IBM PC

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What Does IBM PC Mean?

IBM PC is the brand name of the first popular commercial PC developed by the IBM Corporation. In 1981, the IBM PC was launched with the model number IBM 5150 in an attempt to set an industry benchmark subsequent to the IBM 5100 and several other computers.

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The IBM PC was also code named Acorn.

Techopedia Explains IBM PC

Renowned as the first personal computer, the IBM PC was one of the fastest desktop computers of its time. It directly competed with the Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor (PET), Apple II and Control Program/Monitor (CP/M). The IBM PC was equipped with an Intel 8088 processor at a speed of 4.77 MHz, 16 Kb of memory extendable to 256 Kb, a 160 K floppy drive and an optional CRT color monitor. The IBM PC also supported other operating systems (OS), such as the CP/M-86, UCSD p-System. However, it was the first computer to feature PC-DOS 1.0, a customized MS-DOS version for IBM computers.

Moreover, the IBM PC was developed with off-the-shelf components and was not distributed or directly sold by IBM.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.