The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time - 1

This month is IBM PC's 25th birthday. IBM announced the launch of its first PC on August 12, 1981. In order to celebrate IBM's PC birthday, PC World has selected the 25 greatest PCs of all time with the criteria being Innovation, Impact, Industrial design and Intangibles.

No.25 – Non-Liner Systems Kaypro II (1982)

This one appeared towards the end of 1982, cost USD$1,795 and was encased in grey and blue metal.

No.24 – Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV650 (2006)

This model was announced early this year. The Toshiba Qosmio (pronounced "kozmio") series notebooks have becoming sophisticated entertainment devices, with 17" LCD, Windows XP Media Centre, Harman/Kardon speakers, integrated TV tuner and remote control. The series had been introduced two years ago, but this model is the first notebook to integrate a blue-laser-based optical drive - HD-DVD. It sold for USD$2,999. Check out www.mytoshiba.co.nz for other Toshiba notebook models.

No.23 – Apple eMate 300 (1997)

In the last 30 years, Apple has released a lot of great PCs that have made a big impact on the marketplace. This USD$799 education PC was targeting school kids with a green and curvy case. Unfortunately, it had a short lifetime.

No.22 – HP 100LX (1993)

This wasn't the first pocket PC, but it's the first pocket PC with real PC functionality. The USD$749 100LX had a QWERTY keyboard, a mono display and it ran DOS 5.0, which meant that it was compatible with thousands of programs.

No.21 – Alienware Area-51 (1998)

This Alienware was a very powerful gaming machine - like other Alienware computers. It's an Intel machine including three video cards (one 2D card, plus two 3D add-on cards with 2Dfx's Voodoo chip) and two sound cards. It was USD$3,799 at that time.

No. 20 – Gateway 2000 Destination (1996)

This was the first real multimedia PC. It come with a 31" CRT monitor, two VCRs, a wireless keyboard and remote control, a TV tuner and surround-sound speakers. I think it's amazing for that time! It was priced from USD$3,499 to USD$4,699 but at this price, I guess there is no surprise that it failed to make its way into many living rooms.
Watch this space for the first 20 places.

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