Intel's 4004 Microprocessor Turns 40 126
harrymcc writes "On November 15th 1971, Intel introduced the 4004 — the first single-chip microprocessor. Its offspring, needless to say, went on to change the world. But first, Intel tried using the 4004 in a bunch of products that were interesting but often unsuccessful — like a pinball machine, an electronic vote-counting machine, and Wang's first word processor. Technologizer's Benj Edwards is celebrating the anniversary with an illustrated look back at this landmark chip." Here's another nostalgic look back at V3.co.uk, and one at The Inquirer. And an anonymous reader points out another at ExtremeTech, from which comes this snippet: "Designed by the fantastically-forenamed Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, and Stanley Mazor, the 4004 was a 4-bit, 16-pin microprocessor that operated at a mighty 740KHz — and at roughly eight clock cycles per instruction cycle (fetch, decode, execute), that means the chip was capable of executing up to 92,600 instructions per second. We can’t find the original list price, but one source indicates that it cost around $5 to manufacture, or $26 in today’s money."
Who could ever need more than 740KHz? (Score:4, Funny)
Oh wait, that was something else...
Re:Who could ever need more than 740KHz? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Um, First? (Score:3, Funny)
You would have been if your computer didn't run a 4004 microprocessor.
Re:Programmable Calculator (Score:4, Funny)
Yes, he does. Her name is Radio Shack EC-4004.