The Hottest-Selling Hardware

By Philip Faflick

A guide to the desktops, at prices from $99 to five figures

Choosing a computer, like selecting a spouse, can be a daunting undertaking. Hundreds of nearly identical models are out there, the packaging can be misleading, and once you make a choice, you are stuck with the family it comes with. The machines listed here, bestsellers in their price ranges, have attracted the largest communities of users, dealers, suppliers, programmers, publishers and writers. In most cases, the manufacturer's list price buys just the computer; a complete system can cost two or three times as much.

Under $1,000

Timex Sinclair 1000 ($99). This tiny toy is good for dipping one's toes into the micro revolution and not much more. It will play video games with boxy, black-and-white graphics and speaks only one language: BASIC. A buttonless "membrane" keyboard is well designed for learning the fundamentals of computer programming, but for written work it is a step down from the old typewriter. With 600,000 sold in 1982 alone, there is sure to be more software on the shelves soon. A more powerful model that speaks child-oriented Logo is expected out this spring.

Commodore VIC-20 ($299). Skillful packaging and aggressive marketing helped make this machine the surprise bestseller of 1982: between 600,000 and 1 million sold. The VIC has the only cut-rate keyboard suitable for touch typing, and when hooked up to a $110 telephone modem, it becomes an inexpensive electronic mail terminal. There have been software shortages, but more programs are being written to meet the new demand. The Commodore 64, a $595 version that packs the memory capacity of some machines three times its price, arrived late in 1982 and could be a big seller in 1983.

Atari 400 and 800 ($299 and $899). With 256 colors, four separate sound generators and built-in "missile graphics," the Ataris are the machines of choice for game players and game writers. The 800 has a keyboard suitable for touch typing, but writers would do well to look elsewhere for a first-rate word processor. Nearly 200,000 Atari 800s were shipped in 1982 and some 400,000 model 400s.

Texas Instruments 99/4A ($450). The sleeper of the year. In 1978, when it retailed for $1,100, it was a market failure of historic proportions. The company upgraded the keyboard, hired Bill Cosby to do its commercials and drastically cut prices. Sales exploded. T.I. shipped 530,000 in 1982, and at year's end was selling nearly 150,000 a month. Software has been slow to come, but now there is a generous supply of high-quality educational programs, and, for $380 extra, owners can get a spritely version of Logo. More will follow. With sales spurting, program writers say they are giving the machine a second look.

Epson HX-20 ($795). Although this book-size portable computer arrived late in the year, it is probably the hottest new machine in its class, shipping 7,500 copies in its first month on the market. It packs into one handy 4-lb. package a full-size keyboard, a screen that displays four lines of text, a cash-register-type printer, a microcassette tape drive and more built-in memory than any comparably priced machine. Its Japanese manufacturers say their intention was to "stand America on its ear." U.S. experts say they may have done just that.

TRS-80 Model III ($999). Back in 1978, Radio Shack, Commodore and Apple had the field to themselves, and Tandy-Radio Shack, with its nationwide chain of retail outlets, had more of the field than anyone else. A sturdy word-and number-crunching machine, the "Trash-80," as it is affectionately known, seemed to have a lock on the corner computer market. By year's end there were 300,000 Model Ills in place. But the company has been overtaken by less stodgy competitors, and last year Tandy's share of the mid-range market fell from 13% to 10%.

$1,000 10 $2,000

Apple II Plus ($1,330). The hardy bestseller of the late '70s is also the hardy bestseller of the early '80s: 700,000 have been sold; 270,000 in 1982 alone. With so many cheaper and more sophisticated machines available, why does the Apple II still hold the biggest slice of the $1,000-to-$2,000 pie? Software. More programs are available for this six-year-old machine than for any other single computer, some 16,000 in all. Also more user groups, more space in the computer magazines, more plug-in expansion units, more peripheral devices. It used to be that when something was done on a microcomputer, it was done first on an Apple II. Today IBM, Commodore and Atari are changing that.

IBM Personal Computer ($1,565). The top executive's Apple, this is the machine that put the stamp of corporate legitimacy on the computer revolution, and it quickly set industry standards in everything from operating systems to its no-nonsense instruction manuals. Although other machines have sold in greater quantities, the IBM is the computer of the year. Introduced in August 1981, nearly 200,000 were shipped in the past twelve months, winning it 17% of the market for mid-range machines. Already 1,000 programs are available for the PC, including games. Though IBM discourages using its machine as a toy (it charges $300 extra for color graphics), software programmers are busily translating all manner of playtime activities to run on the IBM PC.

Osborne 1 ($1,795). The first of the sewing machine-size portable computers, the Osborne 1 squeezes into a 24-lb. package a video monitor, a pair of disc drives and the two programs indispensable to businessmen: financial forecasting and word processing. Despite its eye-straining 5-in. screen, 55,000 Osborne 1 models were sold in 1982, bringing the total number shipped to nearly 100,000.

Over $2,000

Only growing small businesses and big corporate clients are likely to go after these computers, known in the trade as "professional work stations" and designed to hang at the branches of a network of similar machines. Price tags range as high as $10,000; Altos, Corvus, Control Data, Cromemco, Digital Equipment, Fortune, Hewlett-Packard, Nippon Electric, North Star, Olivetti, TeleVideo, Toshiba, Vector, Victor, Xerox and Zenith are among the biggest names in this upscale but increasingly crowded field. Even proletarian Apple is joining the crowd with its long-awaited Apple IV (code-named Lisa), due to be unveiled in mid-January. Lisa's probable price range: somewhere between $7,000 and $10,000. The Apple V (code-named Mackintosh), on the other hand, due out in mid-1983 and priced around $2,000, could be a true mass-market machine.

--By Philip Faflick. Reported by Robert T. Grieves/New York

With reporting by Robert T. Grieves This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.