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History of the Personal Computer
Take a visual tour through the history of personal computing. This list covers all the major milestones, from Alto to iPad.
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1.
Xerox Alto
Xerox Alto was the first truly modern personal computer, it had number of firsts including graphical user interface (GUI), desktop, mouse. Apple, Sun and later Microsoft derived/copied heavily from this design. Xerox Alto was never commercial product, but 2000 were built, used at PARC and some universities. Specs: 2.5MB cartridge, upto 512kB memory, TI 74181 CPU.
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2.
Micral
Micral was the first non-kit commercial personal computer. Specs: Intel 8008 processor running at 500 KHz, 8-inch floppy disk reader, priced at $1,750.
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3.
Altair 8800
Altair 8800 was the first consumer computer; it was sold through mail order as a hobbyist kit ($439) or as an assembled version ($621). It showed for the first time that there was a lot of interest/demand for personal computers, before Altair 8800 computers were confined to universities, government labs and large corporations.
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4.
Apple II
Apple II was one of the first truly successful personal computer selling more than 5 million units. It was particularly popular with business users, families and secondary schools. Specs: MOS Technology 6502 processor running at 1 MHz, 4KB of RAM and an audio cassette for loading data. Base price was $1298.
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5.
PET 2001
PET 2001 was first all-in-one home computer, the "PET" was on backorder for months do to strong demand. Specs: MOS Technology 6502 running at 1 MHz, 4KB RAM. PET 2001 came with 9-inch monochrome monitor 40x25 character display.
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6.
Osborne 1
Osborne 1 was the first portable computer that enjoyed commercial success. Specs: 4 MHz Z80 processor, 64 KB RAM, Dual 5.25-inch floppy drives, 5-inch 52x24 character display, 23.5 lb weight, and priced at $1795.
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7.
IBM PC - "Acorn"
The first IBM PC. Specs: Intel 8088 processor running at 4.77MHz, 16 KB RAM, dual 5.25-inch 160 KB floppy drives, optional color monitor, starting at $1,565 (no monitor no drives).
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8.
Commodore 64
Commodore 64 was the first affordable personal computer, it outsold all other computers between 1983-1986, with total sales reaching 17 million units. Specs: MOS Technology 6510 processor running at 1 MHz, 64 KB RAM, price $595.
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9.
Apple Lisa
Apple Lisa was the first commercially available GUI (Graphical User Interface) computer. Specs: Motorola 68000 processor running at 5 MHz, 1 MB RAM, dual 5.25-inch drives, price was set at $9,995.
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10.
Apple Macintosh
Macintosh had all the options of Apple Lisa but for the 1/4 of the price. For this reason it was the first commercially successful GUI computer. Specs: Motorola 68000 processor running at 5MHz, 128 KB RAM, price $2,495.
Related Lists
- This list only covers major PC milestones. Don't add insignificant PCs.
