Released in April 1985 for $799, the Atari ST was the first affordable 16-bit computer in the world. Atari’s CEO used to say that the ST is made for the masses, not the classes. Based on MC68000, the Atari ST offered a GUI, colorful graphics, and a 3-voices sound.
Released in January 1984, the 128K is the original Apple Macintosh personal computer. The Macintosh features the 68000 CPU from Motorola, a GUI, and bundled with MacPaint and MacWrite.
Released in August 1981, the IBM Personal Computer was IBM’s first microcomputer and the hardware platform that created the standard for PC compatibles. The IBM PC used an open architecture and the PC-DOS from Microsoft. Later, in 1984, IBM released the considerably improved IBM AT based on 80286 and a 16-bit AT bus.
Released in June 1987, Acorn Archimedes is a family of educational computers manufactured by Acorn until the mid-1990s. Archimedes computers feature 32-bit ARM processors based on the revolutionary Acorn’s own ARM architecture and the RISC OS (multitasking and a GUI).
Released in 1988, the NeXT computer is a legendary workstation developed and manufactured by NeXT Inc. until 1993. The company was founded by Steve Jobs, after resigning from Apple. However, Apple purchased NeXT in 1996 for over $400 million, and a great number of their innovations, such as the OS, were incorporated in later Apple products.
