I know I keep pushing the boundary of vintage lately but I wanted to report to those who care that I finally got my hands on a 1993 Compaq 5/60M - this is "a if not the" first desktop computer with a Pentium processor installed stock. it was the 1993 "dream machine - $9000+ It had an EISA bus and was otherwise a 486 system with a Pentium controller card, not on the motherboard. Pentium computers' contribution to the WWW era vintage is extremely significant.
Pentium killed the minicomputer, or at a minimum merged into it, if you ask me. The interplay between DEC/Compaq/HP/Intel 1992-1995 culminating into the launch of Pentium processor systems is vital to understanding the WWW era of computing. How these companies worked or did not work together and how the Pentium vs. the Alpha processor came to be...a good tale of woe and $$. For those interested: Compaq 5/60: http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=612 I have a bunch of articles to post on my site related to the first Pentium desktops which I will do asap. Bill P.S. while we're on this off-sh topic I also posted some photos of a Digital 486 laptop, DEC had a 486 laptop before it was absorbed by Compaq. 1994. Not really noteworthy other than the Digital name http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=613 P.S.S. and related to Pentium and DEC ... here is one of DEC's early (but not the first) Pentium machine http://vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=585
