PCs then vs now

[DoctorDoom]

Anyone familiar with PCWorld knows that Dell has owned the back cover for a LO-O-ONG time. So, what has changed over the years?

From the back cover of the June 1996 issue...

"GET THE MOST INCREDIBLE MEMORY EVER.

Dell Dimension XPS P166S
166 MHz PROCESSOR
Minitower Model
16 MB SDRAM Memory
256KB Pipeline Burst Cache
1.6 GB Hard Drive (10 ms)
15LS Monitor (13.7" v.i.s.)
9FX Motion Graphics Accelerator with 2MNB VRAM
8x Multi-Session EIDE CD-ROM Drive
MS Office Pro...
Integrated SoundBlaster 16 Sound
Altec Lansing ACS-5 Speakers
Microsoft Windows 95...

The New Dell Dimension XPS P166S
$2549"

Fast-forward seven years to the June 2003 issue...

"The performance-driven desktop for the value-minded shopper

Dimension 4550 Desktop
Advanced business desktop

Intel Pentium-4 Processor at 2.53 GHz
256 MB DDR SDRAM
NEW 60 GB (7200 RPM) Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive
64MB DDR Nvidia GeForce4 MX Graphics Card
NEW 4x DVD+RW Drive
SoundBlaster Live 5.1
Integrated Intel Pro 10/100 Ethernet
Windows XP Home Edition; Works Suite 2003
Monitor not included

$899"

The CPU is 15.24 times faster; it has 16 times the amount of "incredible memory"; the hard drive is 37.5 times larger; the video has 32 times as much RAM; the CD drive now supports DVDs; the sound went from SB 16 to SB Live! 5.1 Surround Sound.

To be fair, the new one has no monitor (BFD) to jack the price, but with all those major leaps in technology, the 4550 is about 35% of the cost of the P166s.

What else besides electronics has seen a steady downsizing of the price tags? Imagine a 2003 Chevy or Ford with such major increases in technology over a 1996 model but costing less than half of its predecessor.

When I compare my box to my original C64, the CPU is 1,660 times faster and it has 8,000 times as much memory. It boggles the mind.

[Seeker of Truth]

This was my first computer..We've come a long way since those days.

The Tandy 1000:

http://www.oldskool.org/shrines/pcjr_tandy/graphics/1000_pc_monitor.jpg

The Tandy 1000

Tandy saw the huge success of the IBM PC and wanted to get into the market so that its large base of TRS-80 users had something viable to upgrade to. At the time Tandy was evaluating the PC market, the PC AT didn't exist yet, only the PC XT and the PCjr--and the PCjr had better graphics and sound. So it was natural for Tandy to choose the PCjr as the machine to clone.

The only problem was that the PCjr was dropped by IBM a couple of weeks before the Tandy 1000 was released. Tandy quickly changed all the advertising and marketing to take the focus away from the PCjr. "All they needed to created the monster 'white elephant' of all time was to announce the 1000 as a PCjr compatible. :-) So that's why the catalogs showed the machine as an MS-DOS compatible - which it was, but none of their advertising called it 'PC compatible' - though many consumers relate 'MS-DOS compatible' to mean 'PC compatible.'" b

The Tandy 1000 was indeed a strange beast: The graphics and sound were mostly compatible with the PCjr's enhanced graphics and sound, but the keyboard and joystick connections were neither PC nor PCjr compatible--they were large, round, circular DIN connectors that were pin-for-pin compatible with the TRS-80 line. The Tandy 1000 also included the RCA TV output jack of the PCjr, so that TRS-80 users who had used their TVs as monitors could continue to do so. Because of this and other design changes (such as the length of the case, which was about two inches too short to accept full-length expansion cards), Tandy was criticized for creating a seemingly proprietary machine. "It was not proprietary. It was completely software compatible with the machine it was meant to be a copy of, the IBM PCJr. The only problem was that the PCJr was not a successful product and was discontinued just weeks before the 1000 came out."f

Despite this, the Tandy 1000 because successful whereas the PCjr had not. The keyboard, while still slightly awkward, was not the horrific "chiclet" keyboard that the PCjr had used. Tandy's Radio Shack line of stores also made purchasing the computer easy--you could walk into any Radio Shack with a fistfull of cash and walk out with a Tandy 1000, complete with software and accessories. For the TRS-80 customers who wanted to upgrade, the base unit was all they needed, since they could reuse their existing monitor/TV, joysticks, printers, etc.

The best thing about the Tandy 1000 becoming successful was that it still retained the enhanced graphics and sound capabilities of the PCjr--and game companies noticed. Over 300 game titles were released in the 1980's that use the extra colors or sound to enhance the game. Because of these game titles, some of which directly drove the sales of the Tandy 1000, Tandy decided to keep the enhanced graphics and sound in future models. "It became its own standard. Many times over the next few years, design decisions were made to be PC AT compatible or be 1000 compatible within the 1000 line."f Because of this, gaming on the PC platform was changed forever. We take the inclusion of sound and music into today's games for granted, but it was innovative and ahead of its time in 1985.

Once VGA and sound boards became mainstream, there was little reason to own a Tandy that specifically catered to the old standards. "The Tandy 1000 TL/3, 1000 RL/2 and 1000 RL-HD were the last. Most of these appeared in the 1992 catalog (printed Fall 1991). The 1000-RLX that appeared in the fall of 1992 was VGA-based, but still had the PSSJ sound hardware, as did the 1000-RSX."

Source (http://www.oldskool.org/shrines/pcjr_tandy/)

[Rhino]

My first was a Commodore 64.

[CaliGirl]

My first computer when I became an internet user was:

NEC PowerMate 386
25 MHZ
8 MB Ram
MS-DOS 6.20
Windows 3.1 [which never crashed]
210 MB IDE hard disk
28.8 WinModem

Needless to say, it was very, very slow.! I had to delete all the cookies, cache and reboot about every 20 minutes.

Those were the old days. My computer I am on now is a tad bit over 4 years old, and is getting some updates added to make it better. http://freeconservatives.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon16.gif

[nosferatuscoffin]

Still have the first one I used from 1988 (though the hard drive is pretty much shot and it has not been used in many years).

Leading Edge XT

Specs:
Processor: Intel 8088
Speed: 4.77Mhz/Turbo Switch to 7.14Mhz
RAM: 512k (was upgraded to 640k!)
Hard Drive: 20MB
Graphics Card: On-board Hercules Monochrome
Monitor: 14" Green Monochrome (that died and was replaced by a 14" Tandy CGA)
Modem: Came with none. First one attached to it was a Cardinal 2400 external
OS: DOS 3.2

The printer it used was the original HP Deskjet which was bought a year later.

A REAL dinosaur. http://freeconservatives.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif