timeline of personal computers

A short (!) timeline of home computers from 1970 to 1992.

This 'timeline' charts the development of the well-known, and not so well-known, home computers of the late 1970's, 1980's and early 1990's. I have purposely excluded all IBM and IBM-compatible/MS-DOS machines plus included only the Apple I, II, II, Lisa and original Macintosh (for sanity). The MSX standard introduced in 1983 (based on the Spectravideo SVI-328) spawned a whole heap of computers from a variety of manufacturers. I am not including these machines in this timeline either as they deserve their own. Finally, RISC machines will be in their own timeline, I think...

1970

Datapoint 2200

1971

Kenbak-1

1972

Literally nothing interesting appeared to happen in 1972...

1973

Compucolor 8001

Micral-N

Wang 2200

1974

MCM/70

Micral G/Micral S

SCELBI-8H

Sord SMP80/x

1975

Altair 8800

IMSAI 8080

Sphere 1

SWTPC (Southwest Technical Products) 6800 Computer System

1976

Apple I

KIM-1 Development Computer

Micral CZ

Micral M

Sol-PC/Sol-10/Sol-20 (kit)

1977

Apple II (Byte Trinity*¹)

Cambridge MK14

Commodore PET 2001*¹ (Byte Trinity*¹)

Hazeltine 1500

North Star Horizon

Micral C

Sord M200

Tandy TRS-80 Microcomputer System Model I (Byte Trinity*¹)

VideoBrain Family Computer Model 101

*¹ The three computers that Byte Magazine referred to as the "1977 Trinity" of home computing: The Commodore PET 2001, the Apple II, and the TRS-80 Model I.

*² 'PET' is named after Pet Rock in Los Gatos / the 'pet computer'. Backronymed as 'Personal Electronic Transactor'. Commodore was the first company to license Microsoft's 6502 BASIC, but the agreement nearly drove Microsoft into receivership as Commodore stipulated that they would only pay for it when the PET began shipping.

1978

Apple II Plus

Commodore PET 2001-N

Hitachi MB-6880

Micral V Portable

Sharp MZ-40K

Sharp MZ-80K

Sord M100

1979

Acorn System 1

Atari 400

Atari 800

NEC PC-8000

Sharp MZ-80C

Tangerine Microtan 65

Tandy TRS-80 Model II

Texas Instruments TI-99/4

1980

Acorn Atom

Acorn Proton (Prototype)

Acorn System 2

Apple III

Commodore PET 4000 / 8000 (4016 / 4032 / 8016 / 8032 / 8096)*³

EACA Video Genie I

Micral CCMC portable Portal microcomputer

Sharp PC-3100

Sinclair ZX80

Sord M203/M223/M243

Tandy TRS-80 Model III

Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer (CoCo)

*³ The first two numbers represent the number of columns on the screen. The last two, the RAM size.

1981

Acorn BBC Micro Model A/B (Proton)

Commodore SuperPET / MicroMainframe (SP9000)

Commodore VIC-20/VC-20

EACA Genie II (EG3008)

Fujitsu FM-8

Multitech Micro-Professor MPF-1

NEC PC-6000

NEC PC-8801

Osborne 1

Sharp PC3200

Sharp MZ-80B

Sinclair ZX81

Sord M-23

Texas Instruments TI-99/4a

1982

Acorn System 3

Acorn System 4

Amstrad NC100

Aster Computers (MCP) CT-80

Atari 1200XL

Commodore CBM-II P-Series (500 series in Europe)

Commodore CBM-II B-Series (600/700 series in Europe)

Commodore MAX Machine/Ultimax

Commodore 64

Convergent Technologies Workslate

Dragon 32 (Dragon 100 in Spain)

EACA Genie III (EG3200)

