Personal Computers

Brief History｜ Exhibits｜

year/month Timeline
1971　
【World】Intel developed the world’s first 4-bit microprocessor
1973　
【World】NS announced the IMP-16 16-bit microprocessor
1974/04
【World】Intel developed the 8080 8-bit microprocessor
1974/05 Sord announced the SMP80/x series of microcomputer systems that ran on the i8080 CPU
1974　
【World】Gary Kildall developed CP/M, the world’s first operating system for personal computers (he later established the company Digital Research)
1975/01
【World】MITS Inc. put Altair 8800 kit on the market
1976/08 NEC announced TK-80, a do-it-yourself PC kit for training.
1977/03 Panafacom: Develops a 16-bit learning kit with a single-chip, 16-bit microcomputer
1977/04
【World】Apple Computer announced the Apple II, the world’s first personal computer for individual users that was completely assembled
1977/09 Sord announced the M200 Smart Home Computer series, Japan's first desktop computer that combined a keyboard, CRT display, and floppy disk drive into one integrated unit
1978/05 Sord announced the M100 home computer series as its first consumer models
1978/09 Hitachi announced a 8-bit personal computer, Basic Master MB-6880
1978/09 Canon announced its first personal computer, the AX-1
1978/12 Sharp put a semi-kit, MZ-80K on the market
1978　
【World】Intel announced the Intel 8086, a 16-bit CPU and the first microprocessor with the X86 architecture
1978　 Matsushita Communication began selling its first personal computers, the My Brain JD-700 and JD-800
1978　
【World】Intel developed the 16bit microprocessor, MPU 8086
1979/05 NEC announced its first personal computer, PC-8001
1979/05 Sord announced the M100ACE personal computer series, which added a floppy drive to the M100 series
1979/11 Sord announced the M223 Mark IV small professional computer that included a Winchester disk
1980/02
【World】Motorola began shipping the MC 68000 microprocessor with 32-bit internal processing and a 16-bit external bus
1980/05 Oki Electric announced if800 series, the all-in-one personal computer, set printer in the machine
1980　 Hitachi developed a personal computer, Basic Master Level3 MB-6890, MB-6891 which could display Kana(Japanese alphabet)
1981/05 Fujitsu announced a 8-bit personal computer, FM-8
1981/08
【World】IBM announced the IBM PC and used Microsoft’s MS-DOS as the PC-DOS operating system
1981/12 Mitsubishi Electric a 16-bit business personal computer, MULTI 16
1982/02
【World】Intel delivered 80286 microprocessor
1982/07 Shinshu Seiki and Suwa Seikosha began selling the world’s first handheld computer, the HC-20
1982/10 Toshiba put PASOPIA 16, the 16bit Japanized MS-DOS based personal computer
1982/10 NEC announced a 16-bit personal computer, PC-9801
1982/10 Sord announced the M5 creative computer
1982/11
【World】Compaq put the portable personal computer on the market
1982/11 Canon launched the AS-100 16-bit personal computer for business use
1982/11 Sony announced the SMC-70, a microcomputer with an emphasis on graphics performance
1982/11
【World】Compaq put the portable personal computer on the market
1982　 Hitachi developed a 16-bit personal computer, 16000 series MB 16001
1982　 Tomy began selling the Pyuta, a 16-bit hobbyist personal computer
1983/01
【World】Apple Computer put Lisa on the market
1983/06 Ricoh developed the SP200, a high-performance personal computer with 10 built-in functions
1983/09 Sony announced the SMC-777 (three-seven), a personal computer with a built-in 3.5-inch floppy disk drive
1983/10 NEC Corporation: Launches the PC-100
1983/10 Sony announced the HIT BIT HB-55, a home-use personal computer compatible with the MSX architecture standard
1983/11
【World】Microsoft announced Windows, a GUI-driven operating system
1983　 Hitachi developed a 16-bit personal computer for OA, FA, B series B-16
1983　
【World】Apple Computer put Lisa on the market
1983　
【World】Novel put Netware on the market
1984/01 Sord announced the IS-11 (Success) book-sized computer that was supplied with integrated software
1984/01
【World】Apple began shipping Mac OS, an operating system for Macintosh computers that included a graphical user interface (initially, it was simply called the System, and KanjiTalk in Japan, but it subsequently became known as the Mac OS from 1997 on)
1984/03 Sony announced the HIT BIT HB-75, a home-use personal computer compatible with the MSX architecture standard
1984/08
【World】IBM announced the PC/AT computer that would be the basis for IBM PC compatibles
1984/12 Fujitsu announced a 16-bit personal computer for business use, FM16 β(Beta )
1984　
【World】Motorola began shipping the MC 68020 32-bit microprocessor
1985/04 Toshiba cultivated a personal laptop computer market and put T-1100 (overseas model)on the market
1985/10 Fujitsu announced AV(Audio and Visual) personal computer, FM77AV with simultaneous 4096-color display
1985/11
【World】Intel announced and began shipping the 16 MHz 80386DX 32-bit microprocessor
1986/01 Toshiba put T-3100, the world's first personal laptop computer with a build-in HDD on the overseas market
1986/04
【World】IBM and Microsoft announced the OS/2 operating system for personal computers, as the replacement for PC-DOS and MS-DOS
1986/07 Ricoh developed Mr. Mytool, a fully featured, space-saving personal computer that was fully integrated with Ricoh's Mytool software
1986/09 Sony announced the HB-F1, a personal computer compatible with the MSX2 architecture standard
1986/10 NEC announced PC-98LT, a laptop computer which used self-developed 16-bit MPU
