About my computers
On this page you can find some information and specifications of my computers and peripheral devices.
Desktop: iMac
I got myself an Apple iMac (early 2008 model) in October 2008 to replace my PC that fried its main board a year and a half earlier. It took some time, but I was in no particular hurry since the MacBook below — tethered to external monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers — did a fair job in the mean time. I opted for the 24"/2.8GHz configuration with a 500 GB hard disk drive. The other features are default, except for the memory which I doubled right upon arrival.
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E8235 (2.8 GHz, 6 MiB L2 cache) |
|---|---|
| Memory | 2 × 2048 MiB DDR2 800 MHz (Dual Channel) |
| Graphics | ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro (256 MiB DDR3) |
| Monitor | 24" wide screen TFT panel (1920×1200 px) |
| Sound | Stereo speakers and mono microphone Combined analog/digital in, combined analog/digital out |
| Web cam | Apple iSight (640×480 px, 30 fps) |
| Wi-Fi | Apple AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n) |
| Hard disk drive | Western Digital Caviar 500 GB (7200 rpm, 16 MB cache) |
| Optical drive | Apple SuperDrive (Dual Layer DVD+/-R(W), slot loading) |
| Operating system | Mac OS X Snow Leopard |
Laptop: MacBook
In February 2007, I purchased an Apple MacBook (late 2006 model) to replace my Packard Bell laptop. It has also served as my desktop computer until I bought the iMac above, since not long after the MacBook arrived, my PC committed suicide. I bought the white 2.0 GHz version, with 1 GiB of memory and a 80 GB hard disk drive. Later, I expanded the memory to 2 GiB and replaced the hard disk drive with a 250 GB model.
| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 (2.0 GHz, 4 MiB L2 cache) |
|---|---|
| Memory | 2 × 1024 MiB DDR2 667 MHz (Dual Channel) |
| Graphics | Intel GMA950 (on-board, 64 MiB shared) |
| Monitor | 13.3" wide screen TFT panel (1280×800 px) |
| Sound | Stereo speakers and mono microphone Combined analog/digital in, combined analog/digital out |
| Web cam | Apple iSight (640×480 px, 30 fps) |
| Wi-Fi | Apple AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n) |
| Hard disk drive | Western Digital Scorpio 250 GB (5400 rpm, 8 MB cache) |
| Optical drive | Apple SuperDrive (Dual Layer DVD+/-R(W), slot loading) |
| Operating system | Mac OS X Snow Leopard |
Virtual Private Server
Since October 2008, this web site runs on a virtual private server (VPS). Virtual means that it is a complete machine, but virtualized, somewhat like VMware or VirtualPC (KVM for the technically savvy). So I can use pretty much any OS I like, I have root access to that OS, in other words, I can make it do anything I want, just like a physical machine, but at a fraction of the cost.
| CPU | Shared, 2.3 GHz (effectively ½ dedicated core) |
|---|---|
| Memory | 1 GiB guaranteed |
| Hard disk space | 25 GiB |
| Data transfer | 50 GB/month |
| Operating system | Debian Lenny |
| Extra | Own IPv4 address and a 64 bit IPv6 range |
Peripherals
These are the devices that I use often or that are connected to my iMac most of the time.
| Router/WiFi AP | Apple Airport Extreme base station (802.11a/b/g/n) |
|---|---|
| Backup drive | Western Digital My Book Studio 1 TB (7200 rpm, USB 2.0, Firewire 400/800, eSATA) |
| Speakers | Creative GigaWorks T20 (2.0) |
| Keyboards | Aluminum Apple Keyboard Aluminum Apple Wireless Keyboard |
| Mouse | Logitech MX Revolution Wireless Laser Mouse |
| Touch tablet | Apple Magic Trackpad |
| Graphics tablet | Wacom Bamboo USB |
| Phone/Media player | Apple iPhone 3G (16 GB, white) |
| Digital camera | Panasonic Lumix FX01 (6 MP, 3.6× optical zoom, optical image stabilizer) |
