However, we note that Intel also talks about building on the legacy of the original PC into the AI-computing age. Ironically, it is the AI boom that has caused many people to be priced out of new PCs, new components, and/or upgrades in the last few months.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
drea.drechsler And what about Zilog's Z80 that came out in 1976 and powered the TRS-80 (affectionately known as "Trash-80") among many others. The TRS-80 came out in 1979 and, running CP/m, continued to outsell IBM PC's into the consumer market before the clones came available. I'm not saying the 8088 or IBM PC's weren't significant, just not the beginning of the PC age… maybe the beginning of the "IBM-PC age". I also can't see how it's 8-bit bus fueled x86 dominance since it couldn't even logically start until the 8086 with its 16 bit bus came out in IBM-PC clones. Reply
mrdoc22 No, 31 years. I’d say it got off to a slow start with the 80386 and then really took off with the first 3D addon graphicscard in 1995. It was only then, I’d say, that the PC became established as a standard – there were many other computer standards that it could have been istead. Reply
TerryLaze drea.drechsler said: And what about Zilog's Z80 that came out in 1976 And what about the 6502 that came out in 1975? (Apple II , c64 , atari 8bit) Reply
drea.drechsler mrdoc22 said: … The name ‘Personal Computer’ (PC), which IBM came up with, is incorrect; they should have called it CC, ‘Company Computer’, because it was developed for businesses. If Apple, Commodore and Atari had been smart back in the 1980s, they would have set the standard today. Except this was also the age of IBM mainframes running their businesses so IBM was the name they'd want on the personal computers on their desktops to distinguish them from the 'company computer' that's locked up in the freezing cold computer room. It really was the clone makers: Compaq, Dell, Leading Edge, Acer, Gateway and others that made the "IBM PC" platform more affordable and spurred acceptance in it as a consumer product. But ironically, not many in senior management wanted them in the offices, at least in my company. We had a devil of a time with management who didn't want us to have them: thought they were toys. We had to sneak them in as "controllers" or "development stations" attached to production equipment PO's. By the time senior management noticed all the PC's on the engineer's desks it was too late! Reply
mrdoc22 drea.drechsler said: Except this was also the age of IBM mainframes running their businesses, so IBM was the name they'd want on the personal computers on their desktops. But really, not many in management wanted them. I had a devil of a time with my management who didn't want us to have them: thought they were toys. We had to sneak them in as "controllers" or "development stations" for production equipment. By the time senior management noticed all the PC's on the engineer's desks it was too late! IBM PC's was too expensive, and the started the "PC compatible area", Where a lot of new companys build PC's, where some come closer than other to the PC standard. (Not talking about CPU's), they got the nickname "bamboo PCs", they work most of the time. Back then the eletroniccomponents was not as high productionstandard as we have today. Reply
drea.drechsler mrdoc22 said: IBM PC's was too expensive, and the started the "PC compatible area", Where a lot of new companys build PC's, where some come closer than other to the PC standard. (Not talking about CPU's), they got the nickname "bamboo PCs", they work most of the time. Leading Edge I think would fit that description, made by Mitsubishi Electric. We bought several as 'development stations'… they were way cheaper than IBM pc's and clocked faster. Ran DOS perfectly (not hard I guess) even had 5MB hard drives PC-XT style. They were the hot stuff on campus until someone got the first 80286 IBM PC-AT. Reply
mac2213 Much is written about Intel's success, their rise and fall and return to greatness recently. To really understand it, you have to understand Intel starting in 1978, the Crush Campaign, Earl Whetstone and the role he and Sales played for the next 20+ years along with Intel's evolution away from a Memory company to A CPU/IDM model and marketing machine that Andy and Dennis Carter created. The TMG engine built by many, but led by Gerry Parker for years drove the profits that enabled Intel to become Intel. Pat upon his return to Intel set about recreating a renewed IDM model. Lip is now building on Pat's work, with a sales and marketing flair that reminds me of Andy, Dennis and Earl. Reply
johnrock2 Saying IBM made the decision to allow pc clones to be made is some borderline revisionism. The fact is that IBM did make an open architecture by choosing to use off the shelf parts, but they never intended for other companies to make whole IBM PC compatible machines. They made the BIOS and copyrighted the code and sued the pants off anyone that tried to use it or a modified version in their PC clones. That was IBMs strategy, you can't have a PC clone unless it runs PC specific code, and that to IBM meant running their copyrighted code. The reason PC clones took off at all is because Compaq came around and pioneered the use of the clean room method of reverse engineering. They took the BIOS and worked out all its functions as plain English and handed that to a separate team who could claim to have never seen IBMs code and reimplement all its functions with a clean room version. IBM couldn't do anything about it so Compaq was free to sell its machines as pc compatible. Other companies followed suit and the rest is history. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/the-pc-age-began-45-years-ago-with-the-breakthrough-intel-8088-processor-8-bit-bus-fueled-45-years-of-x86-dominance#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
- Judge clears Nine PBS to retrieve 70 years of archival TV data — court rules station owns 50TB of data in Iron Mountain servers after host went under
- ViewSonic VG1457 dual-screen portable monitor review: compact size and weight, but lackluster color
- Cherokee Nation bans hyperscale data centers on its lands, won't support projects without consultation — energy and water consumption, air quality, noise, and c
- Japanese repair shop sells GPU VRAM upgrades for $25 per GB during memory crisis — RTX 2080 Ti modded to 22GB of GDDR6 for just $282, double the VRAM creates a
- Peer-reviewed study of 443,000 Backblaze hard drives ranks HGST most reliable and Toshiba the least — Analysis of 1.66 million drive-years finds Seagate and Tos
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.