The Apple II, released in June 1977, was the first personal computer designed for home use

The Apple II, released by Apple Computer Company on June 5, 1977, was the first personal computer sold in significant numbers to ordinary households. It came fully assembled, with a keyboard and power supply built in, and cost $1,298. Before the Apple II, computers were either room-sized machines that only large companies and universities could afford, or kits that hobbyists had to solder together themselves.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1976 after Wozniak designed a working computer small enough to fit on a desktop. The Apple II was not the absolute first personal computer ever made—the Altair 8800 arrived in 1975 as a mail-order kit—but it was the first one that a person without electronics training could unbox, plug in, and use when ready. That difference mattered enormously. Within five years, Apple II sales had made Apple a publicly traded company.

Key Takeaways

  • The Apple II, released in June 1977, was the first personal computer designed and sold as a complete, ready-to-use machine for home and small business use.
  • The Altair 8800, released in 1975, came first but only as a kit requiring assembly and soldering by the buyer, limiting its audience to hobbyists.
  • Earlier computers existed but were either room-sized institutional machines or experimental prototypes, not products meant for individual ownership.
  • The Apple II's success created the market for personal computers; within five years it had generated enough revenue to take Apple public.

The Altair 8800 came first but required you to build it yourself

The Altair 8800, announced in January 1975 by MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), is technically the first personal computer. It cost $397 as a kit and buyers received circuit boards, a power supply, and components they had to assemble and solder themselves. It had no keyboard, no screen, and no permanent storage. Users entered programs by flipping switches on the front panel and read results from blinking lights.

The Altair attracted electronics enthusiasts and hobbyists, but it was not a consumer product in any practical sense. You needed to understand circuit boards and programming to use it. The computer arrived in a cardboard box, and assembly took hours. Most people who bought one were members of early computer clubs like the Homebrew Computer Club in California, where they shared knowledge and wrote software together.

Earlier machines existed but were not personal computers

Computers existed long before 1975, but they were not personal. The ENIAC, completed in 1946, weighed 30 tons and occupied 1,800 square feet. The IBM System/360, introduced in 1964, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and required a dedicated room with air conditioning and power infrastructure. Universities and large corporations owned these machines; individuals could not.

In the early 1970s, engineers and hobbyists began experimenting with smaller computers using newly available microprocessors—particularly the Intel 4004 (1971) and Intel 8008 (1972). These experiments produced working prototypes, but they remained in laboratories and hobby workshops. None were manufactured in quantity or sold to the public. The jump from prototype to product is what made the Altair 8800 significant, and what made the Apple II transformative.

Why the Apple II succeeded where earlier machines did not

The Apple II succeeded because it solved a problem the Altair did not: it was usable without training. The machine came with a keyboard you could type on, a monitor you could see, and a cassette drive where you could save your work. Apple also released VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, in 1979. Suddenly small business owners could use a computer to manage budgets and inventory without hiring a programmer.

Price mattered too. At $1,298, the Apple II was expensive—roughly $6,500 in 1977 dollars—but it was within reach of small businesses and affluent households. The Altair at $397 looked cheaper, but the real cost was much higher once you added a monitor, keyboard, and storage, plus the time to assemble and learn it. The Apple II's all-in-one design and included software made it the first computer that made economic sense for someone outside a laboratory.

The IBM PC arrived in 1981 and changed the market again

IBM released the IBM PC on August 12, 1981, priced at $1,565 for a basic model. IBM was already the dominant computer manufacturer for large institutions, and its entry into personal computers gave the market credibility with businesses. The IBM PC used the Intel 8086 processor and the MS-DOS operating system, both licensed from other companies rather than designed in-house.

IBM's strategy of licensing components and the operating system meant other manufacturers could build compatible machines. Compaq released the first IBM-compatible computer in 1983, and dozens of others followed. This openness created a market for IBM-compatible clones that eventually dominated personal computing, while Apple remained a smaller player focused on its own proprietary design.

What "personal computer" actually means

A personal computer is a machine designed for individual use, small enough to fit on a desk, affordable enough for a household or small business to own, and straightforward enough to operate without specialized training. By that definition, the Altair 8800 barely qualifies—it required training and assembly. The Apple II clearly qualifies. The IBM PC qualifies.

The term "personal computer" did not exist before the mid-1970s. Before then, computers were called "mainframes" or "minicomputers" depending on size, and they were always institutional machines. The category itself was invented by the Altair and perfected by the Apple II. Once that category existed, the market grew rapidly. By 1985, millions of personal computers were in use in homes and offices across North America and Europe.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was there a personal computer before the Altair 8800?

No manufactured personal computer existed before the Altair. Engineers built experimental computers in laboratories in the early 1970s, but none were sold to the public or manufactured in quantity. The Altair 8800 in 1975 was the first personal computer offered for sale, even though it required assembly.

Why do people say the Apple II was first if the Altair came out earlier?

The Apple II was the first practical personal computer—the first one you could buy fully assembled and use without soldering or programming knowledge. The Altair was first chronologically, but the Apple II created the actual market for personal computers in homes and small businesses.

Did Steve Jobs invent the personal computer?

No. Steve Wozniak designed the Apple II's circuitry, and Steve Jobs handled business and marketing. Both contributed to making it successful, but the concept of a personal computer came from earlier hobbyists and engineers. Jobs and Wozniak executed it better than anyone else at the time.

How much did the first personal computers cost?

The Altair 8800 kit cost $397 in 1975. The Apple II cost $1,298 in 1977. The IBM PC cost $1,565 in 1981. All were expensive by household standards, but affordable for small businesses and wealthy individuals.

What could the first personal computers actually do?

The Altair could run straightforward programs written in BASIC, a beginner-friendly programming language. The Apple II could run VisiCalc (spreadsheets), word processors, and games. The IBM PC could run the same software as the Apple II, plus business applications. None could connect to the internet—that came later in the 1990s.