1984

My IBM PC/XT

IBM PC/XT with color display, hard disk on
the right, 5 inch floppy disk on left.

By the Summer of ’84 the IBM PC/XT had been out for over a year and I wanted one.  I had my IMSAI 8080 home computer since ’76 and had done significant upgrades to it, more memory, better display, dual 8 inch floppy disk and running the MS DOS operating system but it was still limited.  The IBM PC/XT with its 10 Mb hard disk and color display was significantly better but costing over $7,000, I couldn’t afford one.  My boss and friend Elias initially scoffed at my IMSAI 8080 home computer calling little more than a toy that wasn’t much good for anything but playing around with.  Back in ’76 when Elias said this, I told him that someday such computers would be in every office and home. I could tell from the smile on his face he didn’t believe me at the time.  With the IBM PC selling like hotcakes and now the IBM PC/XT was doing even better, Elias changed his mind about the usefulness of the PC and became a Value Added Reseller (VAR) for the IBM PC/XT.  Within a few months Elias had sold several systems along with software support that he provided and said he would sell me one at cost.  I didn’t waste any time and paid around $3,500 for an IBM PC/XT with monitor. 

WordStar