Currently we cannot say that OEM PCs have a very high sales volume, but in the past, when there were not so many different options in the manufacturers’ catalogs, it was quite different. In this article we are going to look back to see the best-selling OEM PCs in history , of which you surely have had one.
With this list we are going to appeal to longing and a little retro, to tell you which have been the best-selling OEM PCs, all of them mythical models that, if you have not had one or more of them, surely they sound like minimum. Let’s see it.
The best-selling PCs in history
The following list is ordered by the model that sold the most units worldwide until the least.
Commodore 64
The best-selling PC of all time is the Commodore 64, launched in January 1982 as one of the first personal computers on the market and with such resounding success that it led to the sale of approximately 17 million units, and its price of launch was $ 595 in the US. In those days, it had a 1 MHz processor and 64 KB of RAM, more than enough for games and programs of that time, and of great interest to programmers because it was the first to have a programmable audio chip.
Commodore Amiga 500
Initially released in 1987, this PC sold some 6 million units worldwide at a starting price of $ 699. This kit was released in the footsteps of the Commodore 64 with faster and more powerful hardware, a 16-bit (later 32-bit) 7 MHz processor, and no less than 512 KB of RAM. As a novelty, a floppy disk drive was already standard.
MSX
Launched in June 1983, this PC sold about 5 million units. It worked with the MS Basic operating system, which although it never became a global system was incredibly popular in Japan, to the point that these small computers were used to program many games of the time.
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
Launched in 1982 at a price of $ 166, this little PC sold 5 million units worldwide. It came with 16 KB of RAM and an integrated keyboard, with a 3.5 MHz processor. It became so popular because, by design, it became one of the first home PCs.
IBM PC (5150)
This is another of the best-selling PCs in history, and although it was launched in September 1981, more than 500,000 units were sold in less than a month from that moment, although its price varied from 1,565 to $ 3,000. This PC used an Intel 08088 processor at 4.77 MHz and had 16 KB of RAM, and as a great novelty was one of the first to incorporate BIOS in the system.
Apple II
Launched in June 1977, these Apple computers sold more than 1 million units and that their price ranged from 1,298 to $ 2,638, so it is also on this list of best-selling PCs in history. With a 1 MHz processor, it was offered in variants of 4KB up to 48KB of RAM, and also integrated the keyboard into the computer itself.
The iMac, also among the best-selling PCs
First released in 1998, Apple’s iMac are also among the best-selling PCs in history. Originally, the first iMac sold for $ 1,299, and although the total number of units sold is unknown, they are estimated to be close to one million.
NEC PC-98xx series
Launched in October 1982 at a price of $ 2,700, if we add all the series of PCs that were launched in this family, they are estimated at around 15 million units sold. These computers were based on the popular MSX and were therefore launched only in Japan initially, with a 5 MHz Intel 08086 processor and 128 KB of RAM.
Timex Sinclair 1000
These kits were launched in 1981 at a price of $ 149.95, and although the total sales volume is unknown, it is known that they sold 500,000 units in the first six months since their launch. These teams used BASIC, and had a 3.25 MHz processor and 1 KB of RAM.