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Minicomputers & Workstations

Xerox Star

The first commercial personal computer built around a bitmapped display, windows, icons and a mouse, introduced on April 27, 1981.

Xerox introduced the Star 8010 Information System on April 27, 1981. A basic system cost about $75,000, and each added workstation cost $16,000.

David Canfield Smith invented the computer icon and the desktop metaphor. A user clicked objects with the mouse and used dedicated keys to open, delete, copy and move them. The base machine had 384 KB of memory, a hard drive, a floppy drive, a mouse and Ethernet.

Why it matters

The Star was the first commercial computer to include features that later became standard, such as a bitmapped display, windows, icons and Ethernet.

Key facts

  • Introduced April 27, 1981.
  • About $75,000 for a basic system.
  • Icons and the desktop metaphor invented by David Canfield Smith.
  • 384 KB memory, expandable to 1.5 MB.
  • Built on research from the Xerox Alto.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, "Xerox Star", en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Star, accessed October 14, 2026.
  2. Wikipedia, "Xerox PARC", en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_PARC, background reading, accessed October 14, 2026.