The Tandy 5000 MC

On April 21, 1988, Tandy announced plans to introduce the Tandy 5000 MC, a clone of IBM’s second-generation PC, the PS/2. The Tandy 5000 MC was the first to take advantage of IBM’s decision to license key PC technology patents, which opened the door for PC clones to flood the marketplace and eventually outsell IBM.

A 37-minute Tandy 5000 MC corporate video produced for internal use is available on YouTube and features an interesting (albeit slanted) history of the 1980s PC market, complete with chess-themed graphics. During the press conference, Tandy Chairman John Roach said: “Not only is the Tandy 5000 MC the most powerful personal computer we’ve ever offered, but it is also a very unique product containing a combination of features never offered before in a compact desktop computer by a major manufacturer.” The machine featured two megabytes of RAM that could be expanded to 16 MB. The computer’s five expansion slots could accommodate memory transfers from IBM products… read more >