Aspersonal computersbecame affordable , must - have net gateways in the late nineties , individual models took a backseat to larger mark . Delldidn’t nettle advertising special model name . It just advertised one major selling point : cheap . When Apple made a comeback withiMacs , and afterward MacBooks and MacBook Pros , you were either a Mac individual or a personal computer somebody . Whether that microcomputer was a Dell , or an HP , or an ASUS did n’t make much difference .
But when the personal computer market was younger , modest and much more expensive , things were different . Your PC was everything . In the late 1970s and 1980s , buying a figurer was a vast investment funds , in all likelihood costing thousands of dollars and determining what kind of software you ’d be running for the next several year . As a resultant , computer hobbyists pick favorites . And they stuck by them .
The wars between IBM fans , Tandy owners , Apple devotees and Commodore diehards were fiercer than any Mac versus PC parameter . As a outcome , those former system had an huge impact on those former nursing home computer users , make a generation of tech - savvy programmers . Ask any of them about their first ( or favored ) computer , and they ’ll be able to tell you precisely what it was .
A few extremely democratic break models trade millions of unit . These are 10 of the most popular computers ever build . Your favorite may be among them .
10: Timex Sinclair 1000
In 1981 , Sinclair released a computing machine at a price that is still crazy 30 year later : $ 99.95 . The Timex Sinclair 1000 , also known as the ZX81 , was small , ran on BASIC , and offer a bare 2 KB ofRAMto go with its 3.25 MHz processor . Even by 1981 ’s criterion , it was tiresome – but it also cost a mere 100 buck , piddle it an attractive debut point for aspiring hobbyists who could n’t drop a thousand buck on a PC .
Thanks to its price , the Timex Sinclair 1000 sell over 600,000 unit in the United States [ reference : Old Computers ] . The Timex Sinclair 1000 ’s carrying into action was infamously slow – because the computer contained a mere four chips , it swear on its CPU to handle all of its processing and review whatever external display it was attach to . Switching to " loyal " way would speed up calculations but cause a terrible screen refresh rate . gratefully , the computer supported tons of expansions , likefloppy drivesand RAM MBD - ons , that greatly improved its functionality .
9: Tandy TRS-80
Ah , Radio Shack . Once upon a time , it soldcomputersunder its very own steel . And they were tremendously successful . In the 1970s , when cassette tapes , and not floppy disk , were the go - to storage spiritualist for information processing system , Tandy put out a personal computer visit the TRS-80 . Thanks to the TRS-80 , the Tandy name was as big as IBM orAppleor Commodore in the personal computer market of the 1980s .
The TRS-80 plunge in 1977 , before the home computer marketplace had really exploded . Tandy extend its first manakin with 4 K of RAM , a 1.77 MHz C.P.U. and a 12 - column inch monitor for $ 600 . late models and a $ 300 Expansion Interface greatly increased the calculator ’s capabilities , adding floppy bread and butter , extra embrasure and more memory [ source : Goldklang ] .
Tandy ’s TRS - DOS ( disc operating system ) was a popular OS precede MS - DOS . Microsoft ’s former operating system pay some similarities to TRS - DOS – no surprise , since Tandy trade more than 200,000 units and followed the TRS-80 ’s achiever with more popular systems such as the 1980 Color Computer , or CoCo [ source : Old Computers ] .
8: MSX
While the United States and European market were ruled by companies like IBM , Commodore , Sinclair andApple , Japan had its own hardware giants in the ' 80 . The MSX is a singular information processing system , because its name – which could stand for Microsoft Extended Basic or Machines with Software Exchangeability – actually lend oneself to a issue of similar system make by Nipponese companies like Toshiba and Sony .
MSX was designed to be a ironware touchstone and was spearheaded byMicrosoftJapan ’s Vice President Kazuhiko Nishi . The data processor used Microsoft BASIC and were n’t as expensive as some other computers of the 1980s . Since the launch of MSX in 1983 , the information processing system family has betray more than 5 million unit [ reservoir : Lyon ] . MSX never became a global hardware measure , but it was very successful in Japan ( as some video game devotee know , Metal Gear was originally released on the popular MSX before Nintendo ’s Famicom ) .
