Specifications and information
| Key Dates: | January, 1975 Announcement (cover of Popular Electronics) April, 1975 General Availability May, 1977 MITS sold to Pertec June, 1978 Altair production discontinued |
| Original Price: | Altair 8800 computer: $439 kit, $621 assembled (includes CPU board,
front panel control board, power supply, and expander board) Expander board (adds 4 slots), $16 kit, $31 assembled 1K static RAM: $97 kit, $139 assembled 2K static RAM: $145 kit, $195 assembled 4K dynamic RAM: $195 kit, $275 assembled SIOA serial interface: $119 kit, $139 assembled PIO parallel interface: $92 kit, $114 assembled Cassette interface: $128 kit, $175 assembled |
| CPU: | S-100 card (MITS Intel 8080 card installed) |
| Memory: | S-100 card (4K RAM installed) |
| Operating System: | CP/M |
| Input/Output: | S-100 card (MITS serial port card) |
| Bus: | S-100 (a.k.a. Altair bus) |
| Other Items in Collection: | Second machine |
| Items Needed: | Disk units |
The MITS Altair 8800 is widely known as the first real personal computer.
| 8800 | 8800a | 8800b | 8800bt | |
| Introduced | January 1975 | October 1976 | August 1976 | October 1977 |
| CPU | 8080 | 8080 | 8080A | 8080A |
| Power Supply | Unspecified | 8 amps | 18 amps | 18 amps |
| Fan | Optional | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Motherboard | 4-slot, expandable | Single-piece 18-slot | Single-piece 18-slot | Single-piece 18-slot |
| Front Panel Switches | Short & round | Long & flat | Long & flat | Only 2 switches |
| Front Panel Connection | Harness | Harness | Edge connectors | Small ribbon cable |