1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,000 We could go for the low-hanging fruit here and talk about the original IBM PC or the first Macintosh from 1984 but you already know about those. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 So instead, let's talk about five other machines that changed the PC market in a big way. 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:21,000 Let's start with the Xerox Alto. Although Xerox was already well known as a manufacturer of copiers, their entry into the PC market was extremely impressive 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:27,000 as the Alto was the first personal computer designed with a graphical user interface, or GUI. 5 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:35,000 And keep in mind, this was all the way back in 1973, eight years before the original IBM PC and eleven years before the original Macintosh, 6 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:40,000 with the latter being the system that really popularized the GUI for the mass market. 7 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:49,000 The Alto didn't receive as much attention as it could have because of its high price, $32,000, which today would be over $110,000. 8 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:58,000 Nonetheless, it was well ahead of its time, not just due to its desktop-based GUI, but also because it had its own hard drive, a 606 x 808 pixel display, 9 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:04,000 very high res at the time, and even a mouse, which wouldn't become broadly popular until the Macintosh came out. 10 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:11,000 Unfortunately, Xerox made a big strategic mistake when they decided not to take the Alto's concepts and make them affordable for home users. 11 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:17,000 By the time they realized this, Apple had already seized the initiative and Xerox computers just faded into obscurity. 12 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:23,000 But before the Mac popularized the GUI concept, Apple had a huge hit in 1977 with the Apple II. 13 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:33,000 Before the Apple II was released, people tended to think of computers as super expensive machines only used in business or as difficult DIY projects just for enthusiasts. 14 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:42,000 The Apple II went a long way towards changing these perceptions as it sold for less than $1,300 and it came fully assembled and ready to use. 15 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,000 But the Apple II wasn't just appealing because it was cheap and easy. 16 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:51,000 It used programming tricks to enable color on its display without charging the consumer a huge premium. 17 00:01:51,000 --> 00:02:00,000 In fact, this became such a defining characteristic of the Apple II that it led Apple to change its logo to that multi-colored bit and fruit it used until the late 90s. 18 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:07,000 The color support combined with a killer app called the VisaCalc, the first ever automatic PC spreadsheet, made it really popular with businesses, 19 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,000 helping the Apple II become one of the best-selling personal computers ever. 20 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:21,000 Moving on, we've got the Commodore 64. And although it sounds like some kind of naval simulator from Nintendo, it was actually an early PC that looked a lot like a smaller Apple II. 21 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:27,000 Released in 1982, the Commodore 64 absolutely crushed the lower end of the PC market for most of the decade, 22 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:32,000 as it was even more affordable than the Apple II at a release price of just $595. 23 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,000 But the lower price didn't mean it was underpowered. 24 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:42,000 Like the Apple II, it had color graphics but with better quality, which made it a popular platform for computer games at the time, 25 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,000 as well as the demo scene, which was an early computer art movement centered around small AV pieces. 26 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:55,000 The Commodore 64 also included a signature audio chip called the Sound Interface Device that made it very attractive to electronic musicians. 27 00:02:55,000 --> 00:03:02,000 And although its Haiti came to an end in the late 80s when the more powerful 32-bit IBM PC compatible started to dominate the market, 28 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,000 the Commodore 64 still has a very loyal following. 29 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:11,000 But what about laptops? Let's talk about the compact LTE, not to be confused with the modern cell network, though. 30 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Although it wasn't the first laptop, it was definitely one of the most important. 31 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,000 It was introduced in 1989, a time where laptops really started to make inroads with professionals, 32 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,000 but most were either bulky or limited in what they could do. 33 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:30,000 And the LTE changed all of that as it weighed only 3 kilograms or 6.7 pounds for our friends in the US. 34 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:36,000 It ran a 286 processor and MS-DOS and was powerful enough to support Windows as well. 35 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:42,000 Because of its computing muscle and small size, the LTE is often considered the first true notebook-style laptop, 36 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,000 since it was, as you guessed it, about the same size as a notebook. 37 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:54,000 The LTE also featured a docking station, enabling it to entirely replace a desktop computer at a time when doing so really wasn't all that common. 38 00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:02,000 However, even though it had a 2.4 kilobyte per second modem, the compact LTE lacked one crucial feature that's present in all modern laptops. 39 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:07,000 Wi-Fi, the first consumer laptop to feature it, and our final system of the day, was the Apple iBook. 40 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:13,000 Released in 1999, this was the first computer in Apple's main laptop lineup before the MacBook debuted, 41 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:19,000 and it originally had a look comparable to the iMac G3, which was brightly colored plastic and a rounded aesthetic. 42 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:23,000 Aside from its looks, the iBook's Wi-Fi boasted speeds of up to 11 megabits per second, 43 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:28,000 and although it sounds super slow by today's standards, it was actually pretty amazing for its time. 44 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:33,000 As Steve Jobs famously demonstrated at the launch event, where he passed the iBook through a hula hoop while he surfed the web, 45 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:38,000 to the ooh and ah of a rather easily impressed crowd. 46 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:45,000 No wires! Come to think of it, Apple events haven't fundamentally changed in the past two decades. 47 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,000 So those are our picks for the five computers that totally changed the game. 48 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,000 But what do you guys think? Is there a system more deserving of the title? 49 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:56,000 Let us know down in the comments and you might see them in a future episode. 50 00:04:56,000 --> 00:05:02,000 Thanks for watching. Like, dislike, check out our other videos, comment with video suggestions, and don't forget to subscribe and follow.