Philips Computers

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Philips Telecommunicatie en Informatie Systemen (Philips Computers) was a subsidiary of Philips that designed and manufactured personal computers. [1] [2] Philips Computers was active from 1963 through 1992. [3] Before that, Philips produced three computers between 1953 and 1956, all for internal use, PETER, STEVIN, and PASCAL. [4]

Contents

Philips Computers was mostly known for its pioneer work in optical devices (through a separate subsidiary: LMSI). Philips computers were also sold under the Magnavox brand in North America. Two instances of Philips Computers products sold under other brands are known to date.

Philips computers were coupled with Philips monitors. Philips had far more success selling its monitors than its computers. Philips monitors continue being designed, produced and sold globally contemporaneously. Philips also had and has moderate success selling peripherals such as mice, keyboards and optical devices. Philips also sold and sells computer media such as diskettes and optical media (CD)s.

Philips also developed the CD-i standard but it flopped. Another experimental product was the Philips :YES, based on Intel's 80186. It also flopped.

Philips PCs were mostly equipped with motherboards designed by Philips Home Electronics in Montreal, Canada. [5]

In the late 1990s Philips Pentium PCs were sold based on generic components and cases. These were not proprietarily designed and produced.

Philips had a subsidiary that sold the PCs under the Vendex brand: HeadStart. [6] These systems were actively marketed in certain markets through Vendex. These systems were on display in the now defunct warehouse chain Vroom & Dreesmann in the Netherlands. Some HeadStart PCs were manufactured in South Korea by Samsung and monitors by Daewoo. [7]

In the 2000s Philips briefly introduced a handheld PC: the Velo.

Products

Philips P2000C P2000C assembled.jpg
Philips P2000C
Philips P2000T Philips P2000T.jpg
Philips P2000T

P 20 series (Z80 CPU)

P 21 series (8088 CPU)

P 22 series (286 CPU)

P 31 series (8088 CPU)

Philips P 3103 Philips P3103.jpg
Philips P 3103

P 32 series (286 CPU)

P 33 series (386 CPU)

Philips P 3361 Philips P 3361.jpg
Philips P 3361

P 34 series (486 CPU)

MSX compatible

Philips VG-8000 Philips VG 8000-00 MSX computer (RetroMadrid 2017).jpg
Philips VG-8000
Philips VG-8010 Philips VG-8010.jpg
Philips VG-8010
MSX Philips VG-8020 MSX Philips VG8020.jpg
MSX Philips VG-8020

Philips was supported of the MSX standard, and released many MSX1 and MSX2 computers, with different hardware and expansions like monitors, printers and mice. [12] They also introduced the MSX-AUDIO standard to the MSX with the NMS-1205 Music Module, and video editing with the NMS-8280. [12]

MSX2 compatible

Philips VG-8235 MSX2 Philips VG-8235 MSX2.jpg
Philips VG-8235 MSX2
Philips NMS-8250 PIC 0458 Philips NMS8250 MSX2.JPG
Philips NMS-8250
Philips NMS-8280 Philips NMS-8280 total.jpg
Philips NMS-8280

NMS series

PCD series (with CD-ROM)

PCL series (notebook computers)

Magnavox

Philips Internal Reference (not sold)

Third Parties

Vendex HeadStart

Monitors – Magnavox / Philips

These monitors were sold / shipped with Magnavox / Philips PCs:

Monitors – Vendex

These monitors were sold / shipped with Vendex PCs:

Peripherals

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