Vital statistic 1981 IBM personal computer 2001 Dell OptiPlex GX150
Price1 $3045 $1447
CPU 4.77-MHz 8088 933-MHz Pentium III
RAM 64KB2 (.0625MB) 128MB3
Storage 160KB floppy drive 20GB hard drive, CD-RW and 1.44MB floppy drives
Display 11.5-inch monochrome text monitor 17-inch, 16.7 million color graphics monitor4
Other features Parallel port, tape cassette port, 2-inch internal speaker Parallel port, 2 serial ports, 4 USB ports, ethernet, wavetable sound and speakers, microphone jack
Operating system IBM PC-DOS 1.0 Windows 2000
OS RAM requirements 16KB (.0156MB) 32MB5
Boot-up time6 16 seconds 51 seconds
For two decades, the PC has grown ever more capable--and prices have tumbled. Yet a typical PC of today takes three times as long to boot as a 1981 model. Why? Blame it on the behemoth of an operating system that Windows has become.
1Price dependent on configuration; not adjusted for inflation; IBM PC 1981 price in current dollars would be approximately $6125. Dell OptiPlex GX150 price is as of 5/4/01.
2Base configuration was 16KB; maximum on motherboard was 64KB.
3Maximum on motherboard is 512MB.
424-bit color.
564MB recommended.
6IBM PC tested by vintage PC collector Fred Cisin; Dell tested by PC World Test Center.
Interesting and we complain now.
Price1 $3045 $1447
CPU 4.77-MHz 8088 933-MHz Pentium III
RAM 64KB2 (.0625MB) 128MB3
Storage 160KB floppy drive 20GB hard drive, CD-RW and 1.44MB floppy drives
Display 11.5-inch monochrome text monitor 17-inch, 16.7 million color graphics monitor4
Other features Parallel port, tape cassette port, 2-inch internal speaker Parallel port, 2 serial ports, 4 USB ports, ethernet, wavetable sound and speakers, microphone jack
Operating system IBM PC-DOS 1.0 Windows 2000
OS RAM requirements 16KB (.0156MB) 32MB5
Boot-up time6 16 seconds 51 seconds
For two decades, the PC has grown ever more capable--and prices have tumbled. Yet a typical PC of today takes three times as long to boot as a 1981 model. Why? Blame it on the behemoth of an operating system that Windows has become.
1Price dependent on configuration; not adjusted for inflation; IBM PC 1981 price in current dollars would be approximately $6125. Dell OptiPlex GX150 price is as of 5/4/01.
2Base configuration was 16KB; maximum on motherboard was 64KB.
3Maximum on motherboard is 512MB.
424-bit color.
564MB recommended.
6IBM PC tested by vintage PC collector Fred Cisin; Dell tested by PC World Test Center.
Interesting and we complain now.