PC World’s list of the top 25 PCs of all time was assembled after we polled our editors for nominations. We then rated the nominated gadgets for innovation, impact, industrial design and intangibles. Here are the results. (For more on our 25 Greatest PCs project, see the full story).
1. 1977 Apple II
2. 1986 Compaq Deskpro 386
3. 1981 Xerox 8010 Information System
4. 1986 Apple Macintosh Plus
5. 1992 IBM ThinkPad 700C
6. 1981 IBM Personal Computer, Model 5150
7. 1985 Commodore Amiga 1000
8. 1983 Tandy TRS-80 Model 100
9. 1982 Columbia Data Products MPC 1600-1
10. 1991 Apple PowerBook 100
11. 1998 Sony VAIO 505GX
12. 1975 MITS Altair 8800
13. 1984 IBM Personal Computer/AT Model 5170
14. 1979 Atari 800
15. 2001 Shuttle SV24 Barebone System
16. 1977 Tandy TRS-80 Model I
17. 1987 Toshiba T1000
18. 1993 Hewlett-Packard OmniBook 300
19. 2002 Apple iMac, second generation
20. 1996 Gateway 2000 Destination
21. 1998 Alienware Area-51
22. 1993 Hewlett-Packard 100LX
23. 1997 Apple eMate 300
24. 2006 Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV650
25. 1982 Non-Linear Systems Kaypro II