I can’t remember what my first computer was. It was a kit that I built somewhere around 1979… Not a Sinclair. It came in a substantial metal case that had the keyboard built in and which supported the monitor.
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Was it one of these?
Powertran PSI Comp80 ‘The Scientific Computer’ Wireless World 1979-80 RARE z80
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Yes! That’s the one… I should have held on to it - it seems to be a collector’s item now…
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I started using an Apple II in school.
The first computer I got for myself wan an Amstrad/Schneider PCW256.
I remember comparing a number of different computers at the time and will never forget the words of the salesman:
Think wisely because a computer is something you only buy once in a lifetime
One thing is true. He never sold me another computer.
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I’m a genius, I know. 
I found an old photo taken in 1983 in the flat in Bristol Gardens, Maida Vale that shows (partially) the Powertran PSI Comp80 sitting on the floor. Also shown is my old Quad system, the Revox A77 and a Linn turntable and SME arm, along with an analogue synthesiser - also built from a kit…
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The first “computer” I owned (my parents didn’t believe in computers so I had to sneak it by them under the guise of a fancy calculator). It had BASIC but programming on it sucked 
I always got the worst choices for every new tech thing. When younger I had this instead of an Atari
because it had a poor keyboard and they thought I’d learn something instead of playing …
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I remember playing ‘tennis’ on this once when I was a kid. I was amazed.
There was no way we could afford one. It cost about the same as our first house!
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That was my first:
Complete with tape recorder and printer. Loved it very much, helped me with a lot of calculations (programmed in BASIC). And now, you can do it all in an App…
LD
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Atari 800XL for me, $100 from a toy store. Picked it up after learning basic on a friend’s Atari 400. Prior to this, though, I had programed a small mini computer (1973 or so) while in high school. It programed with punch cards, and output on a cash register tape.
Later, I joined the local Atari computer club and became SYSOP of their BBS, run on a 800XL with a 10 meg! hard drive grafted on in, one of the few that I knew of-- there was bus access on the back you could graft an aftermarket SCSI interface to. Not long after, I was selling Amigas and Atari STs at the big box stereo store I worked at (Federated Group in Southern California).
Back in the day, I did a fair amount of 6502 machine language programing but I never really hung on to programing. When things went beyond 8 bits, I became a user instead of a programer.
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My first computer was a Digi-Comp 1. I still have it in a box somewhere…
I also had a CARDiac, but I’ve lost that somewhere along the way.
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I was only 23
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My second computer and the first one I wrote games for and learned 6502 Assembly language.
My future path was forever set in those fun days sat in front of that computer 
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A friend had a VIC-20, which as I recall was the 64’s cheaper brither. Nice keyboard on it - much better than the one on the Spectrum he had before.
My first computer was an Atari 520 STFM. A few of us used to set up our STs via midi and play Midimaze - great fun!
Michael
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Ah nostalgia …
ZX80 was my first , then the 16 M RAM pack that looked like a camera flash gun ,but that edge connector Flex ARGH
Then really up market to an Apple ][ , with 2 drives wowowowo , I couldn’t quite afford the 10M Winchester Drive (yes 10 meg !!! it was as big as the computer keyboard box) ) , but did go 80 column card . Finished up programming in Apple Pascal
Then I gave up and spent fortunes on cameras . Since then all my PC’s have been cheap and cheerful desktops from the local PC shop , not eve a laptop.
Things may downsize sometime !!
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Nostalgia indeed! I have been trying to create a list of all these beautiful machines that have passed my desk in 43 years. 
Sinclair ZX-81: added 16Kb but quickly traded it in for a
Sinclair ZX Spectrum with the gummy keyboard - upgraded to 80Kb RAM at some point
Sinclair ZX Spectrum+ with Interface II and 2 microdrives
Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128 - which I still have in the attic and fire up now and then
Commodore 128 with a 1571 disk drive - a beautiful machine with CP/M and 40/80 monitor
Atari 1040STf - a poor man’s Amiga in my case 
By that time the first IBM PC XT entered our home - still in my parent’s attic - followed by a 80286 AT, 80386SX, 80386 DX, 80486 DX2
Even though I liked the flexibility of the PCs, being able to install DOS, Windows, OS/2 and UNIX, I started using Apple computers starting with a Performa 475 which was succeeded by the first Intel iMac in 2006. Since then I have only been using Apple computers, today with multiple retro software emulators installed.
So in a way the circle is round again. 
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From the music aspect, no machine could and can beat the C64 and its mixture of digital and analogue sound components. I think, no machine has been brought more above its limits than the C64.