1. Xerox Alto, 1973

The Alto introduced the world to computers built around a graphical user interface (GUI), instead of the norm of command line up until that point, a decade before GUIs went mass market. It filled a small cabinet, had a three-button mouse, a portrait monitor, 2.5MB of storage, a 5.88MHz processor, cost thousands of dollars and only about 2,000 were ever produced, but it was the future of desktop computing.

2. IBM Personal Computer, 1981

The computer that kickstarted the whole third-party revolution of ‘IBM compatible’ accessories, the IBM Personal Computer was the first computer to be officially named a PC. Despite having its own superior parts and operating system, IBM uncharacteristically used Intel’s 8088 processor, off-the-shelf parts and Microsoft’s DOS, and in doing so left its PC open.Its overnight success prompted an explosion of compatible software, hardware and peripherals leaving everything else in its wake, spawning the burgeoning PC industry.

3. BBC Micro, 1981

Another significant computer released in 1981 was a different kind of success to IBM’s PC. The BBC Microcomputer System was made by the Acorn Computer company, which later became ARM – the designer of most processors in mobile devices.The Micro was part of the BBC’s Computer Literacy Project, accompanied by BBC 2’s The Computer Programme. A government subsidy and rugged, expandable design meant 80% of British schools had a Micro, leading to a generation of programmers being taught on its advanced BASIC operating system.

4. Apple Macintosh, 1984

The forbearer to Apple’s entire Mac line of computers, the Macintosh was the company’s first mass-market computer, an all-in-one proceeding the iMac and many other computers built around a screen. Like the Apple Lisa, it had a GUI and mouse, and found success in education and publishing.Conceived in 1979 by Jef Raskin, named after his favourite Apple the McIntosh with an alternate spelling to avoid trademark issues, it was taken over by Apple founder Steve Jobs in 1981 and launched with the $1.5m Ridley Scott-directed 1984 Super Bowl XVI advert.

5. Big beige box

There was a lot of innovation within the computer industry in the 80s and 90s – the CD ROM, the 3.5in floppy, the Zip drive and even the Pentium – but they were all fitted into boring beige boxes spawned by IBM’s PC and third-party compatible competitors. They were great if you could hide them under a desk. They were modular and they could be as expensive or as reasonably priced as your specifications required and without them we wouldn’t have the powerful, small and good-looking computers of today. Here’s to the big beige box.

6. IBM ThinkPad, 1992

The ultimate in workhorse laptops, the IBM ThinkPad made business machines portable. Launched in April 1992, it started life as a PenPoint tablet, with laptop models launching later that year. They first included the TrackPoint – the bright red pointing stick known as a ‘nipple’ – so they could be used on an airline tray without a mouse.Simple in design and durable, it was even sent into space on the Shuttle. We had the ThinkPad to thank for things like motion-parking hard drive heads to prevent damage upon dropping and fingerprint readers on computers.

7. Apple iMac, 1998

The iMac G3 was Apple’s reinvention of its Mac line, spearheaded by later-to-be head designer Jony Ive. It ditched floppy disks for USB ports, was overseen by the recently returned CEO Steve Jobs and was a key turning point in the company’s recovery.The iMac, with its bright colours, plastic case and focus on user experience out of the box, helped bring the reign of the beige box to an end. Computers were now another sector of the consumer electronics industry.

8. MacBook Air, 2008

The MacBook Air was pulled from a manila envelope on stage at Macworld in January 2008 by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs as his ‘one more thing’, to gasps of astonishment. It wasn’t a great computer, with thermal problems, tiny 80GB PATA hard drive (similar to the one used in the iPod) and small battery, but it pushed the boundaries of what people thought was possible and created the ultrabook category, which reigns supreme over the laptop market to this day.

9. Chromebook, 2011

Google’s new operating system and computer concept was launched with models from Samsung and Acer, and built around its Chrome browser, a sort of thin-client for the 21st century. And ChromeOS was the first computer system not running Apple or Microsoft software to really take off.It’s technically Linux-based, but consumers didn’t need to know their KDE from their GNOME. It was just a browser. Now it’s got Android apps too, and as a cheap but good computer, it’s made in-roads into the market previously dominated by netbooks.

10. Microsoft Surface, 2012

As Apple did for the ultrabook, Microsoft’s Surface did for the 2-in-1 PC. The Surface launched with Windows RT and didn’t sell well, but follow-ups ran full Windows and showed that PCs could be laptop-tablet hybrids, spawning a new category of PCs.After small successes with the Surface Pro line, Microsoft expanded the tablet-come-laptop range into the laptop-come-tablet Surface Book with detachable screen, and recently the Surface Studio, a much larger all-in-one desktop PC.