When was first personal computer

The advent of the personal computer is one of the most important technological developments of the last century. In the early s, the technology improved to the point that personal computers no longer needed to be the size of a car to function.

Not all personal computers released in the early s cost as much as the HP In fact, many became accessible to the public in both cost and size, offering consumers a product that could fit within a small room and a typical budget. As the computer transitioned from a technical marvel to household staple, a number of landmark devices came on the market throughout the years that set the bar higher for the generation of PCs that would follow. The Commodore 64, which was released in , would eventually sell about 20 million units to become the best-selling personal computer of all time.

More: Are these the worst cities to live in? Study looks at quality of life across the U. Deemed to be the first personal computer by the Boston Computer Museum, the Kenbak I looks nothing like modern computers. The Kenback I was designed as an educational machine to teach students how to write programs. Hewlett-Packard's was the company's first foray into smaller business computers. The original was generally considered a failure, but the company would go on to make 20 different versions of the through With the introduction of the Wang , Wang Laboratories successfully transitioned from calculator manufacturer to computer company.

The Scelbi was initially advertised in the back of an amateur radio magazine in The product would only sell about units and was discontinued before the end of the decade. A decade earlier, a computer with the same processing capacity would weigh about half a ton. The Apple I was the first product sold by Apple.

It was originally designed for computer hobbyists who could make use of its bare circuit board. It was replaced by the more user-friendly Apple II the following year. In , the world was introduced to a personal computer that dramatically improved on the Apple I. Notably, the Apple II provided the entire personal computer package. It was pre-assembled, rather than in a kit. It is considered by many the first widely successful PC. More: What are the worst companies to work for?

New report analyzes employee reviews. The IBM was designed to be an affordable machine to assist businesses with accounting and reporting. Despite the company's hopes, the computer never achieved mainstream success. Incidentally, was the year computers were first installed in the White House. Staffers in the president's home were given access to Hewlett-Packard's far more expensive HP Even after pre-assembled machines such as the Apple II were being sold, many still bought personal computers sold as kits.

Like many kits at the time, buyers of the H needed to put together and even solder some components. The DN is based on the Motorola microprocessor, high-resolution display and built-in networking - the three basic features of all workstations.

Apollo and its main competitor, Sun Microsystems, optimized their machines to run the computer-intensive graphics programs common in engineering and scientific applications. Apollo was a leading innovator in the workstation field for more than a decade, and was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in Initially intended as an annual publication, early success led to it becoming a monthly within a year of the first issue.

The Video Game Crash of led to Electronic Games renaming itself Computer Entertainment , before finally ceasing publication with its May issue. IBM's brand recognition, along with a massive marketing campaign, ignites the fast growth of the personal computer market with the announcement of its own personal computer PC.

The keyboard was comprised of three roughly triangular interlocking pieces, which formed a full-sized keyboard when the laptop was opened -- resulting in a keyboard significantly wider than the case.

Palm Inc. Sony had manufactured and sold computers in Japan, but the VAIO signals their entry into the global computer market. The first VAIO, a desktop computer, featured an additional 3D interface on top of the Windows 95 operating system as a way of attracting new users.

The VAIO line of computers would be best known for laptops were designed with communications and audio-video capabilities at the forefront, including innovative designs that incorporated TV and radio tuners, web cameras, and handwriting recognition. The line was discontinued in Until the year , it was the world's fastest supercomputer, able to achieve peak performance of 1.

The machine was noted for its ease-of-use and included a 'manual' that contained only a few pictures and less than 20 words. The camera had a maximum resolution of 0. The J-Phone line would quickly expand, releasing a flip-phone version just a month later. Cameras would become a significant part of most phones within a year, and several countries have even passed laws regulating their use. A consortium of aerospace, energy, and marine science agencies undertook the project, and the system was built by NEC around their SX-6 architecture.

To protect it from earthquakes, the building housing it was built using a seismic isolation system that used rubber supports. The Earth Simulator was listed as the fastest supercomputer in the world from to Leaving Palm Inc. After retiring their initial Visor series of PDAs, Handspring introduced the Treo line of smartphones, designed with built-in keyboards, cameras, and the Palm operating system. The Treo sold well, and the line continued until Handspring was purchased by Palm in With a distinctive anodized aluminum case, and hailed as the first true bit personal computer, the Apple G5 is the most powerful Macintosh ever released to that point.

While larger than the previous G4 towers, the G5 had comparatively limited space for expansion. Harkening back to the hobbyist era of personal computing in the s, Arduino begins as a project of the Interaction Design Institute, Ivrea, Italy. Each credit card-sized Arduino board consisted of an inexpensive microcontroller and signal connectors which made Arduinos ideal for use in any application connecting to or monitoring the outside world.

Nearly a quarter century after IBM launched their PC in , they had become merely another player in a crowded marketplace. Lenovo became the largest manufacturer of PCs in the world with the acquisition, later also acquiring IBM's server line of computers. Named in honor of the space shuttle which broke-up on re-entry, the Columbia supercomputer is an important part of NASA's return to manned spaceflight after the disaster. Columbia was used in space vehicle analysis, including studying the Columbia disaster, but also in astrophysics, weather and ocean modeling.

At its introduction, it was listed as the second fastest supercomputer in the world and this single system increased NASA's supercomputing capacity fold. The first offering to the public required the buyer to purchase one to be given to a child in the developing world as a condition of acquiring a machine for themselves.