Epson HX-20/HC-20

Fujitsu FM-7

Grid Compass 1101

Grundy NewBrain

Jupiter Ace

Kaypro II

LNW Research LNW-80

Lobo MAX-80

Multitech Microprofessor II

North Star Advantage

Olivetti M20

Oric-1

Sharp MZ-2000

Sharp MZ-3500

Sharp MZ-700

Sharp MZ-80A/MZ-1200

Sharp X1

Sinclair ZX Spectrum 16k/48k

Sord m5

Tandy TRS-80 Model 12

Tandy TRS-80 Model 16

Teleram T-3000

Thomson TO7

Timex Sinclair 1000

1983

Commodore 4094/PET 64 'Educator64'

Apple IIe

Apple Lisa

Apple III Plus

Tandy TRS-80 Model 16B

Tandy TRS-80 Model 4

Tandy Color Computer II

Tandy 2000

Tandy TRS-80 Model 100

EACA Color Genie

Sharp MZ-2200

Sharp X1 C

Sharp X1 D

Atari 600XL

Atari 800XL

Acorn System 5

Acorn Electron

CGL M5

Sord M343

Sord M68

Kaypro IV

Kaypro 10

Olivetti M10

NEC PC-8201

Sega SC-3000

Mattel Aquarius

Camputers Lynx

Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40 (CC-40)

Timex Sinclair 1500

Timex Sinclair 2068

TeleVideo TS 803 Computer System

Spectravideo SVI-328

VTech Laser 100/110

VTech Laser 200

1983 also saw the introduction of the MSX range of computers.

1984

Apollo 7 Squale

Commodore 8032SK / 8096SK / 8296 / 8296-D

Commodore SX-64

Commodore 16

Commodore 116

Commodore Plus/4

Apple Lisa 2

Apple Macintosh 128k

Apple IIc

Apple Macintosh 512k

Tandy TRS-80 Model 200

Tandy TRS-80 MC-10

Sharp MZ-5500

Sharp MZ-800/MZ-1500

Sharp X1 C

Epson PX-8 (Geneva)

Sord IS-11

Kaypro 2X

Kaypro 4

NEC PC-8300

Dragon 64

Oric Atmos

Timex Computer 2048

Sinclair QL

Tatung Einstein

Thomson MO5

Amstrad CPC 464

Laser 50

Sinclair ZX Spectrum+

1985

commodore-128.png

Commodore 128

commodore-amiga-1000.png

Commodore Amiga 1000

apple-macintosh-xl.png

Apple Macintosh XL

apple-iie-enhanced.png

Apple IIe Enhanced

tandy-6000.png

Tandy 6000

tandy-trs-80-model-600.png

Tandy TRS-80 Model 600

sharp-x1-turbo.png

Sharp X1 Turbo / X1 Turbo Model 40 / X1 F

sharp-mz-6500.png

Sharp MZ-6500/5600

atari-65xe.png

Atari 65XE

atari-130-xe.png

Atari 130XE

atari-520st.png

Atari 520ST

acorn-bbc-model-b-64-128.png

Acorn BBC Model B+64/B+128

sinclair-zx-spectrum-128.png

Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128

epson-px-4.png

Epson PX-4/HC-40/HX-40

eureka-oric-stratos.png

Eureka Oric Stratos

thorn-emi-liberator.png

Thorn EMI Liberator

enterprise-64-128.png

Enterprise 64/128

bondwell-2.png

Bondwell 2

sharp-super-mz.png

Sharp Super MZ/MZ-2500

nec-pc-6600.png

NEC PC-6600

thomson-to9.png

Thomson TO9

amstrad-cpc664.png

Amstrad CPC664

amstrad-cpc6128.png

Amstrad CPC6128

vtech-laser-310.png

VTech Laser 310

1986

commodore-64c.png

Commodore 64C

apple-macintosh-plus.png

Apple Macintosh Plus

apple-macintosh-512ke.png

Apple Macintosh 512Ke

Apple IIGS

tandy-color-computer-iii.png

Tandy Color Computer III

tandy-3000.png

Tandy 3000

tandy-trs-80-model-102.png

Tandy TRS-80 Model 102

iii.png

Sharp X1 Turbo II/III

atari-520stm.png

Atari 520STM

atari-520-stfm.png

Atari 520STFM

atari-1040st.png

Atari 1040ST

atari-1040stf.png

Atari 1040STF

atari-1040stfm.png

Atari 1040STFM

atari-st-1-mega.png

Atari ST 1 (Mega)

