The home computer is a consumer-friendly word for the second generation of microcomputers, entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s.
The home computer became affordable for the general public due to the mass production of the silicon chip based microprocessor and as the name indicates, tended to be used in the home rather than in business/industrial contexts (the name also marks the difference from the first generation of microcomputers (from 1974/75 onwards) which catered mostly to engineers and hobbyists with good soldering skills, as they were often sold as kits to be assembled by the customer). The home computer largely died out at the end of the decade or in the early 1990s (in Europe) due to the rise of the IBM PC compatible personal computer (the IBM PC and its clones are not covered in this article).
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