1986　 Sharp announced a 16bit personal computer, X68000 using MC68000.
1987/01 Fujitsu announced a personal computer for business use, FM-R series (consisting of 3 model)
1987/04 SEIKO-EPSON put NEC-compatible personal computer, EPSON PC-286 model 0 on the market
1987/09 NEC announced PC-98XL², a 32-bit personal computer which had Intel 80386 MPU
1987/09 Fujitsu announced a 32-bit personal computer for business use, FM R-70
1987/10 Toshiba put T-5100, the world's first 32-bit personal laptop computer on the overseas market
1987/11 SEIKO-EPSON put the NEC PC-98 full-compatible personal computer, EPSON PC-286L series on the market
1987　
【World】Motorola began shipping the MC 68030 32-bit microprocessor with an internal MMU
1988/05 Mitsubishi Electric announced the personal computer for AX, MAXY
1988/07 Oki Electric announced if800EX series, the 32-bit personal computer
1988/10 Seiko Epson announced the Epson PC-386, a 32-bit personal computer
1988/12 Oki Electric announced if800AX series, the 32-bit laptop personal computer based on the AX standard
1989/02 Fujitsu announced a 32-bit hyper media personal computer, FM TOWNS
1989/04
【World】Intel announced the 25 MHz 80486DX 32-bit microprocessor
1989/06 Toshiba put a notebook-style personal computer, J-3100 SS01 first in the world
1989/07 NEC announced PC-9801LX5C, the first laptop computer with colared display in Japan
1989/09 SEIKO-EPSON put a notebook-style personal computer, EPSON PC-286 NOTE exective
1989/10 NEC announced its first notebook-syle personal computer, PC-9801N
1989　 Hitachi developed the personal work tool, PROSET 30
1990/02 Toshiba announced the PC DynaBook J-3100 SS02E with an internal 2.5-inch hard disk drive
1990/05 NEC announced 98NOTE SX, the first 32-bit notebook-style personal computer in Japan
1990/05 NEC announced PC-9801T model F5, which had a 8-colar TFT liquid crystal panel display.
1990/08 Oki Electric announced ifNOTE series, the 32-bit notebook style personal computer
1990　
【World】Motorola began shipping the MC 68040 32-bit microprocessor with an internal FPU and MMU
1991/04 Mitsubishi Electric announced the Apricot Qi workstations and LAN terminals for full-fledged client-server systems
1991/05
【World】Timothy John Berners-Lee announced the World Wide Web (WWW) for the first time at CERN
1991/05 Hitachi announced five FLORA series models of personal stations that fused together the company’s computer and workstation families and were the industry’s first to support the AX Consortium’s AX-VGA standard
1991/10 NEC announced the PC-9801NC notebook computer, the first notebook in the world with a color LCD screen
1991/10 Oki Electric announced the if Note 40 series of notebook computers designed specifically for the network era
1991/10 Oki Electric announced the if 486 VX series with an AX standard display architecture and connectable to SCSI-bus file storage devices
1991/10 Toshiba announced the DynaBook V386/20 J-3100 SX notebook computer with a VGA-compatible LCD screen
1992/04
【World】Microsoft announced Windows 3.1 (subsequently, Windows became the main installed operating system in Japan)
1992/04 Toshiba announced the DynaBook V486 J-3100 XS notebook computer with a TFT color LCD screen that could display 256 colors
1992/05 Seiko Epson announced the Epson PC-486GR, a 486 desktop personal computer
1992/09 Oki Electric announced the if PEN 30, a pen-interface computer that accepted handwritten Japanese inputs
1992/09 Mitsubishi Electric announced the Apricot NT386SL, a notebook computer running DOS/V
1993/02
【World】The first alpha version of the Mosaic WWW browser was released
1993/03
【World】Intel announced the Pentium processor as the successor to the i486
1993/03 Mitsubishi Electric announced the AMiTY, a pen tablet with a built-in hard drive
1993/05 Toshiba announced the DynaBook EZ486P notebook with a built-in printer
1993/07
【World】Microsoft released Windows NT, the company’s first 32-bit operating system and, later, became the primary operating system for the company’s PC servers and workstations
1993/10 Fujitsu announced the FMV series of AT compatibles, a first for the company
1993/11 Seiko Epson announced the Epson PC-486HX, an upgradable desktop personal computer
