1990s and 2000s History of personal computers

1 1990s , 2000s

1.1 next
1.2 cd-rom
1.3 thinkpad
1.4 dell
1.5 power macintosh, powerpc
1.6 risc pc
1.7 bebox
1.8 ibm clones, apple profitability
1.9 writable cds, mp3, p2p file sharing
1.10 usb, dvd player
1.11 hewlett-packard
1.12 64 bits
1.13 lenovo
1.14 wi-fi, lcd monitor, flash memory
1.15 local area networks
1.16 multiprocessing
1.17 arm
1.18 pci-e
1.19 cheap 3d graphics
1.20 sdram
1.21 acpi

1990s , 2000s

next

in 1990, nextstation workstation computer went on sale, interpersonal computing steve jobs described it. nextstation meant new computer 1990s, , cheaper version of previous next computer. despite pioneering use of object-oriented programming concepts, nextstation commercial failure, , next shut down hardware operations in 1993.

the cd-rom , cd-rw drives became standards personal computers.


cd-rom

in 1990s, cd-rom became industry standard, , mid-1990s 1 built desktop computers, , towards end of 1990s, in laptops well. although introduced in 1982, cd rom used audio during 1980s, , computer data such operating systems , applications 1990s. popular use of cd roms in 1990s multimedia, many desktop computers started come built-in stereo speakers capable of playing cd quality music , sounds sound blaster sound card on pcs.

thinkpad

ibm introduced successful thinkpad range @ comdex 1992 using series designators 300, 500 , 700 (allegedly analogous bmw car range , used indicate market), 300 series being budget , 500 series midrange , 700 series high end . designation continued until late 1990s when ibm introduced t series 600/700 series replacements, , 3, 5 , 7 series model designations phased out (3&7) & x (5) series. series later partially replaced r series.

dell

by mid-1990s, amiga, commodore , atari systems no longer on market, pushed out strong ibm pc clone competition , low prices. other previous competition such sinclair , amstrad no longer in computer market. less competition ever before, dell rose high profits , success, introducing low cost systems targeted @ consumers , business markets using direct-sales model. dell surpassed compaq world s largest computer manufacturer, , held position until october 2006.

power macintosh, powerpc

in 1994, apple introduced power macintosh series of high-end professional desktop computers desktop publishing , graphic designers. these new computers made use of new motorola powerpc processors part of aim alliance, replace previous motorola 68k architecture used macintosh line. during 1990s, macintosh remained low market share, primary choice creative professionals, particularly in graphics , publishing industries.

risc pc

also in 1994, acorn computers launched risc pc series of high-end desktop computers. risc pc (codenamed medusa) acorn s next generation arm-based risc os computer, superseded acorn archimedes.

bebox

in 1995, inc. released bebox computer, used dual powerpc 603 processors running @ 66 mhz, , later 133 mhz operating system. bebox largely failure, fewer 2,000 units produced between october 1995 , january 1997, when production ceased.

imac g3 in bondi blue.


ibm clones, apple profitability

due sales growth of ibm clones in 90s, became industry standard business , home use. growth augmented introduction of microsoft s windows 3.0 operating environment in 1990, , followed windows 3.1 in 1992 , windows 95 operating system in 1995. macintosh sent period of decline these developments coupled apple s own inability come successor macintosh operating system, , 1996 apple bankrupt. in december 1996 apple bought next , in has been described reverse takeover , steve jobs returned apple in 1997. next purchase , jobs return brought apple profitability, first release of mac os 8, major new version of operating system macintosh computers, , powermac g3 , imac computers professional , home markets. imac notable transparent bondi blue casing in ergonomic shape, discarding of legacy devices such floppy drive , serial ports in favor of ethernet , usb connectivity. imac sold several million units , subsequent model using different form factor remains in production of august 2017. in 2001 mac os x, long-awaited next generation mac os based on next technologies introduced apple, cementing comeback.

writable cds, mp3, p2p file sharing

the rom in cd-rom stands read memory. in late 1990s cd-r , later, rewritable cd-rw drives included instead of standard cd rom drives. gave personal computer user capability copy , burn standard audio cds playable in cd player. computer hardware grew more powerful , mp3 format became pervasive, ripping cds small, compressed files on computer s hard drive became popular. peer peer file sharing networks such napster, kazaa , gnutella arose used exclusively sharing music files , became primary computer activity many individuals.

usb, dvd player

since late 1990s, many more personal computers started shipping included usb (universal serial bus) ports easy plug , play connectivity devices such digital cameras, video cameras, personal digital assistants, printers, scanners, usb flash drives , other peripheral devices. 21st century, shipping computers consumer market included @ least 2 usb ports. during late 1990s dvd players started appearing on high-end, more expensive, desktop , laptop computers, , on consumer computers first decade of 21st century.

hewlett-packard

in 2002, hewlett-packard (hp) purchased compaq. compaq had bought tandem computers in 1997 (which had been started ex-hp employees), , digital equipment corporation in 1998. following strategy hp became major player in desktops, laptops, , servers many different markets. buyout made hp world s largest manufacturer of personal computers, until dell later surpassed hp.

