Personal System/2 Model 60

A PS/2 Model 60 withtape drive
Developer	International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)
Manufacturer	IBM
Product family	Personal System/2
Type	Desktop computer
Release date	April 2, 1987; 38 years ago (1987-04-02)
Lifespan	1987–1990
Discontinued	October 1990 (1990-10)
Media	1.44 MB 3.5-in floppy disks
CPU	Intel 80286 at 10 MHz
Memory	1 MB – 7 MB
Storage	44–70 MB hard drive
Graphics	Video Graphics Array
Power	120/240 VAC ～
Predecessor	Personal Computer AT
Successor	IBM PS/2 Model 65 SX
Related	List of IBM PS/2 models

ThePersonal System/2 Model 60 is a high-end desktop computer inIBM'sPersonal System/2 (PS/2) family of personal computers. First released in April 1987, the Model 60 features anIntel 80286 processor running at aclock speed of 10 MHz, the same as its midrange counterpart, thePersonal System/2 Model 50. Unlike the Model 50, the Model 60 was built into atower case and featured four more 16-bitMCA expansion slots and an additionaldrive bay. The Model 60 was IBM's first Intel-based PC built into a tower form factor and was influential in popularizing towers incomputer case design.

IBM followed up the Model 60 with the 32-bitPersonal System/2 Model 80, featuring ani386 processor with eight 32-bit MCA slots, in late 1987; and directly replaced the Model 60 with thePersonal System/2 Model 65 SX, featuring ani386SX and eight 16-bit MCA slots (same as the Model 60), in early 1990. Both the Model 80 and Model 65 feature identical tower cases to the Model 60. IBM withdrew the Model 60 in October 1990.

The PS/2 Model 60 was introduced on April 2, 1987, alongside the lower-endModel 30 and the midrangeModel 50. Both the PS/2 Model 60 and the Model 50 featured identicalIntel 80286 processors clocked at 10 MHz and served as the public market introduction ofVideo Graphics Array (VGA) andMicro Channel architecture (MCA). MCA was a proprietarybus standard designed by IBM to replace the agingIndustry Standard Architecture (ISA) first used in their earlierIBM PCs, while VGA was an upgraded graphics standard for IBM's PCs and compatibles, supporting higher resolutions and greater color bit depth. Unlike the Model 50, the Model 60 built into atower computer case and featured four additional 16-bitMCA expansion slots as well as an additionaldrive bay.^[1] Because of the Model 60's increased potential for connectivity and multitasking, technology journalists envisioned the PS/2 Model 60 as a multiuser machine.^[2]

The Model 60 was originally available in two configurations: one with a 44-MB,ST-506hard disk drive, for US$5,295; and another with a 70-MB hard drive and a fasterESDI disk interface, for $6,295. This compared to $3,595 for the midrange Model 50.^{[3]: 137 [4]} Owing to its relatively slowDRAM, rated for 125-ns access times, the original Model 60 insertswait states for every memory access operation, leading to compromised performance compared to 286-class machines with an equivalent clock speed but faster RAM. This same issue also plagued the original Personal System/2 Model 50, which IBM corrected with theModel 50 Z in 1988.^[5] The Model 60 continued to have the same slow RAM chips throughout its existence, however.^[6]

On March 20, 1990, IBM introduced the PS/2 Model 65 SX, featuring the cost-reducedi386SX processor by Intel clocked at 16 MHz. Internally, the i386SX supports 32-bit operations, but its data bus could only access RAM 16 bits at a time. Because of this, the Model 65 SX contains only 16-bit MCA slots, exactly like the Model 60. The Model 65 SX upgraded the on-board disk controller toSCSI from ESDI and had faster on-board memory chips and support for 1 MB more of RAM, however.^[7][8] The Model 65 SX directly replaced the Model 60, the final units of which rolled off the line atIBM's factory in Boca Raton in October 1990.^[9]

The Model 60 was initially manufactured at IBM's facility inBoca Raton, Florida. Compared to other models in the PS/2 line, the Model 60 was a slow seller; by July 1987, the Boca Raton factory was producing only 800 Model 60s daily, compared to 1,000 Model 50s.^[10] The Model 60 continued to sell poorly throughout its three year lifespan; by January 1990, it was the worst selling PS/2 in the entire line-up, IBM shipping fewer units per month than even the more-expensivePS/2 Model 80.^[11] In early 1989, IBM moved manufacturing of the Model 60 from Boca Raton toRaleigh, North Carolina, after shutting down their production lines reserved for computer systems in Boca Raton.^[12]

In a longform review inPC Magazine, journalist Winn L. Rosch concluded that the Model 60 was priced out for customers wanting to use the machine in a single-user configuration for simple applications, the added expansion slots over the Model 50 "[not] very useful considering all the features packed onto the Model 60 system board". For multiuser and high-loadfile server applications, however, Rosch concluded that the Model 60 "will serve well".^[3]: 148 Of the computer's graphical performance,InfoWorld's Steve Satchell wrote that the "Model 60's video performance is nothing less than astounding", representing the first time the magazine had reviewed a PC where components of a windowing system were drawn instantly on screen instead of being painted slowly.^[13]: 65 On the whole, despite several reservations about high price and serviceability, Satchell concluded: "The bottom line is that the Model 60's great performance balances these uncertainties, resulting in a satisfactory value".^[13]: 67

Although a poor seller, the PS/2 Model 60 (as well as the Model 80) started the trend of computer manufacturers offeringPC compatibles in optional tower form factors. By May 1988, over a dozen companies were selling desktops in a tower form factor at that year'sComdex, according toThe New York Times.^[14] By the mid-1990s, tower computers had overtaken traditional horizontal desktop cases in terms of sales.^[15]

In July 1987,^[16] IBM shipped thePS/2 Model 80, their first personal computer with the 32-biti386 processor, in an identical tower case to the Model 60.^[4] Unlike the Model 60, the Model 80 features several 32-bit MCA slots, allowing the computer to take full advantage of the most advanced Micro Channel cards on the market. IBM sold the Model 80 alongside the Model 60 for several years.^[17]

The 6152 Academic System was aworkstation computer developed by IBM's Academic Information Systems (ACIS) division for the university market introduced in February 1988. The 6152 was based on the PS/2 Model 60, adding a RISC Adapter Card on the Micro Channel bus. This card was a co-processor that enabled the 6152 to runROMP software compiled for IBM'sAcademic Operating System (AOS), a version ofBSD UNIX for the ROMP that was only available to select colleges and universities.^[18]

The RISC Adapter Card contained the ROMP-C microprocessor (an enhanced version of the ROMP that first appeared in theIBM RT PC workstations), amemory management unit (the ROMP hadvirtual memory), afloating-pointcoprocessor, and up to 8 MB of memory for use by the ROMP.^[19] The 6152 was the first computer to use the ROMP-C, which would later be introduced in new RT PC models.^[20]: 19

• Computer-related introductions in 1987
• IBM PS/2

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