How Much Did the First Personal Computers Cost?

If you wonder how much the first personal computers cost, the answer is a lot more than most people expect, and also a lot less than the computers of the decade before. Between 1976 and 1988, the price of a machine you could use at home or in an office ranged from under $100 to well over $6,000.

An early Apple II, one of the first personal computers; how much the first personal computers cost depended on memory and extras. — Photo: Rama & Musée Bolo, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, via Wikimedia Commons.

This guide follows that story through fourteen computers, in the order they went on sale. Each price is the launch price quoted on its own page, and you can click through to see the sources.

1976-77: the first hobby and home computers

The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 at $666.66, which is about $3,934 in today’s money. It was an assembled circuit board with 4KB of memory, not a complete computer: buyers still needed their own case, power supply and keyboard. Steve Wozniak said he chose the price because he liked repeating digits and because it was a one-third markup on the $500 that shops paid. Read the Apple I price page.

A year later the market changed. Byte magazine called the Apple II, the Commodore PET and the TRS-80 the “1977 Trinity” of home computers, because each one arrived ready to use. The Apple II cost $1,298 with 4KB of memory in June 1977, and $2,638 with 48KB. The Commodore PET cost $795 when the 2001 model shipped in October 1977, with its keyboard, screen and cassette recorder built in. The TRS-80 was $599 with a monitor and tape recorder, or $399 for the computer alone, and it was announced on August 3, 1977. At the time, the most expensive thing Radio Shack had ever sold was a $500 stereo.

See the pages for the Apple II, the Commodore PET and the TRS-80.

1980-83: business machines and the first price war

The Apple III started at $4,340 in November 1980 and could reach $7,800 when fully loaded. It was meant for businesses, and it was more expensive than many rival business computers. The IBM PC started at $1,565 on August 12, 1981, with 16KB of memory and no disk drives. For comparison, IBM’s Datamaster, announced two weeks earlier, cost $10,000. See the Apple III and IBM PC pages.

Then prices fell fast. The Commodore 64 launched in August 1982 at $595. Commodore cut it to $425 in January 1983, and in April 1983 it offered a $100 rebate for trading in a rival machine, which brought the effective price to $299. The Timex Sinclair 1000 went even lower. At $99.95 in July 1982, Timex advertised it as “the first computer under $100”. It had 2KB of memory, black-and-white graphics and no sound, and a 16KB memory pack cost another $49.95. The Apple IIe in January 1983 cost $1,395 for the main unit, or $1,995 for a full set with disk drive and monitor.

Portability had its own price. The Compaq Portable shipped in March 1983 at $2,995 with one floppy drive, and it weighed 28lb. The Coleco Adam was announced at $525 in June 1983 but cost $725 when it finally shipped in October, and it missed four promised dates on the way. Read about the Commodore 64, Timex Sinclair 1000, Apple IIe, Compaq Portable and Coleco Adam.

1984-88: the Macintosh and the workstation

The original Macintosh went on sale on January 24, 1984 at $2,495, two days after its “1984” Super Bowl advert. One dealer called it “the first $2,500 impulse item”. The Macintosh Plus of January 1986 cost $2,599 but came with 1MB of memory and a SCSI port for external disks. At the top end, the NeXT Computer of October 1988 cost $6,500, and it is the machine on which Tim Berners-Lee built the first web browser. See the Macintosh, Macintosh Plus and NeXT Computer pages.

The first personal computers at a glance

Apple I (July 1976): $666.66, about $3,934 today
Apple II (June 1977): $1,298, about $7,205 today
Commodore PET (October 1977): $795, about $4,349 today
TRS-80 (August 1977): $599, about $3,298 today
Apple III (November 1980): $4,340, about $17,103 today
IBM PC (August 1981): $1,565, about $5,713 today
Timex Sinclair 1000 (July 1982): $99.95, about $345.41 today
Commodore 64 (August 1982): $595, about $2,052 today
Apple IIe (January 1983): $1,395, about $4,719 today
Compaq Portable (March 1983): $2,995, about $10,308 today
Coleco Adam (October 1983): $725, about $2,419 today
Macintosh (January 1984): $2,495, about $8,250 today
Macintosh Plus (January 1986): $2,599, about $7,990 today
NeXT Computer (October 1988): $6,500, about $18,221 today

What changed over twelve years

The cheapest and the dearest computers in this list are separated by a factor of about 65: $99.95 for the Timex Sinclair 1000 against $6,500 for the NeXT. In between, the main trend was that a complete, ready-to-use computer went from $1,298 (Apple II, 1977) to $595 (Commodore 64, 1982), and that price cuts arrived within months of launch. For more on this era, see how much technology cost in the 1980s.

Play it yourself

Do you know what a famous computer cost when it launched? Try the free daily price-guessing game on Price Time Machine, and challenge your friends to beat your score.

Questions about first personal computers cost

How much did the first Apple computer cost?

The Apple I cost $666.66 when it went on sale in July 1976. It was an assembled board without a case, keyboard or power supply.

How much did a Commodore 64 cost when it came out?

The Commodore 64 cost $595 when it went on sale in the United States in August 1982. By April 1983 a $100 rebate brought the effective price down to $299.

What was the cheapest home computer of the early 1980s?

The Timex Sinclair 1000 was $99.95 when it launched in July 1982, and Timex advertised it as the first computer under $100.

How much did the first IBM PC cost?

The IBM PC started at $1,565 on August 12, 1981, with 16KB of memory and no disk drives.