64 bits

in 2003, amd shipped 64-bit based microprocessor line desktop computers, opteron , athlon 64. in 2003, ibm released 64-bit based powerpc 970 apple s high-end power mac g5 systems. intel, in 2004, reacted amd s success 64-bit based processors, releasing updated versions of xeon , pentium 4 lines. 64-bit processors first common in high end systems, servers , workstations, , gradually replaced 32-bit processors in consumer desktop , laptop systems since 2005.

lenovo

in 2004, ibm announced proposed sale of pc business chinese computer maker lenovo group, partially owned chinese government, us$650 million in cash , $600 million in lenovo stock. deal approved committee on foreign investment in united states in march 2005, , completed in may 2005. ibm have 19% stake in lenovo, move headquarters new york state , appoint ibm executive chief executive officer. company retain right use ibm brand names initial period of 5 years. result of purchase, lenovo inherited product line featured thinkpad, line of laptops had been 1 of ibm s successful products.

wi-fi, lcd monitor, flash memory

in 21st century, wi-fi began become increasingly popular many consumers started installing own wireless home networks. many of today s laptops , desktop computers sold pre-installed wireless cards , antennas. in 21st century, lcd monitors became popular technology computer monitors, crt production being slowed down. lcd monitors typically sharper, brighter, , more economical crt monitors. first decade of 21st century saw rise of multi-core processors (see following section) , flash memory. once limited high-end industrial use due expense, these technologies mainstream , available consumers. in 2008 macbook air , asus eee pc released, laptops dispense optical drive , hard drive entirely relying on flash memory storage.

local area networks

the invention in late 1970s of local area networks (lans), notably ethernet, allowed pcs communicate each other (peer-to-peer) , shared printers.

as microcomputer revolution continued, more robust versions of same technology used produce microprocessor based servers linked lan. facilitated development of server operating systems run on intel architecture, including several versions of both unix , microsoft windows.

multiprocessing

in may 2005, amd , intel released first dual-core 64-bit processors, pentium d , athlon 64 x2 respectively. multi-core processors can programmed , reasoned using symmetric multiprocessing (smp) techniques known since 60s (see smp article details).

apple switches intel in 2006, thereby gaining multiprocessing.

in 2013, xeon phi extension card released 57 x86 cores, @ price of $1695, equalling circa 30 dollars per core.

arm

in 2005, arm cortex-a8 released, first cortex design adopted on large scale use in consumer devices. arm core later used in raspberry pi, cheap minicomputer.

pci-e

pci express released in 2003. becomes commonly used bus in pc-compatible desktop computers.

cheap 3d graphics

the rise of cheap 3d accelerators displaced low-end products of silicon graphics (sgi), went bankrupt in 2009.

silicon graphics major 3d business had grown annual revenues of $5.4 million $3.7 billion 1984 1997.

the addition of 3d graphic capabilities pcs, , ability of clusters of linux- , bsd-based pcs take on many of tasks of larger sgi servers, ate sgi s core markets.

three former sgi employees had founded 3dfx in 1994. voodoo graphics extension card relied on pci provide cheap 3d graphics pc s. towards end of 1996, cost of edo dram dropped significantly. card consisted of dac, frame buffer processor , texture mapping unit, along 4 mb of edo dram. ram , graphics processors operated @ 50 mhz. provided 3d acceleration , such computer needed traditional video controller conventional 2d software.

nvidia bought 3dfx in 2000. in 2000, nvidia grew revenues 96%.

sgi had made opengl. control of specification passed khronos group in 2006.

sdram

in 1993, samsung introduced km48sl2000 synchronous dram, , 2000, sdram had replaced virtually other types of dram in modern computers, because of greater performance. more information see synchronous dynamic random-access memory#sdram history.

double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory (ddr sdram) introduced in 2000.

compared predecessor in pc-clones, single data rate (sdr) sdram, ddr sdram interface makes higher transfer rates possible more strict control of timing of electrical data , clock signals.

acpi

released in december 1996, acpi replaced advanced power management (apm), multiprocessor specification, , plug , play bios (pnp) specification.

internally, acpi advertises available components , functions operating system kernel using instruction lists ( methods ) provided through system firmware (unified extensible firmware interface (uefi) or bios), kernel parses. acpi executes desired operations (such initialization of hardware components) using embedded minimal virtual machine.

first-generation acpi hardware had issues. windows 98 first edition disabled acpi default except on whitelist of systems.