Gallery: The Modern PC Turns 30
0101-ibm-5150
The revolutionary IBM 5150 landed 30 years ago today. It wasn't the first device of its kind; Xerox PARC already had the Alto “home computer," for example. But the success of IBM personal computers, particularly the 5150, was what would ultimately transform people's opinions of computers and spur their adoption. It would be difficult to overstate the role of the 5150. The PC grew so important and so influential in the years following its arrival that *Time* chose silicon over carbon in 1983 when it named the computer [”Machine of the Year”](http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19830103,00.html). Today, we celebrate the IBM 5150 and nine other major milestones that helped the personal computer achieve its invaluable, and ubiquitous, place in society. 1981: The IBM 5150 Is Born -------------------------- IBM launched the [5150 PC](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/thisdayintech/2011/08/0812ibm-5150-personal-computer-pc/) on Aug. 12, 1981. It wasn't much by today's standards, or even yesterday's. The 5150 featured a 4.77 MHz 8-to-16 bit Intel 8088 processor. It was less powerful than other processors available from Intel and Motorola, but those were thought to be “too powerful” for a PC. IBM also gave the 5150 a full 64 kilobytes of RAM — expandable to whopping 256 kB — one or two floppy drives (your choice) and a monochromatic display. The 5150 was developed in less than a year by a team of 12 led by [Don Estridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Don_Estridge). The project was given the codename “Project Chess” -- which we mention only because it sounds so cool -- and built using off-the-shelf components. Depending on how you configured your 5150, you'd shell out anywhere from $1,565 to $6,000 for one. That comes to $4,000 to $15,000 in today’s dollars. The success of the 5150 made the IBM PC the industry standard, and before long a whole bunch of "IBM compatibles” and clones jumped into the burgeoning PC market.
0202-commodore-64
1982: The Commodore 64 Debuts ----------------------------- The [Commodore 64](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gaming/hardware/multimedia/2007/12/gallery_commodore_64) arrived in January, 1982, and became the best-selling computer ever. The Commodore had a rock-bottom price of $595, but it proved so popular that Commodore International slashed the price to an even-more-affordable $400. The company sold as many as 17 million units during the computer's lifespan. Although it was a PC, the Commodore 64 was often compared to gaming consoles, and competed against them. Titles like *The Last Ninja* and *Little Computer People* helped make the C64 a gaming superstar. More than [10,000 programs would be written](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gaming/hardware/multimedia/2007/12/gallery_commodore_64?slide=2&slideView=2”) for the C64. The venerable Commodore is gone but not forgotten. Even today you can find numerous [Commodore 64](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/commodore-64/”) emulators that let you relive the experience of computing in the '80s on your Mac, PC, Nintendo DS, Sony Playstation or even your smartphone. The super-nostalgic, or super-geeky, can purchase an [Intel Atom-based C64](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/commodore-64-goes-on-sale-amiga-vic-20-coming-soon/”), but the most functional models start at $600.
Rob Marquardt0303-macintosh
1984: The First Macintosh ------------------------- On Jan. 24, 1984, the [first Macintosh computer](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/01/dayintech_0124) debuted. New, innovative features -- a mouse and a graphical user interface -- distinguished it from prior PCs. The [Macintosh 128K](http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa051599.htm) came bundled with MacPaint and MacWrite, two applications written expressly for the new computer’s fledgling Mac OS 1.0 operating system to take advantage of its GUI. Desktop publishing became a breeze when the Mac was paired with the LaserWriter and Aldus PageMaker. The first Macintosh was introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with that famous commercial directed by Ridley Scott. Priced at $2,500, it harbored a modest 8 MHz processor, a floppy disc drive, dual serial ports and a 9-inch black-and-white monitor. And just because, here's that ad: http://www.youtube.com/embed/OYecfV3ubP8
0404-convertible
1986: The IBM PC Gets Revamped ------------------------------ The IBM PC Convertible was IBM’s first laptop, and also the first to include a 3.5” floppy disc drive -- two, in fact. It could also run off batteries. Inside, it ran DOS 3.1 on a 4.77 MHz Intel 80c88 CPU, with 256 to 640 kB of RAM. The $2,000 “laptop” sported a monochrome LCD and had a handy carrying handle. This convertible PC featured [state-of-the-art surface mount technology](http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/attic/attic_013.html), which helped consolidate its components into a smaller area. It was still pretty freakin' big, though, weighing a whopping 13 pounds. The Convertible also had an expandable back, which transformed it into a more useful piece of equipment. [Users could install things](http://oldcomputers.net/ibm5140.html) like a thermal-ribbon printer, a CRT display adapter, a serial-parallel adapter or an internal modem. Installing all the extras added a fair amount of heft, though -- pack 'em all on and your Convertible grew from a manageable (for the era) 13 pounds to a colossal 20 pounds. It also got seven inches bigger.
