1981: The IBM 5150 Is Born

The Modern PC Turns 30

Excerpt:

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.

Comment: I couldn't afford it on a pastor's salary. In June of 1982, I bought a TRS-80 Model 3 and an Epson printer. With software it was $ 2,500.