1994/01 Oki Electric announced a line of DOS/V computers that used the OADG architecture
1994/05 Fujitsu announced the FM TOWNS II Fresh ･ TV computer with built-in television functionality
1994/06 Hitachi announced the FLORA 3010 DV, a desktop computer that accepted multiple processors, a first for a Japanese computer maker
1994/07 NEC announced the PC-9821Ce2, a computer that could receive TV broadcasts
1994/07 Toshiba announced the DynaBook SS433, the world’s first B5-sized subnotebook with a built-in floppy drive
1994/10 Fujitsu announced the FMV-DESKPOWER series of all-in-one desktop computers
1995/02 Fujitsu announced the FMV BIBLO series of all-in-one notebook computers
1995/02 Fujitsu announced the FM TOWNS II SN model, a notebook specifically designed for the education field
1995/03
【World】Yahoo was established, creating the world’s first Web search business
1995/05 Seiko Epson announced the Epson PC-586RJ, which was equipped with a Pentium processor
1995/08
【World】Microsoft began shipping Windows 95, an operating system that was well matched for the Internet age and permitted use of Internet Explorer; Windows 95 subsequently was widely installed by businesses and individuals
1995/10 Hitachi announced a line of slim notebooks and all-in-one multimedia computers that supported Windows 95
1995/10 Ricoh developed the Super Note CS, a first-generation notebook computer loaded with business software
1995/11 Fujitsu announced the FMV-TOWNS series, which combined the FMV and FM TOWNS series
1995/11 Toshiba rolled out the DynaBook GT-R590 notebook loaded with Windows 95
1996/03 Mitsubishi Electric announced the AMiTY SP, a mobile computer with an A5-file footprint
1996/04 Toshiba rolled out the Libretto 20, the world’s smallest and lightest mini-notebook computer
1996/05 Oki Electric announced a line of all-in-one desktop computers for the consumer market
1996/06 Panasonic rolled out the first generation of the Let's Note AL-N1 computers that were distinguished by their light weight and small footprint
1996/09 Panasonic completed the CF-25 — the first Toughbook, a rugged personal computer that could stand up to harsh outdoor environments
1997/03 Hitachi announced the FLORA 300 series of slim desktops that included models with built-in LCD monitors
1997/06 Sony announced three models in the VAIO home-use personal computer series: the PCV-T700MR, the PCG-707, and the PCG-705
1997/09 Mitsubishi Electric announced the Pedion, the worldﾕs thinnest and lightest A4-sized notebook computer
1997/10 NEC announced the PC-98 NX series of 200 models in 26 configurations, which incorporated the PC 97/PC 98 system design architecture
1997/10 Sony announced the VAIO PCG-505, a B5-sized notebook
1997/11 Fujitsu announced the FMV-DESKPOWER Pliche, a stylish computer aimed at female users
1997/11 Toshiba announced the DynaBook Tecra 750 DVD/5.1, a high-end notebook computer with a DVD-ROM drive
1998/06 Toshiba announced the DynaBook SS PORTÉGÉ 3000 series of slim, B5-sized subnotebooks that were the world’s thinnest and lightest
1998/07 NEC announced 54 models in 21 configurations, including the ValueStar NX desktop running Windows 98 for the general-consumer market
1998/09
【World】Google was established as a company to provide search services using its PageRank technology
1998/10 Fujitsu announced the FMV LIFEBOOK series of business notebooks that could be custom ordered
2000/02 Hitachi announced the FLORA 30DV, a low-priced desktop computer for the business market that was sold together with a CRT monitor for only \70,000
2000/09 Fujitsu announced the FMV-BIBLO LOOX, a new concept mobile computer with high-speed wireless communication functions built in
2000/09 Toshiba announced the DynaBook DB70P/5MC all-in-one notebook computer with the world’s first multi-drive (a combined CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, and DVD-ROM drive)
2000/11 NEC announced several computers including the business-oriented Mate MA15S/MZ, which packaged a Pentium 4 processor, Intelﾕs latest CPU, in a mini-tower desktop configuration

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