the first pc was considered to be the first true "personal computer" sold to the public on january 1975.
the first pc was considered to be the first true "personal computer" sold to the public on january 1975.
when was the first pc considered to be the first true "personal computer" sold to the public?
january 1975
in 1969, ted hoff conceived the commercial microprocessor at intel and thus ignited the development of the personal computer. hoff's invention was part of an order by a japanese company for a desktop programmable electronic calculator, which hoff wanted to build as cheaply as possible. the first realization of the microprocessor was the intel 4004, a 4-bit processor, in 1969, but only in 1973 did the intel 8080, an 8-bit processor, make the building of the first personal computer, the mits altair 8800, possible. the first pc was announced to the general public on the cover of the january 1975 issue of popular electronics.
history of electronic engineering
in february 1984 "byte" described how "the personal computer market seems to be shadowed under a cloud of compatibility: the drive to be compatible with the ibm personal computer family has assumed near-fetish proportions", which it stated was "inevitable in the light of the phenomenal market acceptance of the ibm pc". the magazine cited the announcement by north star in fall 1983 of its first pc-compatible microcomputer. founded in 1976, north star had long been successful with 8-bit s-100 bus products, and had introduced proprietary 16-bit products, but now the company acknowledged that the ibm pc had become a "standard", one which north star needed to follow. "byte" described the announcement as representative of the great impact ibm had made on the industry:
influence of the ibm pc on the personal computer market