THE 20 MOST INFLUENTIAL PCS OF THE PAST 40 YEARS

As PCMag celebrates its 40th anniversary, we take a look back at the computers that had the greatest impact on us and the industry, from a 16K beige box to a cutting-edge convertible that redefined mobile computing.

- ERIC GREVSTAD

In 1982, PC Magazine was born at a crucial time in the history of computing: right as microprocessors were expanding from 8-bit to 16-bit architecture, and computers were changing from consumer novelties to business essentials. So to commemorate our 40th anniversary, we couldn't resist looking back at the PCs that had the greatest impact and to be honest, narrowing the list down to a mere 20 was no small feat.

Yes, we know: The first entry in this list is a cheat, as the IBM PC (released in August 1981) predates our first issue (February-March 1982). We also know the IBM PC was no more the first personal computer than ours was the first computer magazine-the MITS Altair 8800 kit reached hobbyists in 1975, with the Apple II narrowly beating the Radio Shack TRS-80 to market in 1977.

Nonetheless, we owe our existence to that first IBM PC, so it's only natural for us to start there. Read on to celebrate our shared history and see what else makes the list.

1981: IBM PC MODEL 5150

IBM doesn't make low-profit-margin commodity products, which is why it sold its PC business to Lenovo in 2005 after losing nearly a billion dollars on it in the four years preceding. But PCs weren't commodities in 1981-buyers of the Model 5150 paid $1,565 for a unit with 16K of RAM, no monitor (you connected a TV set), and no disk drives (it used TRS-80-style cassette tape storage). A loaded system with 64K of memory, one floppy drive, and a monochrome monitor cost about $3,000.