The history of the desktop computer industry provides another valuable example of technological change and general equilibrium. Although IBM introduced their first personal computer in August, 1981 it was five years before IBM's share of new desktop computer sales exceeded 50%. (Before the IBM PC desktop computers were called microcomputers.) Before 1980 there were two categories of desktop computers: the Apple II and a number of companies producing computers that used Z-80 CPU chips and ran an operating system called CP/M. Prices were high; in terms of today's desktop computing power, the price might as well have approached infinity. (A typical computer with a 4.7 mhz CPU, 64K of memory and a 5 megabyte hard drive could easily cost $10,000. The Morrow Decision I is a good example of such machines.) In 1981 desktop computer shipments totaled 780,000; the installed base was 1,740,000. By 1992 shipments were 10,103,000 and the installed base was 63,045,000 (Campbell-Kelly, 2001, p. 112). Technological change and steeply falling component prices were the main engines of this growth.

Please create an a infographic that answers the following: Search the internet to see if you can find the price of a Morrow Decision I today. What other companies made desktop computers before 1980? Provide examples. Why has the cost of desktop computers dropped over the decades? (A visit to the web site of the Computer History Museum,http://www.computerhistory.org, will be helpful.)