Way back machine: Pics from Sept 1986 PC Magazine

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ToyotaNSaturn

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Found this buried in an old box while cleaning out things recently.

The magazine was rather boring to read since there is nothing about digital music, internet, HTML 5, Google, Windows, Microsoft, Apple, YouTube... but you can put together a 286 for around $2,500!

Unlike the uber-thick Computer Shopper, there aren't all that many ads in this issue. My how far we have come!

Here's the handful of scans that were worthwhile...

I scanned with with our Canon all-in-one. Ironically...
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Pages 33 - 35 had a couple interesting articles. One mentions a 21 year-old Michael Dell.
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Look at this wonderful Calendar Creator program for only $39.95!!
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MicroAge has a great deal on a Compaq "portable" for only $3,879, includes 20MB hard drive!!
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Now, CompuAdd has some amazing deals, don't they?
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http://public.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pt...8Q/IMG_0007.jpg

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and not to be out done, PC's Unlimited has an internal 300/1200 modem for only $159:

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When I got out of law school in '84, I paid about $4k for a TRS0-80 Model IV with two floppies and 128K RAM, a 5MB Winchester hard drive, and a dot matrix "letter quality" printer

The printer really was near letter quality, iirc it had thirty six pins.

I used the Trash 80 until the '386 came out, and still have it out in my warehouse, somewhere.

That was real money back then. I bought a new T Bird Turbo Coupe the same year for only $13K.

edit: my first "portable" was an Osborne, still have it, also.
 
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Its amazing to see how far we have come since then. My video card has more processing power than 10 of those high end machines put together do, lol. My first computer back in 1995 was a 486dx2-80 with a 560meg hard drive and 4 megs of RAM and I thought it was something awsome at the time.
 
I remember getting my first Harddrive (a Seagate ST-251) which only cost $450 for 40 MB. And it was amazing when the 3.5 inch floppy disks came out as you could get 720k on it. And you did not a envelope to put it in.

Back then it was a big thing if in your AT class machine to have double 1.44m floppy drives. And COLOR! 16 of them at a time!
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Yes, we have come a long ways. I still have my US Robotics 9600 baud modem. With it and someone on the other end you could transfer a ONE megabyte file around 10 mins if everything was just right.

Internet? Nope. PC-Board BBS software out of SLC was the standard.

I sit here and tell me kids all the stuff that they have that was not around when I was their age....
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Bill
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I miss the "turbo" button.


It was like "Yo, VTECH just kicked in".

My university had older issues of PC World or some computer magazine from 1999+ and it is funny to look at those magazines now.
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
I miss the "turbo" button.


That is coming back, some computers have it now.
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To the OP, I read until my brain started hurting. I'm glad I was like 4 when those PC's were out.
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
I remember getting my first Harddrive (a Seagate ST-251) which only cost $450 for 40 MB. And it was amazing when the 3.5 inch floppy disks came out as you could get 720k on it. And you did not a envelope to put it in.

Back then it was a big thing if in your AT class machine to have double 1.44m floppy drives. And COLOR! 16 of them at a time!
20.gif


Yes, we have come a long ways. I still have my US Robotics 9600 baud modem. With it and someone on the other end you could transfer a ONE megabyte file around 10 mins if everything was just right.

Internet? Nope. PC-Board BBS software out of SLC was the standard.

I sit here and tell me kids all the stuff that they have that was not around when I was their age....
cool.gif


Bill


Bill, I remember those days well. My first hard drive was a 20MB MiniScribe, with MMF controller. About the size of a shoebox, and needed to be manually PARK before power down!

PS: I cut my teeth on a TRS-80 with cassette drive....
 
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I still have my first computer, a Commodore VIC 20.

I also have an Apple IIE with two 5 1/4 floppy drives and 80 column card. Then there is also another computer in the closet that has a 90Mhz processor with Windows 3.1.

Then there is the 10 year old Gateway......
 
A few more scans that seem worthwhile...


A three page article from Peter Norton(!)
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Want to upgrade that PCjr? Anyone?

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We take print queues for granted. Back in the day, special software was needed just to queue DOS print jobs.

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"Leading Edge", almost forgot about that brand... Considered getting one way back when, but ended up getting a Kapro PC with a, WOO HOO, 30MB hard drive. Cost us something like $1,500 years later sold it at a yard sale for $20. Latest computer we got has a 640GB hard drive. It would take a pile of 20,000 of those old hard drives to equal the storage capacity of a new drive. Imagine that in your mind's eye a pile of 20,000 hard drives. Wow!
 
My first computer came with that full height 3.5" hard drive at 40MB. Luckily it is ATA instead of the MLL though.

I do remember back then RAM come as DIP socket chips, almost fill up the board to put in 1MB, we used to call them cockroach RAM. Then it is the cache that's cockroach, then on a stick, then on the CPU card (Pentium II), and now it is not cache if it is not on die.

I think in a couple years we will not see a mechanical hard drive anymore, and Mac will sure put those chip on board instead of removable, so when you run out of hard drive space, you have to buy a new laptop instead of just a trip to Bestbuy.
 
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