Adverstisement for the Osborne 1
Credit: Osborne Computer Corporation

Workstations and Personal Computers

The personal workstation grew out of research at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center during the 1960s. Although expensive by modern standards, they were single-user computers that had high-performance graphics, fast processors, and built-in networking. In the mid-1970s, the invention of the microprocessor led to the development of more affordable “personal computers”. Workstations were still more suitable for applications needing data visualization or complex graphics, but PCs were adequate for word processing, databases, and communications. As the PC has become more powerful, the distinction between the two types of machines has blurred. Shown here are a variety of workstations, personal computers, portable computers and related software.