05ibm-ps2-print-adcrop
1987: The IBM PC Battles the Macintosh -------------------------------------- IBM was trying desperately to combat the whirlwind that was the Macintosh. It finally struck back in 1987 with the IBM PS/2. It wasn't IBM's most popular line, but it did usher in a number of advancements in personal computing. The PS/2 made 3.5-inch floppy drives and video graphics arrays standard features on IBM PCs. It was also the first IBM model to use a mouse. It was available in a couple of versions, including the [Model 25 and 30](http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=1183). The Model 25 was available with either a color or monochrome display. IBM ended up selling more than [one million units](http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1987) before the end of 1987. In another historical note, 1987 also marked the end of the beloved 5150 to rest. IBM officially discontinued it on April 2, 1987.
0606-nextstation
1990: Steve Jobs, NeXT, and the NeXTstation ------------------------------------------- After Steve Jobs resigned from Apple in 1985, he founded NeXT. The upstart computer company released a couple of computers in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the NeXT Computer that Tim Berners-Lee used to develop the world wide web. But perhaps the most noteworthy model was the NeXTstation. The NeXTstation was a high-end workstation sold until 1993. It never quite struck the right chord with consumers, but aspects of its [OpenStep operating system](http://www.museplan.com/projects/next-mac-faq/next-mac-faq.html), including user interface features like the services menu, the dock, the finder’s “browser” view and its object-oriented programming language, would appear in Mac OSX and the PowerPC architecture when Apple bought NeXT in 1996.
0707-intel-pentium
1993: Intel Debuts Pentium Processor ------------------------------------ Intel released its Pentium chip on March 22, 1993. It was the first Intel processor using the x86 architecture to go by a name rather than a number. More than that, though, the Pentium introduced superscalar chip architecture to the x86 line, letting the chip execute multiple instructions simultaneously. In other words, Intel’s speedier chips made for faster mass-market PCs. Unfortunately for Intel, it also was one of its biggest stumbles. Some first-generation Pentiums contained a bug that resulted in “floating point errors,” costing the company millions in replacement chips and manufacturing costs. Nowadays, the Pentium brand labeling has been downgraded in favor of the familiar Core brand.
0808-windows-95
1995: Say Hello to Windows 95 ----------------------------- Windows 4.0, more commonly known by the moniker Windows 95, arrived on Aug. 24, 1995. Prior to this OS version, Microsoft’s Windows and MS-DOS products were separate. [Windows 95](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/08/dayintech_0824) unified them and marked a change from a formerly 16-bit architecture to a 32-bit architecture in a clean, successful package. The graphical user interface of Windows 95 was also a significant improvement over previous versions of Windows, as was its simple plug-n-play functionality. Now-standard Windows OS features like the task bar and start menu made their debut in Windows 95. Around the same time Windows 95 brought a surge in PCs, other hardware transitions were occurring on. Floppy drives began taking a backseat to CD-ROM drives, which had become the de facto standard. Within two years of its debut, Windows 95 became the most successful operating system ever, driving former competitors like OS/2 out of business and creating a legacy: Windows 98, 2000, XP and the mess that was Vista.
09amd64
2003: The Rise of 64-Bit Processors ----------------------------------- The early oughts were big for 64-bit chips. AMD released its Athlon 64 in 2003, followed shortly thereafter by IBM’s 64-bit PowerPC 970 -- which earned the title Power PC G5 when used in Apple’s machines. Intel followed suit with 64-bit chips of its own the following year. For consumers 64-bit processing had been the stuff dreams were made of. They were found only on enterprise-class servers and, before that, supercomputers. But by 2003, consumer software and computing habits were reaching the limits of 32-bit processors could handle, so 64-bit processing entered mainstream personal computing. Faster 64-bit processing wasn’t limited to PCs. We also saw it in the appropriately-named [Nintendo 64 gaming system](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gamelife/tag/nintendo-64/”) and the [Playstation 2](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gamelife/tag/playstation-2/”).
10tabletstack2
Today: The Year of the Tablet ----------------------------- When Steve Jobs unveiled the [iPad](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/ipad/”) in 2010, it completely changed the face of computing, particularly how we thought about interacting with data. The mouse? Gone. Keyboard? Who needs it? For [capacitive touch devices](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/capacitive/”), swipes, taps and apps are the name of the game. They dominate our mobile PC experience as we take computing on the go. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, many consumers began to go with more travel-friendly notebook computers instead of -- or in addition to -- desktop PCs. Our outlook had changed: We didn’t just want our PC at home or at work. We wanted it with us all the time; we needed our computer, and the information it makes available to us, at home, at work, at the coffee shop -- anywhere and everywhere we choose to be. This led to [even smaller, thinner](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/07/super-thin-computing/”) mobile computer form factors like netbooks like the ASUS Eee PC in 2007 and ultrabooks like the [MacBook Air](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/macbook-air/”). The tablet computer wasn’t a new idea when the iPad arrived. You could call the Apple Newton, released in 1993, and the Microsoft Tablet PC announced in 2001, proto-tablets. But the tablet form factor is now ubiquitous, and we have [a host of models and brand names](”http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/tablets/”) to choose from. And to think it started just 30 years ago.
