Talk:IBM 608

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A fact from IBM 608 appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 7 May 2010 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the IBM 608, released in December 1957, was the first commercial completely transistorized computer?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2010/May.

Wikipedia

Cost

How much did this computer cost when it was released? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Njk (talk • contribs) 02:22, 7 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

$83,210 [1]. Pcap ping 05:34, 7 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Uhh ..

How is it completely transistorised if it still used ferrite cores for memory and a plugboard? Prolly meant the first with a fully transistorised CPU and like as not that's prolly false too. 72.228.177.92 (talk) 06:23, 7 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Because that what transistorized computer means, according to reliable sources. It does not mean it uses no magnetic technology, or no wires, unless you can find a source taking that view. Unlike today, IBM's marketing at the time called the 608 merely a "calculator", but the ENIAC also had its programs "written" using a plug board, and it's now widely considered a computer. (The article makes it clear that the 608 did not have a stored program, unlike the 7070) I'm not sure how you'd define "transistorized" otherwise: even DRAM uses capacitors, not transistors for actual bit storage. Memory technology can be fairly different. For instance, some high-end IBM 360 models used magnetic film instead of core memory. Pcap ping 16:35, 7 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually there's also these:

The Manchester one became operational in 1953, the Harwell one in 1955.