---
title: "First Personal Computer Released"
year: 1974
country: "United States"
canonical: "https://recap.at/1974/altair-8800"
slug: "altair-8800"
recapType: "global_event"
startDate: "1974-01-01"
---

# First Personal Computer Released

> The Altair 8800 arrives as the first commercially successful personal computer, igniting the microcomputer revolution and attracting garage entrepreneurs who would build the software industry.

The Altair 8800, released by MITS in April 1974, was the first commercially successful personal computer. It cost $395 as a kit and sparked the home computer revolution by proving ordinary people could own and program their own machines.

## Summary

A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game focused on weapon-based combat seen from a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through the eyes of the main character. This genre shares multiple common traits with other shooter games, and in turn falls under the action games category. Since the genre's inception, advanced 3D and pseudo-3D graphics have proven fundamental to allow a reasonable level of immersion in the game world, and this type of game helped pushing technology progressively further, challenging hardware developers worldwide to introduce numerous innovations in the field of graphics processing units. Multiplayer gaming has been an integral part of the experience and became even more prominent with the diffusion of internet connectivity in recent years.

## Key facts

- **Release date**: April 1974
- **Manufacturer**: Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS)
- **Price (kit)**: $395
- **Price (assembled)**: $495
- **Processor**: Intel 8080
- **RAM**: 256 bytes to 64 kilobytes
- **Magazine feature**: Popular Electronics cover story, January 1975
- **Units sold (first year)**: Approximately 5,000

## Timeline

- **1972-01-01** - Intel 8008 processor introduced
  The first 8-bit microprocessor becomes available, setting the stage for affordable personal computers.
- **1974-04-01** - Altair 8800 released
  MITS releases the Altair 8800, a kit-based computer featuring the Intel 8080. Priced at $395 for the kit, it becomes the first commercially successful personal computer.
- **1975-01-01** - Popular Electronics cover story
  The Altair 8800 appears on the cover of Popular Electronics magazine, triggering nationwide interest and orders that overwhelm MITS.
- **1975-04-01** - Microsoft founded
  Bill Gates and Paul Allen establish Microsoft to develop BASIC, a programming language for the Altair, marking the beginning of the software industry.
- **1977-01-01** - Apple II, Commodore PET, and TRS-80 launch
  Three fully assembled personal computers hit the market, bringing consumer-friendly alternatives to kit-based systems like the Altair.

## Impact

The Altair 8800 didn't just launch a product category—it created the conditions for the microcomputer industry. By making computing affordable and accessible to hobbyists, it attracted the talent (including a teenage Bill Gates) that would build the software ecosystem underlying modern personal computing.

## Sources

- [First-person shooter]() - Wikipedia

---
Canonical: https://recap.at/1974/altair-8800