Ambra Computer Corporation

Ambra Computer Corporation was a subsidiary of IBM. Created by Dr Richard Greame Ambra, it introduced a line of personal computers targeted at the home user, sold mainly through mail-order, first in Europe (1992), then in the USA (1993). Ambra had a volume production run of just a year or so; the line was discontinued in 1994 in favor of the IBM Aptiva (except for Canada, where it was not discontinued until 1996).

Ambra Computer Corporation

Logo used from 1992 to 1994
Industry	Personal computers
Founded	1992 (1992)
Defunct	1994 (1994) (worldwide) 1996 (Canada)
Parent	IBM

Models

Ambra 486 Sprinta used by Linus Torvalds from 1993-1994.

• 386
• 486
• Achiever 2000
• Achiever 3000
• Achiever 4000
• Achiever 5000
• Achiever 7000
• Achiever 9000
• Achiever D
• Achiever DP
• Achiever S
• Achiever T
• Achiever Anthem
• Achiever Hurdla/Sprinta
• Notebook
• Ispirati (Canada)

Positioning

Ambra PCs were generally positioned at the low-end of the market, and made use of their ties with IBM in marketing materials in order to make the machines appear better quality than the host of clones, since 'real' IBM PCs were known to be expensive. In reality the machines were fairly low specification, having shadow-mask screens, minimal onboard peripherals, and using low-end processors with the minimum memory and hard disk size at each price.

Television advertising for the brand in the UK used the slogan: "Take your mind for a run."

Aesthetics

The machines were coloured off-white, which was unusual at the time, since most machines were beige. Generally the cases were compact and offered little room for expansion.

An Ambra mouse, showing its unusual front-button placement

One notable aspect was the original Ambra mouse, which differed from almost all other designs in the position of its buttons. Conventional mice have the buttons on top: the user clicks by pressing down. The Ambra mouse had the buttons on the front, either side of the cable: the user clicked by pulling their finger backward, in a manner similar to squeezing a trigger. Criticisms led to Ambra changing to a more conventional design: one UK magazine review described the mouse as "looking like a torture device."

Timeline

Timeline of the IBM Personal Computer
<timeline>DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy Define $start = 01/01/1975 Define $end = 12/31/2005 Period = from:$start till:$end Define $skip = at:end # Force a blank line Define $dayunknown = 15 # what day to use if it's actually not known ImageSize= width:800 height:auto barincrement:21 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:20 bottom:75 top:5 Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:1 Colors = id:bg value:white id:line value:rgb(1,0,0) id:lightline value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.8) id:lightline2 value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) id:aio value:rgb(1,0.8,0.8) legend:All-in-one id:desk value:rgb(0.8,1,0.8) legend:Desktop id:laptop value:rgb(0.8,1,1) legend:Laptop id:portable value:rgb(0.8,0.8,1) legend:Portable id:special value:rgb(1,0.8,1) legend:Various id:current value:rgb(0.85,0.85,0.85) legend:Ongoing id:start value:green legend:Original_IBM_PC_released id:spinoff value:orange legend:IBM_PC_division_made_autonomous_unit id:end value:black legend:Lenovo_acquires_IBM_PC_division BackgroundColors = canvas:bg ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lightline unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1975 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightline2 unit:month increment:3 start:01/01/1975 BarData = Barset:ibm LineData = layer:back color:start at:08/12/1981 #IBM PC released layer:back color:spinoff at:09/03/1992 #IBM PC business spun off layer:back color:end at:05/05/2005 #Lenovo acquisition finalized PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black barset:ibm shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s color:portable from:09/01/1975 till:03/01/1982 text:"5100" color:portable from:01/01/1978 till:03/01/1982 text:"5110" color:aio from:01/02/1980 till:03/01/1982 text:"5120" color:aio from:01/01/1981 till:01/01/1985 text:"System/23 Datamaster" color:desk from:08/12/1981 till:04/02/1987 text:"Personal Computer" color:desk from:03/01/1983 till:04/02/1987 text:"5550*" color:desk from:03/08/1983 till:06/30/1987 text:"Personal Computer XT" color:desk from:10/01/1983 till:07/01/1987 text:"3270 PC" color:desk from:10/01/1983 till:04/02/1987 text:"Personal Computer XT/370" color:portable from:02/01/1984 till:04/01/1986 text:"Portable Personal Computer" color:desk from:03/01/1984 till:03/19/1985 text:"PCjr" color:desk from:04/25/1984 till:01/01/1994 text:"Industrial Computer" color:desk from:08/14/1984 till:07/31/1987 text:"Personal Computer AT" color:desk from:10/01/1984 till:04/02/1987 text:"Personal Computer AT/370" color:desk from:10/29/1984 till:09/14/1987 text:"JX*" color:laptop from:04/02/1986 till:08/07/1989 text:"PC Convertible" color:desk from:09/01/1986 till:10/01/1987 text:"Personal Computer XT 286" barset:break color:special from:04/01/1987 till:07/01/1995 text:"PS/2" color:special from:04/01/1987 till:12/31/2001 text:"PS/55*" color:desk from:01/01/1990 till:01/01/1994 text:"PS/1" color:laptop from:12/01/1991 till:08/03/1993 text:"PCradio" color:special from:01/01/1992 till:01/01/1996 text:"Ambra" color:laptop from:03/01/1992 till:03/01/1994 text:"PS/note" color:aio from:04/01/1992 till:01/01/1996 text:"EduQuest" color:laptop from:10/01/1992 till:05/05/2005 text:"ThinkPad" color:desk from:10/01/1992 till:07/01/1995 text:"PS/ValuePoint" color:desk from:09/01/1994 till:05/01/2001 text:"Aptiva" color:desk from:10/01/1994 till:10/01/2000 text:"PC Series" color:laptop from:09/01/1995 till:06/01/1999 text:"Palm Top PC 110*" color:special from:04/01/2000 till:01/01/2003 text:"NetVista" color:special from:01/01/2003 till:05/05/2005 text:"ThinkCentre" barset:break $skip $skip $skip $skip $skip $skip $skip color:current from:05/05/2005 till:12/31/2005 $skip $skip $skip $skip $skip color:current from:05/05/2005 till:12/31/2005 </timeline>
Asterisk (*) denotes a model released in Japan only

See also

• Acquisition of the IBM PC business by Lenovo