[Hypressure]

PC also meant (P)iece of ©rap from 1981-1987. I can edit Wikipedia with my Apple II. I think the term is open to interpretation in this instance. They're all PCs to me, because I never used the term HCs. I still have never used an IBM "PC" but I have referred to my Mac as a PC. Sue me.

[hk995]

I guess what I have is a PC [ (P)iece of ©rap from 1981-1987 ] but it's very usefull!

[DellsCommunistCapo]

What was the mac classic called u know looked like the macintosh plus but black and white. I remember the most awsome games on that, and it was all shareware. Or using flash cards to make i guess what u would call a game. Breakout was the shiznit

[deadmeow]

I remember as a teenager with my Apple IIe, the C-64 users used to get on BBS's with their 40 column display somehow (even though they could only see half of the screen) and beat their chest about what a superior machine they had. This brings back memories!The Commodore 64 was not a serious computer, and was never taken seriously, mainly because it was one of the few computers you could buy in a toy store. The machine was built to use game cartridges and Atari joysticks.Most or all of the machines on the Top 25 list couldn't be purchased in a toy store. The Apple II defined home computing, and struck a balance between expandability, gaming, educational, and productivity software.

[deadmeow]

The Atari 800 may have been more of a gaming machine, but in 1979 they were still pioneers of sorts. When The C-64 came out 3 or 4 years later, what could it do that the Atari couldn't ? They were both 40 column computers that you connected to your tv set to play game cartridges.And they both made that cute chirping noise, every time you punched a key! Brilliant!

[asloman]

Is the fact that neither early Sun nor Apollo workstations are included mean that the people who compiled the list just have gaps in their knowledge, or that they have strange criteria of 'greatness'. Sun, from very early on realized that a personal computer could actually (a) allow external logins, providing great benefits of various kinds, and could (b) be part of a network -- even a mixed network, using NFS, name-servers, etc.. I think I first started using a Sun 2 in 1983. Though we could only afford one, it supported one person at the console and a bunch of others connected via dumb terminals, doing useful editing, compiling, etc. (Much to Sun's chagrin: they wanted to sell one per user!)Sun's slogan: 'The network is the computer' in the early 1980s is probably one of the most visionary slogans of all time. We are still moving towards its realization.Aaron

[bscenefilms]

The IBM XT was NOT an 8086 based machine. It was an 8088 4.77 Mhz based machine the same as the IBM PC was. Good job on checking your facts there, slick.

[SteveyP66]

I can't believe you left off two of the most iconic personal computers of the 1980's - the Sinclair ZX81 and Sinclair Spectrum. They were the first pc's for the masses, cheap, extremely easy to use and well supported. And what about the Atari ST?

[AndrewDaglish]

This seems to me to be a fairly US-centric list.

Major omissions include any Sinclair or Psion machines.

Sinclair completely dominated the UK market well into the 1980s with the 1982 ZX Spectrum, boasting all of 48kB RAM in a case the size of a small laptop with rubber keys and the most idiosyncratic method of programming imaginable. (Users wrote their own programs then. This ran BASIC and each key represented a number of BASIC commands, such as IF and THEN. One didn't type "I" and "F"; the key represented "IF". However, each key had more than one representation, accessed by various combinations of SHIFT and ALT!)

Psion invented the pocket PC in 1980. Their last model, the 1999 Revo, is a true design classic, packing up to 16MB into a flip design with an ergonomic keyboard and running an EPOC operating system, which is nothing to do with Microsoft and so works reliably. I'm still waiting for someone to buy the design, upgrade the chip and add a phone and camera. Watch out iPhone!

[jarilehtinen]

Thanks for the great article. Altough I didn't quite understand why Apple II was #1... Nevertheless, C64 should've been in the list - not perhaps in #1 but for at least somewhere between 1 to 10.

[CaptainKeyboard]

To kjpweb:

The advantages of the Apple Macintosh computer are that the Macintosh computer is easier to learn and more user-friendly to use than an IBM or IBM-compatible computer, and the software programs cost less than the IBM programs. The disadvantages of the Apple computer is that it costs a lot to buy; the components that are added as upgrades in an Apple computer cost more than an IBM or compatible personal computer. The central processing unit in anApple desktop computer is located in a tower case.

As funny as it may seem to be, we know that Apple computers finally undertook the Intel microprocessor instead of Motorola, just to run Microsoft Windows XP programs, instead of requiring a utility program added to the Mac operating system to run Windows programs.

I have a Windows PC made by Cybernet. The central processing unit is located inside the keyboard, making this part a console. Cybernet has been in business since 1995. It is made in California. First, Cybernet Manufacturing began in Newport Beach, California. Several years ago, Cybernet was relocated to Irvine, California. I am sure that all of its components and parts are made in the United States.

I like my Windows computer because I began to create word processing documents from Microsoft Word 6.0, until I bought my own keyboard, packed with Microsoft Windows XP Professional and then added Microsoft Office XP Professional programs, including Publisher 2002. Of course, more offices and homes use Microsoft Windows programs than Mac programs.

I am waiting to read about one reader who had encountered a crash in a Mac operating system, or perhaps viruses and germs in an Apple computer.

Captain Keyboard

[benbrown617]

I'm so glad to see the Atari 800 making this list. It was my first computer; I remember countless hours of Jungle Hunt (with the cartridge label hand-written on masking tape), Realm of Impossibility on 5 1/4, and Ghostbusters. I'm sure my uncle Bill, who wrote Inside Atari Basic, would have been thrilled to see it here too. I'm a Linux geek now, but Atari is where I got my start.

[mrz80]

In your addendum, "The 25 Near-Greatest PCs of All Time", you include the IBM XT, to wit: "IBM PC XT 5160 (1983): IBM's follow-up to the PC was another hit. With its Intel 8086 CPU, it was the first 16-bit personal computer..." The XT had the same 4.77MHz 8088 as the original PC. The XT's greatest advantage over the PC was the presence of a larger power supply and 8 rather than 5 expansion slots, which made the machine much more flexible and expandable than its predecessor.

And I truly appreciate the inclusion of the Heathkit H-89. I built my '89 in the summer of 1983. I still have it, and it still runs. After all, one should only play Adventure on an 80x24 green screen as God (or Crowther and Woods) intended.