1979 · Japanese Personal Computer · Work 974 of 1,871
A computer shop high up in an electronics building in Akihabara in Tokyo on an autumn evening, on a long pale laminate counter three identical keyboard units side by side, each a flat ivory case forty-three centimetres wide rising toward the back with two long grilles of fine slots, a dark brown keyboard field with pale grey keys and a separate numeric block, every key plain, smooth and unmarked, behind them two small colour monitors glowing with soft coloured blocks, a young man in a beige anorak seen from directly behind, face turned fully away, hands on the keys, blurred coloured street lights beyond the window.
What it was used for
NEC's first full personal computer. Announced on 9 May 1979, shown from 16 May at the Microcomputer Show at the Tokyo Ryutsu Center, on sale from 28 September 1979 at 168,000 yen - the display cost extra. Inside was a Z80-compatible μPD780 at 4 MHz, Microsoft's BASIC sat in ROM, and 8 colours could be displayed. The IPSJ museum describes a modular system: a main unit with built-in keyboard, with optional display, printer, cassette recorder, floppy drive and modem; with an acoustic coupler it could serve as a terminal to a mainframe.
What was new
What stands out is the step from training kit to finished product. Until then NEC's main product had been the bare board set TK-80; its successors TK-80BS and COMPO-BS could not display colour. Hideo Mori describes the PC-8001 as the finished product the market had been waiting for. It was bought: on his figure NEC sold about 250,000 units in 3 years. But the 168,000 yen price was for the main unit alone - anyone wanting to use it also needed a display, or an adapter for a television.
What the sources leave open: The Mynavi article contradicts itself: its body text gives 24 KB of ROM, a caption 32 KB. The Centre for Computing History gives 24 KB of ROM while also saying the built-in BASIC occupies up to 32 KB. The ROM size is therefore left out. The figure of about 250,000 sold appears only at Mynavi; I found no confirmation from NEC.