. She totally went against my advice and got one. That iMac was the Mac that introduced me to Apple properly.
After a few months of playing about with it I admitted to really enjoying it, but was not turned to Apple at that point. I traded my iPhone in a got a Windows Phone 7 based phone because I had previously being using Windows Mobile 6. In December 2010, I decided to use some of my savings along side my mother to purchase an iPad, mainly as I was in hospital at the time and therefore wanted my mother having something to do whilst she was visiting me and staying there over night. We pretty much went halfers on a 16GB 3G iPad 1st generation. My aunt had one before and she brought it to me in October 2010 when I went into hospital where I was originally very skeptical of it. In about March 2010, I sold my half of the iPad back to my mother because she wanted to own the whole iPad.
In September 2011, I finally decided to make the change from my PC to Mac. I ordered the first Mac, a MacBook Pro 13" Late 2011 (Thunderbolt version) and I have never looked back since. I'm very much in love with OS X and there's nothing anyone can say to sway me away. I don't mind paying a premium for something that works. As a temporary solution to my jealousy of my brother's iPhone and being stuck with a rubbish Windows Phone, I got an iPod Touch 4th Generation. After 16 of 24 months with the Windows Phone I got rid of it, thank goodness. I then got an iPhone 5 16GB and a 4G contract in October 2012. In February 2014 I bought my own iPad Air 32GB 4G. This time I am happy to say, I will be keeping it.
I then got a new MacBook and this time went for the top model available in 2014, a 2013 Retina display model and then a new iPhone 6 64GB as well as a Mac mini to top off 2014.
Then in 2018, I got myself an iPhone XS before getting my first Apple Watch (a Series 3 then replaced a few days later with a Series 5) in October 2019. Then in August 2020 I got an iPad Pro to replace my iPad Air, a pair of AirPods Pro in October 2020, a new MacBook Pro with an Apple M1 chip in November 2020 and a new iPhone 12 in December 2020.
My devices
Apple Watch Series 7
Mac Mini 2012
MacBook Pro 13 2020
iPad Pro 2020
iPhone 12 mini
Current
- Apple Watch Series 7 (A2478)
- iPad Pro (2020) 128GB (A2229)
- MacBook Pro 2020 13" with Apple M1 (A2338)
- Mac mini 2012 2.3GHz i7 quad core 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD 16GB RAM (A1347)
- AirPods Pro (A2084)
Older
These devices are my previously used products. I still have a lot of these to date.
- Apple Watch Series 5 (A2093)
- Apple TV Third Generation (A1469)
- MacBook Pro with Retina display October 2013 15" 2.3GHz Core i7 (A1398)
- iPhone XS 64GB Vodafone (A1921)
- iPhone 6 32GB Vodafone (A1522)
- iPhone 5 16GB Vodafone (A1428)
- iPhone 3GS 8GB Vodafone (A1325)
- iPad Air (2014) 32GB 4G (A1475)
- iPod Touch 4th Generation 32GB (A1367)
- iPod Shuffle 2nd Generation 2GB (A1204)
