History of Personal Computer The first personal computer took up an entire room. The ENIAC was 1,800 square feet in size and performed only a few basic functions. Modern PCs have greater processing power, which means the user can perform multiple tasks at the same time. Personal computers have changed dramatically since its invention. All in all, personal computers have become cheaper, smaller, and can perform more than one function. First, personal computers cost more than the average household income. During the 1900s there was usually only one member of the family who had a paid job. With the head of the household the only one working, the median household income was $827 a year. The average expense for all purposes was $768, and the average expense caused the price of PCs themselves to be higher than most household incomes at the time. According to Frank of Columbia University, the IBM 610 Auto-Point computer was invented by John Lentz with the help of Bryon Havens and Robert M. Walker during the years 1648-1956 (Lentz). The production price was set at $55,000, or rental at $1,150 per month, $460 academic. So only 180 units were produced. With the manufacturing price so high, not many people could afford to buy one. This caused the computer industry to suffer because people were not flocking to stores to purchase these personal computers. Most personal computers produced initially went to businesses because they were the only ones who could afford to pay the high price. The ENIAC is generally recognized as the first successful high-speed electronic digital computer and was used productively from 1946 to 1955. The ENIAC was built by John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania. It was created to calculate ballistic trajectories for the military. This massive behemoth used 18,000 vacuum tubes and took up 1800 square feet of space along with its cooling system. What initially made the PC so expensive was that every part had to be assembled by hand. At the time there were no machines capable of building them. So the price of the PC was so high that it covered the cost of labor, and ENIAC's bug problem was much more literal than that of today's computers. The moths were attracted to the heat and light of the vacuum tubes and triggered short circuits. From that point on, a "computer bug" meant the hardware had a problem, and "debugging" meant fixing it (Enman). The IBM 610 Auto-Point Computer was the first true personal computer developed for home or business use. According to a former user, Russ Jensen, it consisted of a large cabinet containing a magnetic drum, arithmetic control circuitry, a control panel, and separate paper tape readers and program and data punches (Lentz). Having to clean the inside of a huge computer wasn't easy. Any incorrectly placed piece of metal could ruin your computer. Excessive dust collection on some parts could cause fires inside the computer. Every welded joint had to be inspected for wear. The IBM 610 Auto-Point computer required no air conditioning or special power. According to Columbia University, it was designed in the porthole attic of Columbia University's Watson Lab by John Lentz between 1948 and 1954 as the Personal Automatic Computer (Lentz). Cleaning the operator's keyboard was difficult because it was designed after a typewriter. The complete system weighed 750 pounds, so it had to be moved for cleaning