Why is computer called personal computer?

Answer 1

Not all computers are called personal computers.

A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator.

It is called a personal computer because, it uses a micro-chip.

Answer 2

Originally because electronics hobbyists that had used computers either at school or on a job wanted to expand their hobby to include computers and suddenly the newly introduced microprocessor IC made it affordable to build a real computer that would be small enough to keep at home so they would not need to rent office space to house their hobby computer. This happened in the early 1970s.

I was one of these electronics hobbyists and spent the last 6 months of my senior year of high school helping my electronics instructor after school assemble a MITS Altair 8800 kit... we had still not finished it when I graduated and had to leave for college. I had a 30 year career testing, repairing, and ultimately designing Military Avionics boxes that typically contained 6 to 12 custom designed microcomputers each. Today my home computer system includes 9 computers (4 Mac, 3 Linux, 2 PC), 3 printers (1 laser, 2 inkjet), a tablet, 3 Ethernet switches, and a dual band WiFi router. I never did get to design and build from the logic gates up that computer I hoped to do when I started college, the technology just raced right past me.

It was not until the early 1980s that improved commercial personal computers were developed that were ready to go out of the box and the middle 1990s before these computers and suitable operating systems were developed that an average person without special training could do useful things on them.

This is not all that different from the automobile, which was invented in the 1880s but was only usable by mechanical hobbyists or the very wealthy that could hire a mechanic to travel with them everywhere to keep repairing the frequent failures. It was not until improved models were introduced in the 1920s that an average person could expect to own and operate a car.

Answer 3

personal computer

for use in the home
as opposed to a business computer
for use at work.