Personal Computers That Made the Future Fit on a Desk
Before computers became quiet slabs of glass and aluminum, they arrived as angular boxes, tiny televisions and keyboards with personalities of their own. These eight machines trace different ideas of personal computing: a tool for the home, a portable office, a graphical workspace and a new kind of creative studio. The dates mark the models’ introductions, not when these surviving examples were photographed.
Apple II | 1977
The Apple II helped make a computer look like something that could belong in a home rather than a laboratory. Steve Wozniak’s design put its electronics, keyboard and power supply into one case, with BASIC stored in permanent memory and a television able to serve as the display. Expansion still mattered: the arrival of a floppy disk drive and VisiCalc gave the machine a powerful practical role. Its gently sloping enclosure presented that openness in a surprisingly approachable form, balancing a ready-made appliance with room for experimentation.
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