The IBM Personal Computer (IBM 5150) has been heralded as the computer that launched the PC era. Unveiled in 1981, with its boxy monitor and chunky keyboard, it looked quite different from the sleek devices we use today, but according to IBM, it “streamlined business operations, spurred the development of the software industry and vaulted computing into the mainstream”.

As well as word processing and spreadsheet software, this snazzy computer could connect to a television to enable users to play games. It was a truly cutting-edge piece of kit at the time!

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Real photos of 1980s technology at home