AT, 386, 486 — the beige decade begins

If you grew up with a beige box, this is probably what it was. IBM's AT pushed the platform to 16-bit and brought the basics we still recognize — a real-time clock, larger drives, the ISA bus. Compaq beat IBM to the 386 in 1986. The 486 became the workhorse of the early '90s, and a hundred no-name clone makers shipped them by the pallet. VGA, Sound Blaster, and the modem became standard equipment. The era of the white box reseller had begun.

• 
  1984

  IBM PC AT (model 5170)

  IBM · Intel 80286 @ 6 MHz (later 8 MHz)

  Advanced Technology — IBM's second-generation PC.

• 
  1986

  Compaq Deskpro 386

  Compaq · Intel 80386 DX @ 16 MHz

  Compaq shipped the first 386-based PC seven months before IBM did.

• 
  1987

  IBM PS/2 Model 50

  IBM · Intel 80286 @ 10 MHz

  IBM's attempt to retake the architecture with a proprietary 32-bit bus (Micro Channel Architecture, or MCA) and an all-new chassis design.

• 
  1992

  Generic 486 DX2/66 clone

  Various — Dell, Gateway, AST, no-name shops · Intel 486 DX2 @ 66 MHz (33 MHz bus, doubled internally)

  The archetypal beige tower of the early '90s.