Blog Post #3

 Each One Teach One- History of the Personal Computer

By: Ava Daniels

In 2022, it is hard to go out in public and not see at least one personal computer. Personally, ever since I can remember, in my household we have had either a desktop or laptop in the family office. As we got older, we all got our own personal computers. With this being said, I have grown up with this technology around me all my life. Because of this, I often take for granted how far the personal computer has actually come when thinking about its timeline. In order to fully grasp the evolution of personal computers that we know today, it is important to highlight the first ever computer invented.

The ENIAC began construction in the year of 1943 during World War 2. It was built in the basement of a building on the University of Pennsylvania and was being built by the United States Government. Even though the ENIAC was being built for World War 2, its construction was not completed until after the war had already ended. Although the war was over, the ENIAC was still being put to use. Its first official task was to make calculations for a hydrogen bomb. This computer took up a 30-by-50 ft room and cost over $400,000 to make and, at the time, was the most powerful calculating computer. 

The first personal computer was built in 1974 by MITS and was called the Altair, however, personal computers didn’t start to gain popularity until the year of 1977. This is due to three life changing personal computers that were released that year; Apple Computer, TRS-80, and the PET. Because the internet was not released until 1983, these computers were mostly used by technicians, computer enthusiasts, and small or large companies to organize finances. 

Moving forward in history, the PowerBook by Apple released in 1992 was very important. Even though the success rate of this personal computer was not where Apple wanted or expected it to be, it is important to highlight because it introduced the concept we know today as laptops or folding computers. In the same year of 1992, Microsoft released their 3.1 software. Microsoft has had softwares previous to this one but what is special about this release was True-Type fonts that came with it. True-Type fonts allowed for people to be more creative with their writing by changing the color, font, and size of their text. Moving forward even more, in 2009, Apple came out with their ultra-light MacBook. This MacBook was equipped with WiFi, high-capacity battery power, and a built-in camera. This was revolutionary for the personal computer timeline. 

Today, we have hundreds of different personal computers to choose from. Desktops are becoming less popular but still advancing everyday while laptops are rising in popularity exponentially fast. When I walk around my college campus, there is not a room I go into where I don’t see an Apple laptop. The look of computers have changed a lot but it is also important to look at the function and updates. Before, these devices could only be used for a small amount of things such as typing. They also only had green or black and white fonts. Now, you can do a much wider variety of things. You can create 2D and 3D objects, play video games, search anything on the internet, communicate with anyone from around the world, stream tv shows, and much more. The possibilities with new personal computers are endless.