What was the first computer? Was there an actual first? More importantly, how the heck did you end up with a smartphone in your pocket? Or a computer at work? Or a smartwatch on your wrist? Where did these all these magical things come from?

Here I am, to answer those very questions and so many more, such as, what was the first laptop? Or the first smartphone? HOW DID WE EVEN GET HERE?

• First concept of a modern computer:  Turing Machine

  • When: 1936
  • Who: Invented by Alan Turing
  • An abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules.

• First Electronic Digital Computer:  Debatable…

  • Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
    • When: 1942
    • Who: Created by professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry
    • Not programmable, non-Turing complete, being designed only to solve systems of linear equations. It pioneered important elements of modern computing.

OR

• Colossus
  • When: 1943
  • Who: Designed by British engineer Tommy Flowers
  • Used vaccum tubes and thyratrons to perform Boolean and counting operations.
  • Developed to help British codebreakers read encrypted German messages in World War II.

OR

• ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer)
  • When: 1946
  • Who: Designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert
  • Considered a “Giant Brain” by the press.
  • Turing-complete and could solve “a large class of numerical problems” through reprogramming.
  • Occupied about 1,800 square feet and weighed almost 50 tonnes (50,000kg)!
  • Used to calculate artillery firing tables for the US Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory, as well as to study the feasibility of the thermonuclear weapon.

• First commercial desktop computer:  Programma 101

  • When: 1965
  • Who: Invented by Italian engineer Pier Giorgio Perotto and produced by Italian manufacturer Olivetti
  • Price: US$3,200, about 44,000 sold
  • Memory: 240 bytes
  • NASA bought around 10 to use for calculations for the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing mission.
  • The ABC (American Broadcasting Company) Network used it to predict the 1968 presidential election.
  • The US military used it to plan their operations in the Vietnam War.
  • It was used in schools, hospitals, and government offices, and marked the begging of the era of the personal computer.

• First portable computer / laptop:  IBM 5100

  • When: 1975
  • Who: IBM
  • Price: US$8,975 – $19,975
  • CPU: IBM PALM processor @ 1.9MHz
  • Storage: 16-64 kB
  • Memory:
    • 16-64 kiB (RAM)
    • 32-64 kiB (ROM)
  • Weight: 24 kg
  • A single integrated unit which included a keyboard, 5” CRT display, tape drive, processor.
  • Was the size of a small suitcase.

• First Apple computer:  Apple 1

  • When: 1976
  • Who: Designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak, sold by his friend Steve Jobs, and Apple Computer Company
  • Price: US$666.66
  • CPU: MOS 6502 @ 1MHz
  • Memory: 4 kB, expandable to 48kB
  • The start of an empire for the world of commercial computers
  • Not a whole kit: needed a case, power supply transformers, power switch, ASCII keyboard, and composite video display.

• First portable microcomputer:  Osborne 1

  • When: April 1981
  • Who: Developed by Adam Osborne and designed by Lee Felsenstein
  • Price: US$1,795
  • CPU: Zilog Z80 @ 4 MHz
  • Memory: 64 kB
  • Weight: 10.7 kg
  • Had 10 prototypes built.
  • Power directly from a socket, as it had no battery — still considered portable.

• Influential computer:  IBM Personal Computer (IBM 5150)

  • When: August 1981
  • Who: IBM
  • Price: US$1,565
  • CPU: Intel 8088 @ 4.77 MHz
  • Memory: 16 kB ~ 256 kB
  • Used Charlie Chaplin’s “The Little Tramp” character for a series of advertisements, which become very popular and award-winning.

• Highest-selling computer model:  Commodore 64

  • When: 1982
  • Who: Commodore International
  • Price: US$595
  • CPU: MOS Technology 6510/8500 @ 0.985 – 1.023 MHz
  • Memory: 64 kB (RAM) + 20 kB (ROM)
  • Listed on Guinnes World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time — selling between 12.5-17 million units.
  • Around 10,000 software title have been developed for it, including development tools, office applications, and video games.

• Influential computer:  Commodore Amiga

  • When: 1985
  • Who: Commodore International
  • Price: US$1295 + $300 monitor
  • CPU: Motorola 680×0 @ ~7 MHz
  • Memory: 256 kB
  • Best-selling model was the Amiga 500, selling 4-6 million units.
  • Become popular for gaming and programming demos, as well as desktop video, video production, and show control business.

• First Personal Digital Assistant (PDA):  Apple Newton

  • When: 1993
  • Who: Apple Inc.
  • Price: US$699
  • Originated the term “personal digital assistant”.
  • Was the first to feature handwriting recognition.
  • Apple invested US$100 million to develop it.
  • Was a predecessor technology to Apple’s current multi-touch devices (iPhone, iPad, etc.)

• First “smartphone”:  IBM Simon

  • When: 1994
  • Who: IBM
  • Price: US$1099 (without contract), sold around 50,000
  • CPU: Vadem 16 MHz
  • Memory: 1 MB
  • Storage: 1 MB
  • The first handheld, touchscreen cellular phone and PDA.
  • Able to send and receive faxes, e-mails and cellular pages.
  • Included a calendar, appointment scheduler, address book, world time clock, note pad, world time clock, handwritten annotations, and screen keyboards.

• Influential computer:  iMac G3

  • When: 1998
  • Who: Apple Inc.
  • Price: US$1,299
  • CPU: 233 MHz – 700 MHz PowerPC 750 G3
  • Memory: 32 – 512 MB
  • Storage: Up to 128 GB
  • Known for innovative design and range of brightly coloured plastic cases.
  • Criticized for using USB drive instead of floppy disk drive.
  • Saved Apple from financial ruin in late 1990s.
  • Had a handy handle on the back for easy transportation.

• In come the 2000s – Present day:

There are too many modern computer technologies to keep up with these days! Every tech company wants to get in on the boom, and so far, many are succeeding, i.e. Apple, Microsoft, Lenovo, Dell, Samsung, HP, even Google. Here are just some of the hightlights in recent years:

• Influential laptop: Apple Macbook (2006)
• Influential smartphone: Apple iPhone (2007)
• First “tablet”: Apple iPad (2010)
• First “smartwatch”: Omate Smartwatch (2013)
• And of course the various gaming consoles along the way: Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo, etc.

Who know what’s in store for the future? Optical computers? DNA computers? Neural computers? Quantum computers?