The kind of computers Popular Science was thinking of in 1949 are what we call supercomputers today. They didn't have anything to distinguish it from, so "compu

The kind of computers Popular Science was thinking of in 1949 are what we call supercomputers today. They didn't have anything to distinguish it from, so "computer" was the only term to use. IBM's Watson is powered by 90 of these (according to the wiki): http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/750/index.html http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/750/index.html The datasheet says they weigh 120 pounds. 90 of those would be 10,800 pounds, or 5.4 tons. We're still a bit above the prediction, but I think Watson could be done in 1.5 tons of gear with some more development work focused on that. I'd need to see the Popular Science article, but I doubt they were envisioning a personal computer. They might have been envisioning a community computer though. 1.5 tons would probably be enough for that in terms of a shared file/message board/connectivity supercomputer for a city block's worth of people.