IBM Personal Computer - Models

Models

IBM Personal Computer

IBM 5150 PC with IBM 5151 monitor
The IBM PC line
Model name Model # Introduced CPU Features
PC 5150 August 1981 8088 Floppy disk or cassette system
XT 5160 March 1983 8088 First IBM PC to come with an internal hard drive as standard.
XT/370 5160/588 October 1983 8088 5160 with XT/370 Option Kit and 3277 Emulation Adapter
3270 PC 5271 October 1983 8088 With 3270 terminal emulation, 20 function key keyboard
PCjr 4860 November 1983 8088 Floppy-based home computer, infrared keyboard
Portable 5155 February 1984 8088 Floppy-based portable
AT 5170 August 1984 80286 Faster processor, faster system bus (6 MHz, later 8 MHz, vs 4.77 MHz), jumperless configuration, real-time clock
AT/370 5170/599 October 1984 80286 5170 with AT/370 Option Kit and 3277 Emulation Adapter
3270 AT 5281 June 1985 80286 With 3270 terminal emulation
Convertible 5140 April 1986 8088 Microfloppy laptop portable
XT 286 5162 September 1986 80286 Slow hard disk, but zero wait state memory on the motherboard. This 6 MHz machine was actually faster than the 8 MHz ATs (when using planar memory) because of the zero wait states

All IBM personal computers are software backwards-compatible with each other in general, but not every program will work in every machine. Some programs are time sensitive to a particular speed class. Older programs will not take advantage of newer higher-resolution and higher-color display standards, while some newer programs require newer display adapters. (Note that as the display adapter was an adapter card in all of these IBM models, newer display hardware could easily be, and often was, retrofitted to older models.) A few programs, typically very early ones, are written for and require a specific version of the IBM PC BIOS ROM. Most notably, BASICA which was dependent on the BIOS ROM had a sister program called GW-BASIC which supported more functions and was 100% backwards compatible and could run independent from the BIOS ROM.

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