acorn-bbc-master-128.png

Acorn BBC Master 128/Turbo/512/Compact

acorn-bbc-master-turbo.png

Acorn BBC Master Turbo

acorn-bbc-master-512.png

Acorn BBC Master 512

acorn-bbc-master-compact.png

Acorn BBC Master Compact

sinclair-zx-spectrum-+2.png

Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2 (Amstrad)

eureka-oric-telestrat.png

Eureka Oric Telestrat

compaq-portable-ii.png

Compaq Portable II

thomson-mo6.png

Thomson MO6

thomson-to8.png

Thomson TO8

1987

commodore-amiga-500.png

Commodore Amiga 500

commodore-amiga-2000.png

Commodore Amiga 2000

apple-macintosh-plus-platinum.png

Apple Macintosh Plus (Platinum)

apple-iie-platinum.png

Apple IIe (Platinum)

apple-macintosh-se.png

Apple Macintosh SE

tandy-4000.png

Tandy 4000

atari-xegs.png

Atari XEGS

atari-pc1-pc2-pc3-pc4-pc5.png

Atari PC1/PC1/PC3/PC4/PC5

atari-st-mega-2.png

Atari Mega ST 2

acorn-archimedes-a3000-a4000.png

Acorn Archimedes A300/A400

sinclair-zx-spectrum-+2a.png

Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2A (Amstrad)

sinclair-zx-spectrum-+3.png

Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3 (Amstrad)

cambridge-z88.png

Cambridge Z88

1988

commodore-amiga-2500.png

Commodore Amiga 2500

apple-iic-plus.png

Apple IIc Plus

sinclair-zx-spectrum-+2b.png

Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2B (Amstrad)

sinclair-zx-spectrum-+3b.png

Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3B (Amstrad)

laser-128.png

Laser 128

next-computer.png

NeXT Computer/NeXTcube

1989

apple-macintosh-se30.png

Apple Macintosh SE/30

apple-macintosh-se-fdhd.png

Apple Macintosh SE FDHD

Apple IIGS

atari-520ste.png

Atari 520STE

atari-1040ste.png

Atari 1040STE

atari-stacy.png

Atari STacy

acorn-archimedes-a3000.png

Acorn Archimedes A3000

sam-coupe.png

Sam Coupé

psion-mobile-computer-mc400.png

Psion Mobile Computer (MC) 400

1990

commodore-64gs.png

Commodore 64GS

commodore-amiga-3000.png

Commodore Amiga 3000

apple-macintosh-classic.png

Apple Macintosh Classic

atari-tt030.png

Atari TT030

atari-mega-st4.png

Atari Mega ST 4

acorn-archimedes-a540.png

Acorn Archimedes A540

amstrad-464-plus.png

Amstrad 464 Plus

amstrad-6128-plus.png

Amstrad 6128 Plus

nextstation.png

NeXTstation

1991

commodore-amiga-500-plus.png

Commodore Amiga 500 Plus

apple-macintosh-classic-ii.png

Apple Macintosh Classic II

atari-mega-ste.png

Atari Mega STE

atari-st-book.png

Atari ST Book

acorn-archimedes-a5000.png

Acorn Archimedes A5000

acorn-archimedes-a4-laptop.png

Acorn Archimedes A4 Laptop

1992

commodore-amiga-600.png

Commodore Amiga 600

commodore-amiga-1200.png

Commodore Amiga 1200

commodore-amiga-4000.png

Commodore Amiga 4000

atari-falcon-030.png

Atari Falcon 030

acorn-archimedes-a3010.png

Acorn Archimedes A3010

acorn-archimedes-a3020.png

Acorn Archimedes A3020

acorn-archimedes-a4000.png

Acorn Archimedes A4000

I'm sure that there are other, more esoteric computers that I've missed from here. Let me know if you spot any!

Last modified: February 14th, 2024

Login