By , over 2. Many companies have attempted to release electronic reading systems dating back to the early s.

Online retailer Amazon released the Kindle, one of the first to gain a large following among consumers. The first Kindle featured wireless access to content via Amazon. The first release proved so popular there was a long delay in delivering systems on release. Follow-on versions of the Kindle added further audio-video capabilities. Apple launches the iPhone - a combination of web browser, music player and cell phone - which could download new functionality in the form of "apps" applications from the online Apple store.

The touchscreen enabled smartphone also had built-in GPS navigation, high-definition camera, texting, calendar, voice dictation, and weather reports. Apple introduces their first ultra notebook — a light, thin laptop with high-capacity battery. The Air incorporated many of the technologies that had been associated with Apple's MacBook line of laptops, including integrated camera, and Wi-Fi capabilities. To reduce its size, the traditional hard drive was replaced with a solid-state disk, the first mass-market computer to do so.

The Roadrunner is the first computer to reach a sustained performance of 1 petaflop one thousand trillion floating point operations per second. It was used to model the decay of the US nuclear arsenal, analyze financial data, and render 3D medical images in real-time. The Jaguar was used to study climate science, seismology, and astrophysics applications. It was the fastest computer in the world from November to June Since the release of the Macintosh in , Apple has placed emphasis on high-resolution graphics and display technologies.

With a screen resolution of up to pixels-per-inch PPI , Retina displays approached the limit of pixel visibility to the human eye. The display also used In Plane Switching IPS technology, which allowed for a wider viewing angle and improved color accuracy. The machines were used by the Chinese Academy of Sciences to run massive solar energy simulations, as well as some of the most complex molecular studies ever undertaken.

The iPad combines many of the popular capabilities of the iPhone, such as built-in high-definition camera, access to the iTunes Store, and audio-video capabilities, but with a nine-inch screen and without the phone. Apps, games, and accessories helped spur the popularity of the iPad and led to its adoption in thousands of different applications from movie making, creating art, making music, inventory control and point-of-sale systems, to name but a few.

Despite using 98, PowerPC chips, Sequoia's relatively low power usage made it unusually efficient. Scientific and defense applications included studies of human electrophysiology, nuclear weapon simulation, human genome mapping, and global climate change.

Conceived in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, this credit card-sized computer features ease of use and simplicity making it highly popular with students and hobbyists. In October , the one millionth Raspberry Pi was shipped. Only one month later, another one million Raspberry Pis were delivered.

The University of Michigan Micro Mote M3 is the smallest computer in the world at the time of its completion. Three types of the M3 were available — two types that measured either temperature or pressure and one that could take images.

The motes were powered by a tiny battery and could gain light energy through a photocell, which was enough to feed the infinitesimally small amount of energy a mote consumes 1 picowatt. An ecologist, for example, could sprinkle thousands of motes from the air onto a field and measure soil and air temperature, moisture, and sunlight, giving them accurate real-time data about the environment. Building a computer into the watch form factor has been attempted many times but the release of the Apple Watch leads to a new level of excitement.

Incorporating a version of Apple's iOS operating system, as well as sensors for environmental and health monitoring, the Apple Watch was designed to be incorporated into the Apple environment with compatibility with iPhones and Mac Books. Almost a million units were ordered on the day of release. The Watch was received with great enthusiasm, but critics took issue with the somewhat limited battery life and high price. Timeline of Computer History. By Year By Category Search.

Computers Popular Culture Curt Herzstark designs Curta calculator Curta Model 1 calculator. Harvard Mark 1 is completed Harvard Mark 1 is completed.

Plans to build the Simon 1 relay logic machine are published Simon featured on the November Scientific American cover. Minuteman I missile guidance computer developed Minuteman Guidance computer. The Atlas Computer debuts Chilton Atlas installation. Olivetti Programma is released Olivetti Programma Intel introduces the first microprocessor Advertisement for Intel's Micral is released Micral.

Wang Laboratories releases the Wang Wang Tandem Computers releases the Tandem Dual-processor Tandem 16 system. Intel and Zilog Z Zilgo Z microprocessor. Steve Wozniak completes the Apple-1 Apple-I. Motorola introduces the microprocessor Die shot of Motorola Osborne 1 introduced Osborne I. Sun Microsystems is founded Sun-1 workstation. By he had described the future principles of the Kenbak-1 machine in an article entitled "Logically Microprogrammed Computers". The Kenbak-1 was designed before microprocessors were available - the logic consisted of small and medium scale integrated circuits mounted on one printed circuit board.

MOS shift registers implemented the serial memory. The Kenbak-1's advertising in stated: "Fun Educational Modern Electronic Technology created the Kenbak-I with a price that even private individuals and small schools can afford. Very quickly you, or your family or students, can write programs for fun and interest. However, as Mr Blankenbaker says, he may have been more successful targeting his sales at the university students and young professionals who would go on to provide Apple's customer base later in the decade, and indeed still do.

After the Kenbak-1 experience he worked at International Communication Sciences, at Symbolics, and at Quotron, before retiring in He says he did not make much money out of the Kenbak-1 venture, and that one of his failings was in underestimating the development of high technology. I always felt that the current technical situation was the most that could be expected.

Early Apple computer fails to sell. Man builds giant computer at home.