5 Revolutionary Personal Computers That Defined the 70s

Today’s best desktop computers can be used in a variety of ways, from everyday office work and gaming to media consumption and creation. This is also true for all the best laptops on the market. These machines come with so much power, connectivity, and portability that it can be easy to forget the fact that this wasn’t always the case. Many PCs have evolved over the years, paving the way for what we have today.

The 1970s were marked by many defining moments. A president resigned amid scandal, the Vietnam War ended, and many types of technology moved out of research labs and into our homes. Many electronic devices from the 1960s and 1970s shaped an entire generation, but the personal computer really took hold in the 1970s. Enough progress occurred that computers were shrunk to desktop size, and with the help of the emerging video game market, more and more consumers became interested in them.

Although it took the better part of a decade for the personal computer to fully capture the attention of the American people, several models helped define the decade both technologically and culturally. Some of them only existed within research and development departments, while many others became household names. Each of them marked the decade, whether through the evolution of the market or through the relationship that their users developed with them.

Although the Altair 8800 had no keyboard, monitor, or modern interface, it played a major role in public adoption of the personal computer. The idea of ​​a computer in every home took a while to be adopted by the market, and the Altair 8800’s design is something of a reminder of why. It used flashing lights to communicate with the user, who could tell it what to do using switches on the front panel of the machine.

It wasn’t a particularly user-friendly machine and the Altair 8800 wasn’t popular in terms of sales either. But it is often credited as the computer that served as the starting point for the personal computer era. In 1975, the 8800 appeared on the cover of Popular Electronics magazine and, for the first time, the computer was no longer presented to electronics enthusiasts and enthusiasts as a machine reserved for large companies and research institutes.

The Altair 8800 primarily served as a stepping stone to the computers that would eventually hit the market. The switch-light interface would soon give way to more user-friendly designs. But at the time of its release, commercial computers typically cost around $30,000. The Altair 8800 cost just $439, announcing to the hobbyist market that owning a personal computer was within their reach.

The Xerox Alto is another personal computer that can lay claim to being the machine that started the PC revolution in the late 1970s. It was developed in 1973, two years before the Altair 8800 hit the market, and introduced some features that would become commonplace on PCs. The Xerox Alto used a graphical user interface, which we continue to use today in the form of desktop icons, docks, and software application windows.

This interface represented a massive overhaul in the computing world and would inspire software designers for decades. In the 1970s, this influenced many companies, including some that would go on to take over the entire market, both at Apple and Microsoft. Developed at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, the Alto completely changed the relationship between computers and users. It combined a mouse with the new visual interface, allowing users to simply click to interact.

Unable to make the machine at consumer prices, Xerox never released the Alto. It cost about $12,000 to build and could have cost up to $40,000 for a retail product. But the research and development behind the Alto is why it’s often recognized as the first PC. This directly led to the decisions Steve Jobs would make regarding computers made by Apple, which was not far behind Xerox in making its mark in the 1970s.

While today Apple makes a MacBook for every budget, in the 1970s its line of computers wasn’t as robust. In 1977, personal computing was still primarily attracted to electronics hobbyists and enthusiasts, but in the same way that Apple revolutionized mobile computing with the iPhone, it did so for personal computing with the Apple II. As it would become a staple of the Apple brand, the computer featured a sleek look and was designed to be user-friendly.

What stands out visually about the Apple II is its use of color. It had integrated color graphics, which was still rare at the time. Apple paired the Apple II with a color monitor. This helped attract the attention of ordinary people who were becoming increasingly aware that computers were entering individual homes. The Apple II also comes with a keyboard and built-in audio, making it a convenient and accessible all-in-one purchasing option.

Software also had a major influence on the PC revolution of the 1970s. In 1979, a company called Software Arts introduced VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet ever created, and released it specifically for the Apple II. This also made the machine attractive as a professional tool. Apple updated the Apple II over the next few years, and by 1984 it had sold over two million units.

The Apple II was one of three computers that made up what is now known as the “1977 Trinity.” The TRS-80 was the third machine among them, but Trinity’s first was the Commodore PET 2001. The name was an acronym for Personal Electronic Transactor. It had an all-in-one build including a monitor, keyboard, and internal storage, and used a 1 MHz MOS 6502 processor. It was the first Commodore computer ever made.

Today, Commodore is one of many defunct computer brands, but PET 2001 made it one of the most recognized computer brands of the 1970s. Like the Apple II, it made itself attractive to potential buyers through the convenience of an all-in-one purchase. The PET 2001 had a built-in cassette which could be used for data storage. The software was another selling point, with the inclusion of BASIC allowing users to write their own programs.

Commodore sold the PET 2001 for $495 when it was released in 1977, and although it was extremely popular at the time, it is most credited with helping open the doors to the homes of individual computer users. Although it sold well, the PET 2001 drew criticism for its small keyboard and monitor, and with both built directly into the machine’s design, users had to take what they got with no swappable alternatives.

Largely due to the commercial success of computers like the Apple II and Commodore PET 2001, other major electronics brands became interested in entering the PC market. One such company was Atari, which had spent most of the 1970s establishing its name by not only making video game consoles, but also pioneering the video game market. In late 1978, the company released the Atari 800, along with its little brother, the Atari 400.

Both were built around the MOS 6502 – the same processor used by the Commodore PET 2001 – but Atari decided to position itself as a gaming option in the PC market. Personal computers did not yet provide hardware that could handle more than everyday office calculations, but Atari built custom chips that removed certain functions from the processor’s load, leaving more power for playing video games on the machine.

As Atari continued its work in the video console field, the 400 and 800 spawned a line of Atari 8-bit computers that are now quite famous among retro gaming and computer enthusiasts. These included the Atari 1200XL, which was a commercial failure when released in spring 1983, and the Atari 1000, which focused on high-end components and was never released. The Atari 400 and Atari 800 contributed to the PC explosion of the 1980s, although the company struggled to keep pace with the then-emerging giants of the PC market.