TRS-80

TRS-80 Model I Radio Shack's first desktop computer put a ready-made system on the shelves of an ordinary electronics chain. It cost $599.95 with a Z80 processor, 4 KB of memory, a video display, BASIC built in and cassette storage, and it sold 10,000 units in its first month. That store network is why it matters: buyers could walk in and take a working computer home rather than order parts from a hobbyist magazine. Today it is a charming, very basic machine, best for collectors who love the earliest days of BASIC and cassette-loaded programs rather than for anyone after a deep games library.