This Day in History
IBM Model
August 12, 1981
IBM introduces its Personal Computer
IBM introduces its Model 5150, lending legitimacy to microprocessor-based computers and giving birth to the Personal Computer (PC). IBM's first PC ran with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor and used Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system. In 1983, Compaq Computer Corp. released the first clone of the IBM PC, a machine embodying an identical copy of the PC architecture -- which IBM had made publicly available -- and marking the gradual decline of IBM's share of the personal computer market
The PC architecture, based on Intel's x86 microprocessor family, continues to dominate desktop computing with over 85% of PCs using an x86-based CPU.