Same here. Pre-teen kid fascinated by this new tech. Looking back I have no idea how my mom/dad afforded it. In fact, my mom went behind my dad's back to buy it for me as he said they could not afford it. I remember the exact location of the store we went to at the time still. I actually got a genuine IBM (only the best mom.. THANKS!). Something like $3000+ at the time. Later added a $300 modem after seeing War Games.

I attribute a large part to my mom, basically no questions asked, in getting me that first PC to my whole career in IT. As well as a tinkerer of tech stuff and still prefer fixing electronic stuff and building my own PC from parts than buying name brand ones. I'm 43.

I need to tell her thanks again next time I see her for basically taking a $9k loan out (in today's $$) for her 10yo son for this gadget computer stuff that was starting to take off that no one else in our circle of friends really even knew much about.