This is written a bit too dramatically, but I agree with the basic sentiment. I too was that kid! I didn't know what a graphics card or processor was, but I played all the games I could get my hands on (as long as they ran) on the computer we had as a family, installed GIMP (free!) and tried every single setting or tool in its menus, until I got a basic understanding of image editing.
Chromebooks get an only half-deserved diss. I completed my bachelor studies in Computer Science on a 350 euro 11" 4GB RAM Chromebook back in 2017 - running Ubuntu. I was amazed then what it was capable of: running the Eclipse Java IDE on an external monitor, Spotify in the background, multiple browser tabs open, Thunderbird... The final thing I did with it was Ionic/Cordova web development with Angular in Atom, running an Android emulator in Android Studio. Things certainly were lighter back then, but the computer's limitations also just didn't really matter. If it worked (slowly), it was fine.
This is written a bit too dramatically, but I agree with the basic sentiment. I too was that kid! I didn't know what a graphics card or processor was, but I played all the games I could get my hands on (as long as they ran) on the computer we had as a family, installed GIMP (free!) and tried every single setting or tool in its menus, until I got a basic understanding of image editing.
Chromebooks get an only half-deserved diss. I completed my bachelor studies in Computer Science on a 350 euro 11" 4GB RAM Chromebook back in 2017 - running Ubuntu. I was amazed then what it was capable of: running the Eclipse Java IDE on an external monitor, Spotify in the background, multiple browser tabs open, Thunderbird... The final thing I did with it was Ionic/Cordova web development with Angular in Atom, running an Android emulator in Android Studio. Things certainly were lighter back then, but the computer's limitations also just didn't really matter. If it worked (slowly), it was fine.