The ancient Chinese abacus was the first computing device. Mechanical calculators were first invented in the 1620s but it was in the 1820s when the first one was mass produced by Charles Thomas. The first programmable machine was invented in 1835 by Charles Babbage. Sumlock Comptometer produced the first desktop electronic calculator in the early 1960s and this was the forerunner of the desktop computer. Development on the Digital Electronic computers started in the 1940s but the first commercial one was produced in 1951 by IBM UNIVAC. The cost for one of these machines was over 1 million dollars. The first desktop was released by Intel in 1971. Now all your computing can be done by small hand held devices. More Articles....