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by rsfinn 1789 days ago
As I recall, the most widely used term early on was "microcomputer", to distinguish the small home computers from the larger "minicomputers" (e.g. the DEC PDP-11 of blessed memory). The term "personal computer" was also in use, but the use of "PC" was not common until after the introduction of the IBM model 5150 (whose actual product name was the "IBM Personal Computer").

Since then, you might refer to any of a variety of machines as "personal computers", but "PCs" only meant "IBM PCs" (or later "IBM PC-compatible machines"). In other words, I would argue that the term "PC" derives specifically from the "IBM Personal Computer", and not generically from "personal computer".

Source: I was there. :-) I haven't done the research, but I bet if you did search through Byte and similar magazines of the time, you'd find plenty of supporting evidence. (I do have a memo cube from the early '80s with the slogan "Apple II -- The Personal Computer", but I suspect that was Apple Marketing trying to fight an ultimately losing battle.)
2 comments
Udo_Schmitz 1789 days ago
Lots of Apple’s print ads in the 70s used the term Personal Computer: http://www.macmothership.com/gallery/MiscAds2/1977IntroApple... http://www.macmothership.com/gallery/MiscAds2/AisFor1.jpg http://www.macmothership.com/gallery/MiscAds2/ad24.jpg
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rsfinn 1789 days ago
Sure; I don't disagree (and perhaps my previous post was less clear about this) that "personal computer" was definitely in common use, particular in advertising aimed at "regular consumers" rather than hobbyists, and well before the IBM PC.

I do disagree with the suggestion that the initialism "PC" was understood to mean "personal computer" in general before the release of the IBM PC. If that's overly pedantic, well, I'm a computer nerd; what can I say...

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Udo_Schmitz 1788 days ago
Oh, OK, I think you’re right there.
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chairmanmow 1789 days ago
I was there too if you need anecdotal evidence, my Dad worked in marketing for Apple - notable for being the ad manager for the 1984 ad campaign and you're wrong. I mean that ad was an attack on IBM PC's. The answer is on wikipedia too, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer
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