The Integrated Circuit – The Chip

One of the biggest innovations to the computer was the integrated circuit (IC) or the chip as it is now known. In fact, the chip has made the computer extremely powerful and affordable so that practically everyone in the world today can own a computer. The chip has had an enormous influence on reducing the cost of the computer, literally cutting it by a factor of a million to one.

The chip was actually invented by two different entities at about the same time without either entity knowing about the other. However, both companies were extremely smart and combined their licensing agreements to take advantage of the huge market for the technology. In the first few decades of computer creation, in order to make a computer more powerful or add innovation, it usually required more and more parts, however with a chip, everything can be placed on an extremely small piece of silicon.

The first commercial integrated circuits or chips were sold in 1961. While first bought up by the military they later were used in the first mobile calculators. While the first chip had one transistor, three resisters and one capacitor which fit on a space less than a square inch, today’s chips are much smaller and can hold more than 125 million transistors.

The First Microprocessor- a Computer on a Chip by Intel Corp.

While the IC chip (integrated circuit) was already developed, Intel was the first to put a complete microprocessor or computer on a single chip. The first Intel chip to do so was the 4004.

The 4004 was able to put a central processing unit, memory, input and output controls on one super small chip. This chip had huge implications to almost anything digital and as the years went on, Intel was able to create smaller, more powerful chips that actually cost less. The personal computer of today has the Intel 4004 chip to thank for its ability to be incredibly powerful and affordable for the consumer.

The First Consumer Computers

If you wanted to use a computer in the 1960′s or 1970′s, these huge devise were not only very rare- only available to students and researchers at major universities, but extremely costly to run. However, for those that were interested and fascinated by computers, most were looking for ways to own their very own affordable computer. One of the first consumer computers to hit the market was the MITS Altair 8800. It was developed in 1973 and 1974 and was first sold in 1975 as the “World’s First Minicomputer Kit to Rival Commercial Models”. The computer included an 8080 CPU, 256 byte RAM card and a new bus that had 100 pins. It was a kit, so it needed to be put together by the customer and sold for $400.

The First Apple Computers

During the mid 1970′s, there were plenty of hobby computers for sale however many were difficult to put together, had plenty of indistinguishable switches and must be programmed using difficult languages. Steve Wozniak was a computer hobbyist and started Apple Computers with his friend Steve Jobs. At first they showed off the Apple I computer. The Apple I came equipped with a single circuit board, video interface, 8K of RAM, a keyboard and was made with affordable components including the 6502 processor that cost only $20.

While about 200 Apple I computers were sold in 1976, in 1977, at the first West Coast Computer Faire, the Apple II was released with many of the same components, an increase of RAM and a floppy disk drive. While the first Apple computer sold for $666.66, the second was a little more polished and more expensive selling for $1,298.

1977 Was a Banner Year for the Home Computer

During 1977, Apple II, Commodore Pet and the Radio Shack TRS80 all became available for the home. With both Apple II and TRS80 computers using floppy disk drives, it now made it easier for software developers to create and sell programs to the masses. One company that started to grow and even trademarked their name in 1977 was Microsoft.

The IBM PC

IBM has had an enormous influence on the computers that we use today. While many computers that IBM first created were for defense or for large government organizations and corporations, IBM started to notice that there was a tremendous amount of demand building up for home computers in the 1970′s. In the late 1970′s and into 1980 IBM developed a personal computer known as the PC. It went on to be released to the public in August of 1981. The IBM PC grabbed the attention of the public and many businesses that realized that since IBM was selling PC’s to the public, there must be real demand.

Out of the PC came numerous companies that innovated the PC. And since the IBM PC was based on off the shelf parts and had an open architecture, many businesses would be able to support and even start to build computers of their own. The first IBM PC had a 4.77 MHZ Intel 8088 microprocessors, 16 KB of RAM, two 160K floppy drives and even an optional color monitor. While the price was still on the expensive end- $1,565, many hailed this as the beginning of the home computing market.