How have Windows PCs changed over the years?
You might take the humble desktop computer for granted today, but it was the only way to do business in an office environment about 10 or 15 years ago. Laptops weren’t as affordable, so they couldn’t easily be doled out to every employee.
Just as the office setting has changed over the decades, so too has the Windows operating system and the computers it was developed for. It has, in fact, taken Microsoft 31 years to arrive at the current version — which is used by more than 1 billion PCs around the world.
In contrast, Microsoft’s rival Apple only released their first version of macOS in 2001. The classic Macintosh operating system was released in 1984, one year before Microsoft’s graphical extension for MS-DOS launched.
Colors and components
Anybody who had a desktop computer in the ’80s and ’90s will know that they all had one distinctive feature: they were off-white or cream in color. It wasn’t by accident either, as the color was carefully chosen and, in at least one case, even mandated by law.
Why everything was beige
What came to be known as the “beige box,” early PCs had a rectangular case with a monochrome monitor on top. The design enabled users to easily move the monitor off, open the lid and add or replace components into the machine.
The keyboard, box and monitor were all the same off-white color, and IBM is generally credited with popularizing the design around 1980. Given the aesthetics of the day, a beige box wouldn’t draw much attention at home or in the office.
After the color was picked by Apple for the Apple II and IBM did the same for the IBM Personal Computer, it started to dominate the industry as other manufacturers followed suit.
It remained the standard color for computers for some time, even mandated by the German government’s workplace regulations, which stated that “light-value” colors must be used on office equipment.
The beige box slowly started to fade away, and by the late ’90s and early 2000s, it was all but gone.
Powering the first PCs
The beige boxes that started to fill offices and homes featured some of the best technology for the time. Put those components into one of today’s PCs, though, and it would barely manage to just turn on.
The first two versions of Microsoft’s Windows didn’t fare too well in the market. It was only with the release of Windows 3.0 in 1990 that the operating system gained some traction.
Microsoft specified the minimum system requirements for Windows 3.0 as an 8088 processor or better, 1MB of RAM, a hard drive with 6MB of free space and a floppy drive for the installation disks.
If you wanted to use the Multimedia Extensions version of Windows 3.0, you needed 2MB of RAM and a hard drive with 30MB of space. RAM today is far more sophisticated; the Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro, for example, is 32GB and features colorful lighting.
Moving into the future
As the colors of the computer boxes started to change, so too did the technology inside. The beige was swapped out for darker shades of gray and black, while the components’ specifications improved to accommodate more storage and faster speeds.
First dedicated graphics card
Computers in the late 1990s started to become more powerful as PC software increasingly demanded greater processing power. Not only the Windows operating system but video games too, which were making the leap from arcades into homes.
Commercial computers had graphical processing chips, often built into the motherboard. While it might have been sufficient for some software, it wasn’t upgradable. Enter NVIDIA’s GeForce 256. Built on its predecessor, the RIVA TVT2, the 256 was marketed as the world’s first graphics processing unit.
Released in 1999, it provided a 50% improvement in frame rate over competitors like ATI and 3dfx. It didn’t last long, though, as it was replaced by the GeForce 2 a year later.
User-upgradable parts
When the home PC became commonplace and affordable, stores sold prebuilt computers with all the internal workings already assembled.
But the biggest drawback of a prebuilt computer was the lack of options. If the specifications like the CPU, RAM or hard drive weren’t to your liking, you had to make a different plan.
As component technology improved and demand grew for better, faster machines than what was offered at retail stores, many enthusiasts took to building their own computers.
Over the years, manufacturers began to standardize their components so that all computers could benefit from interchangeable parts. Things like RAM, CPUs and graphics cards used a common method for connecting to the motherboard, providing a wider choice to users.
But naturally, competition in the market also drove the homebuilt segment. Motherboards are the central “bedding” on which all components connect. Intel and AMD are the two rival CPU makers, and depending on which motherboard you got, you either had to use an Intel or AMD central processing unit.
Building your own computer also made it easier for users to keep up with technology trends and the latest products. Even if you bought a prebuilt computer, you could customize it with replacement parts.
If that wasn’t possible, it would have made computers prohibitively expensive if you had to buy a new, complete PC every time you wanted something faster or more powerful.
Microsoft’s Windows XP is generally regarded as the most robust operating system the company has released. To be able to run it, your computer needed a 300 megahertz Pentium CPU, 128MB of RAM and over 2GB of free space.
That is a huge leap from the specifications that Windows 3.0 required. The computer would also cost hundreds of dollars more for a whole setup, as opposed to just upgrading the CPU or RAM to make it work.
Prebuilt computers can still be found today, and serve as a quick and uncomplicated purchase for those incapable of, or uninterested in, building their own.
Evolving into peak performance
It’s hard to imagine where computer technology and component development will be in the next 10 years, although it’s safe to say that computers will be exponentially faster, smaller, brighter and more powerful.
Inconceivable at the time of Windows’ development, today’s computers have colorful RGB lighting, heavily overclocked CPUs, watercooling temperature regulators, a plethora of fans and cases in every design and color imaginable.
And that isn’t even factoring in the components that are a thousand times more powerful than those back in the ’90s. Graphics cards like the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 have 24GB of their own memory, capable of 8K gaming. These cards need a 750-watt power supply, two dedicated PCIe power cables, three unused expansion slots and a minimum clearance of 12.3 inches inside the case.
The latest GeForce is a $1,500 monster, but one day it too will be considered a legacy component. Evolution in technology is a ferocious beast, leaving those who can’t keep up, drowning in its wake.
Charlie Fripp is a writer for BestReviews. BestReviews is a product review company with a singular mission: to help simplify your purchasing decisions and save you time and money.
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