I love all the memories posted in this thread! The first computer in my household was a Kaypro 2X, bought in 1985 (Similar to this ad):



One of my earliest memories is going to a computer store in Manhattan with my dad, and him lugging this "portable" (!) computer down the street to our car. Weighed about 40 pounds, and cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500 (it was discounted by the point we bought it, as it was an older model).

My dad worked from home and edited many documents on it, and when he needed to collaborate with others on a project, he would send and receive the 5 1/4" floppy disks in the mail. (Or he could have used the 300 bps modem, but few people had email or BBS access in the 80s!)

We used this computer until 1993, when we upgraded to a Mac with the Prodigy online service and a 2400 bps modem. It sat in our garage until 2001, when sadly it went in the dumpster as my parents downsized from a 4-bedroom house to a small Manhattan apartment.

If I hadn't been away at college at the time, I would have saved the Kaypro as an "antique." It worked perfectly until the end, as far as I know.