THE PC IS OFFICIALLY 30 YEARS OLD TODAY
1981: The IBM 5150 Is Born
IBM launched the 5150 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. 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.
Wired Magazine – August 12, 2011
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Bzzzt! The IBM PC was introduced in 1981. It was perhaps the first to wear the “PC” label, but that was IBM’s only innovation. They sure sold a bunch of them, though.
Was it the Apple ][?
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