As a kid, I used Mom's HP Elitebook and Dad's ThinkPad, both from mid-2000s era and relatively lightweight, still a bit on the heavier side. Road Rash, Angry Birds and GTA Vice City were all I used to play, although I did become familiar with word processors and using PowerPoint, playing was the best part which I miss.
This changed in 2016 when I got my first very own laptop, Acer One 10, gifted by my Mom on my birthday. I was suddenly navigating Windows 10 instead of 7 or XP, both of which I was used to. It took me a while to get used to the OS, and surprisingly I found Windows 10 more convenient than using WIndows 7 or XP.
This laptop has Intel Atom Z3735F, 2GB RAM, 32GB Storage and Windows 10, very low-spec but it gets the job done. Mom got it for me through Snapdeal (A very reputed Indian e-commerce website at the time, like Amazon and Flipkart) in 2016. I remember telling her I wanted a 2-in-1 Laptop since the Elitebook and ThinkPad were sort of heavy and 2-in-1 laptops looked pretty cool to me; they were also quite affordable (15k Rupees).
At the time, I was just a kid, I had no idea What a CPU means?, What was Python?, none of it. When I explored the Microsoft Store for the first time, I found Scratch; that's what got me started with coding. I mainly did normal web browsing, emails, Scratch and Minecraft along with many other games. I remember watching GoldenArmor, ExplodingTNT, PinkSheep, Orepros and all kinds of Minecraft YouTubers at the time, only to notice I'm using Chromium, not Chrome, because I installed Chromium, and 9 y/o me couldn't tell the difference.
This small detail got me started on the open-source path, while I wasn't deeply familiar yet, this led me to tinker with my laptop, install open-source software, even pirate games (I didn't know Steam was the official marketplace).
I feel we don't give enough gratitude to things that helped shape us, be it living, nonliving, human, animal, or even just a pencil. This post, although my first post, is a thank-you note aimed at my Acer One 10. This laptop is responsible for helping discover programming through Scratch, learning Chrome and Chromium are two different things, the existence of Microsoft Store, discovering Minecraft, and so much more.
If it wasn't for this guy, I'd have never developed an interest for FOSS, Privacy, Security and I wouldn't be here writing this post.
The laptop still runs like a charm on Windows 10, I haven't been able to install Linux on it because its keyboard stopped working and the laptop was like a detachable tablet and all the USB ports available on the keyboard. I really wish I could give it one more chance at life but unfortunately I haven't been able to find a workaround for the problem of having no USB ports.