Apple II Tops PC World's List of Greatest PCs

Posted on August 17, 2006

PC World has a feature about the top 25 PCs of all time. They aren't just talking about new PCs in this article but old computers as well. To give you an idea many of the graphics come from oldcomputers.net. Topping the list of PC World's best PCs is the old but reliable Apple II.

The 8-bit system came with 4KB of memory, expandable to 48KB. It used a cassette rather than a disk for storage. It cost $1200, about twice the base price of its two biggest competitors, the Tandy TRS-80 Model I and the Commodore PET 2001. It couldn't even display lowercase letters (in the first several years of its existence, anyway). Yet it packed more pure innovation than any other early computer, and was the first PC that deserved to be called a consumer electronics device.
Born out of the Home Brew Computer Club by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs's tiny Apple Computer in 1977, the Apple II was the company's second PC, but it boasted more than its share of firsts: It was the first color PC (you could even use it with a television), the first to be easily expandable by users, and the first to run the VisiCalc spreadsheet--proving that these new boxes had a place in business.
Perhaps its greatest innovation was its design. Jobs wanted the machine to look at home on people's desktops, so he insisted that the Apple II have a sleek look, as opposed to the sheet-metal-and-exposed-wire appearance of most other early PCs. The machine's coolness factor--an Apple trademark to this day--was as important to its long-term success as Wozniak's inventive engineering was.

If you want to bring back more memories of the Apple II you can visit OldComputers.net's detailed listing. They also list many other outdates computers. The Apple II also has a recent claim to fame -- an appearance in the Lost tv show.

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