7: NEC PC-98
While the MSX was a popular range of Japanese estimator merge by a vulgar set of computer hardware standards , NEC ’s PC-98 was a grievous achiever all by its lonesome . Released in 1982 , the PC-98 flow on a 5 megacycle per second Intel 8086 CPU , had two display comptroller , and a base 128 KB ofRAM . The PC-98 was a powerful data processor for its clip , and NEC ruled the Nipponese market with roughly a 50 percent grocery share , thanks to the organization ’s success .
While the 1980s computer market was finally dominated by IBM PC and IBM knock - offs , NEC ’s unique computer architecture ruled in Japan . The PC-98 line sold more than 15 million systems over a lifetime of more than a decade , though NEC plainly unblock multiple updates to the computer over that lifetime – the original PC-98 found in 1982 did n’t rack up all of those gross revenue itself [ source : Computing Japan ] .
Even so , NEC was Japan ’s go - to data processor company in the 1980s , making the PC-98 the eastern equivalent of the mighty IBM personal computer .
6: iMac
TheiMacis the elision to the ruler of modern computing that no single model is unique enough or democratic enough to match the fandom of groundbreaking ' 70s and ' 80s reckoner . Of course , that was Apple ’s point . When they release the iMac in 1998 , they advertize its colourful organic structure by criticise the beige color of drabPCs . Today , Apple ’s move away from the candy colored aesthetical for the iMac , but the information processing system ’s main draw remains unchanged . It ’s a simple , all - in - one intention that incorporates all of the information processing system ’s component part into the proctor lodging . Easy to move , easy to set up .
The iMac was the beginning of a new era for Apple , which would usher in marvelous succeeder with " i " products such as the iPod and iPhone . The iMac was never a massively successful Cartesian product line – Apple struck gold a few years later with its MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops – but it was still the first Mac in year to make a dent in the Microsoft - dominated personal computer market of the 1990s .
The iMac also rebranded Apple as a manner - witting company worthy of imitation . In 1999 , they sue a pair of computing machine companies for ripping off the iMac ’s look , which they ’d promote with a $ 100 million merchandising campaign [ informant : McCarthy ] . founder their success with virtually every product released since the iMac , that campaign was potential a suitable investment funds .
5: Commodore Amiga
The Amiga 500 , released in 1987 , accompany in the footsteps of wildly successfulcomputerslike the Commodore 64 and Apple II . It was novel , quicker , better : The Amiga 500 made the jump from an 8 - fleck mainframe up to 32 bits and 7 MHz of speeding . The computer shipped with 512 KB ofRAM , support for up to 4096 colours , and an internal 3.5 - column inch floppy driving . Not bad for a launch price of $ 700 .
The Amiga was a speedy computer , thanks to a figure featuring multiple coprocessors that were give to certain duties such as audio frequency or video recording . The central processing unit did n’t have to do everything by itself . Commodore free many Amiga model over the course of action of a tenner , but the cheap 500 was the most popular . The Amiga was an especially popular software program political platform for game and creative program for video and well-grounded work . Thanks to its coprocessors , the Amiga was powerful enough to do graphic and animation work antecedently impossible on a consumer PC .
Overall , the Amiga household sold roughly 6 million units – an amazing number for any computer launched in the 1980s [ source : Amiga History Guide ] .
4: Apple II
In 1977 , the same class Sinclair released the $ 100 Timex Sinclair 1000,Applereleased the Apple II . Apple ’s 2d hobbyist computer be a turn more than the Sinclair at a start monetary value of about $ 1300 , but there ’s a grounds one company no longer exists and the other is the richest corporation on the planet . The Apple II was an incredible success . It built on the design of the Apple I by retaining a simple 1MHz processor and 4 KB of RAM and adding a casing andkeyboard .
Eight enlargement slots on the Apple II board made the computer extremely customizable for hobbyists , and the system could be configure with up to 48 KB of RAM . That was a net ton in 1977 . But it was computer software that rightfully set the Apple II apart . Apple ’s Steve Wozniak design an low-cost 5 1/4 - column inch floppy drive minimal brain damage - on , the Disk II , that was comparatively cheap to produce , thanks to a new software approach to reading and written material . More significantly , spreadsheet software VisiCalc made the computer a brawny tool for corporations , who were dead uncoerced to pay more than $ 1000 per machine .
