Manufacturer NEC CPU 8086 CPU @ 7 MHz | Type home computer | |
Release date October 13, 1983; 33 years ago (1983-10-13) Introductory price Monochrome US$2,500
Color US$3,300 Memory 128KB RAM (expandable to 768KB RAM), 32KB ROM | ||
The NEC PC-100 was a Japanese home computer available on October 13, 1983. It operated on 8086 CPU 7 MHz, 128KB RAM, 128KB VRAM, a Japanese language capable keyboard and a two button mouse. It had three models and its color monitor, PC-KD651, which could be used vertically or horizontally, had the price tag of 198,000 yen. Its biggest advantage over other computers of that time was its high graphical capability of 720 by 512 with a selection of 16 color out of 512 color available on its high end model30. Its OS was MS-DOS and was also equipped with a spreadsheet program Maruchipuran (Multiplan) and a text editor JS-WORD as well as the game Lode Runner.
Far ahead of its time and too costly, PC-100 did not sell well. A complete set with the printer PC-PR201 that could print alphabet, hiragana, katakana and kanji, came to nearly a million yen. For a comparison, the Nintendo Family Computer released in July of the same year was only 14,800 yen and the vaunted Apple Lisa 2 sold for 2.2 million yen. The cheaper PC-9801F2 also by NEC outsold it.
Trivia
Possibly due to the standard inclusion of a mouse, a blue anime style mouse with "PC-100" on its chest looking little like Superman was used as a promotional character.