As far as processors are concerned I loved the Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 68000. Oddly enough I really disliked the MT 6502 and the Intel 8086.
As total systems I loved the HP 41CX, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the Symbolics Lisp Machine and the Apple Mac IIcx (or really just any Mac before the PowerPC debacle).
After that era, I just started home-building x86 machines, and while there was the odd preferred component, it never went beyond the 'A is better than B' stage.
As total systems I loved the HP 41CX, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, the Symbolics Lisp Machine and the Apple Mac IIcx (or really just any Mac before the PowerPC debacle).
After that era, I just started home-building x86 machines, and while there was the odd preferred component, it never went beyond the 'A is better than B' stage.