The Apple II was one of the good marketing computing machine on the market for five years , selling more than 1 million units in the vernal information processing system market , engender branch models like the Apple IIe , and point Apple on the Fortune 500 list [ germ : Old Computers ] . Apple acquaint the Macintosh in 1983 and had sold 1 million building block by 1987 . While the Macintosh name has flummox , the Apple II made a marvelous impact on the computing machine industriousness .
3: ZX Spectrum
While computer company Sinclair found succeeder in the United States with the Timex Sinclair 1000 , its smashing contribution to the industry was the ZX Spectrum , launched a few age later in 1982 . The purpose was similar : The Spectrum was a small , affordable ( £ 125 in the U.K. ) organization that incorporated a keyboard into its consistence . But the Spectrum was a much better information processing system than its predecessor thanks to 16 KB ofRAMand a real hardwarekeyboard(the Timex , know as the ZX-81 in the U.K. , had a poor plastic membrane keyboard ) .
The ZX Spectrum line was successful worldwide , selling more than 5 million units during its lifetime [ source : Old Computers ] . But the Spectrum is also the computer that bring the PC into the home in the U.K. It was the first calculator many people owned . The Spectrum launch hundreds or thousands of career , as vernal hobbyists bring out a Passion of Christ for information processing system thanks to the low-priced machine . For British IT and video game , it all started with the ZX Spectrum .
2: IBM PC
Today ’s non - Macpersonal computeris , fundamentally , an IBM PC . The Intel - ground , Windows - run for reckoner that have dominated the market since the nineties were born from the IBM PC , which was free in 1981 with a humble 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor and 16 KB of RAM . IBM Model 5150 was n’t the company ’s first effort to move into the personal computer market – they ’d released an expensive PC back in 1975 – but it was the one that did everything right . The organisation was n’t the debauched around , but it was equipped with Intel ’s 16 - bite processor , rather than the older 8 - bit central processor most computers at the time were using . Despite being a new chipping , the 8088 used an 8 - bit bus , making it compatible with existing computer peripheral and memory expansions [ source : Reimer ] .
The IBM PC be about $ 1600 in a base configuration , which was affordable for a muscular calculator at the time . The system was pop , and software was coded specifically to take advantage of IBM ’s design and maximize the Intel 8088 ’s performance . So , other companies clone IBM ’s BIOS and put out IBM personal computer clon .
Within a few twelvemonth , all x86 computers – those using Intel ’s processors – were compatible with the IBM microcomputer and virtually monovular to IBM ’s design . They all ran MS - DOS , and the x86 PC force field went on to become the de facto standard . There ’s only one reason the IBM microcomputer is n’t the most popular computing machine ever made – too many other party made their own versions !
1: Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is the single most democratic computer system ever sold . publish in 1982 , the Commodore 64 had a 1MHz C.P.U. and two big draws : a powerful , programmable sound chip and muscular graphics for a 1982 calculator . Even well , the Commodore 64 be a reasonable $ 595 and had 64 KB ofRAM(hence the name ) . And the Commodore 64 could be plugged into a television set , making it a hybrid computer / video game cabinet .
When it was released in 1982 , the Commodore 64 ’s in writing capableness beat the pants off other pop computers like the Apple II . Thanks to its price , the Commodore 64 sold well . And it kept selling . As the computer became chintzy to develop , Commodore cut the price , keeping it pop throughout the 1980s . It continued to be produced until 1994 .
Affordablemodemsmade the Commodore 64 a cracking information processing system to get online with , and like most system of the day it used the BASIC programming linguistic process . It was a democratic software platform . By the last of its life , the Commodore 64 had sold more units than any computer before or since . Estimates vary from as few as 12 million to as many as 30 million . The Commodore 64 likely sold an incredible 17 million by the end of its life [ source : Old Computers ] .
Lots More Information
Picking out 10 of the most popular computers of all time was wily , and inevitably some beloved system like the Atari did n’t make it onto the list . But writing this was fun , and highlighted just how incredible the computer market was in the 1980s . No computer in the retiring 20 years has had the market power of a Commodore 64 or an Apple II .
