It's possible to do everything you mentioned, but reality was different in 1985. Minimum hardware requirements for most games was still an 8088 PC @ 4.77Mhz (mediocre performance, 8-bit bus), and the slower IBM PCjr (no DMA chip to do RAM refresh). 286 PCs weren't yet cheap, and the new 386 CPU was super expensive (it was a huge improvement over the 80286).

I think most PCjr games used stock 160x200x16 resolution (320x200x16 required extra RAM). Tandy 1000 users sadly got same PCjr graphics, 16-color CGA (TV/composite) effective resolution is still 160x200. On digital monitors, CGA was 320x200x4 (using ugliest color presets in the galaxy), 320x200x2 or 640x200x2.

EGA cards were initially expensive, hi-rez required VRAM upgrade and pricier monitors. Also, EGA 64-color palette made PC games look like NES, while Amiga games looked like Sega Genesis with their 4,096 color palette.

PC speaker digital audio: volume was too low, extremely distorted. Digger is the only pre-1986 game I can remember doing that.

And, the PC graphics capabilities were: No sprites (other than blinking text cursor), no hardware blitting, slow video I/O (latches), no copper chip (to change video settings at any horizontal interrupt), and no video interrupts (which would have avoided the infamous Turbo button and insane CGA snow).

You're almost right about the best possible CPUs, Apple could have released low end (2 core/4 thread) MacBook Pros with Kaby Lake CPUs, but I don't think marketing would allow it.

Apple only really cares about the immensely profitable iOS devices. The iPad Pro is too close to the price of the abandoned MacBook Air and the forgotten MacBook, and explains why there's no touchscreen and Apple Pen on new Macs.

About release dates, according to ark.intel.com all these CPUs were released in Q3 2015, except the i7-6567U which is still announced for Q3 2015, and the "i7-6660G" doesn't exist, maybe it's the i7-6660U, released in Q1 2016. Kaby Lake CPUs were released in Q3 2016, and you're right, they're the typical 2 core/4 thread i5 and i7's.

I agree that i3/i5/i7 are marketing names, checking CPU specs in Wikipedia or ark.Intel.com is necessary. Most mobile i5/i7 are similar to desktop i3, and in desktops/workstations quickly gets confusing comparing i3/i5/i7 with equivalent Xeon E3, and i7 Extreme with Xeon E5/E7.

It's even worse, it won't run on Macs, and it's only for newer iOS devices running iOS 10.

Well, there's always the educational Microsoft Small Basic (too bad is not C#) and QB64, a remake of QBasic/QuickBasic (even the IDE...) for those who want to see Gorilla.bas and Nibble.bas running in Windows, Linux, Mac and even Android.

Sadly, most people want their laptops, cars with auto transmissions, and 1GB data plans (not even enough for a 90's 56K modem).

I think it's significant that if the Oculus Rift succeed, these GTX 980 laptops will probably be the only ones that meet recommended specs. Also, current nVidias won't take advantage of important DX12 features, so they've been doing things like not overpricing new cards, GameWorks, etc.

Segmented addressing is actually a clever idea for 8-bit (8080/Z80) software compatibility, it's definitely easier that bank switching on 8-bit CPUs (2600 carts, mappers on NES carts, C64 and CoCo RAM/ROM swap, etc.) IBM probably designed the PC as a generic, but superior machine to run 8-bit CP/M software, and compete against Apple ][. Too bad they did not consider improving their '70s 5100 portable computer.

The IBM PC 5150 used CGA and MDA videocards, both used the 6845 text chip. I wonder if you were talking about the IBM 5100...

Or a Beatles song... "Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer came down upon his head. Clang! Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer made sure that he was dead." (I bet the GTX 970 price is definitely hurting AMD).

Even worse is that REP STOS executes a lot slower than corresponding code since Pentium. I agree X86 is horrendous, especially its crazy little-endian. I was unfortunate I already knew 6809 asm: SEX, STD U++, HCF (sign extend, halt and catch fire).

The coincidence is that DynDns stopped offering free service a while ago. Maybe Microsoft made them an offer they couldn't refuse...

Isn't supposed to be Windows 8.22 Step-up? (I wonder if anyone remembers upgrading from MS-DOS 6.0)

The 8MB problem is an Intel firmware bug (older, non-Sandforce controllers). If you don't care about your data, ATA "security erase" can make it usable again. I think I used the DOS-based hdderase, and after a few problems it went through. Intel's DOS-based flash idiotically ignores the SSD because it identifies itself as "BAD_CTX"...

The only programming language available in all web browsers is Javascript, which is horrendously bad for large projects, even Google and Microsoft made languages that generate Javascript code (Dart, Typescript). Another problem is that Javascript code is plain text, offline apps entire code is easy to read (even after de-ofuscating).

Plugin? On iOS, Apple won't ever allow any plug-in that can run its own apps (everything must be from Apple store).

x86 survived because of price/performance caused by fierce competition (Intel, AMD, Cyrix, Rise, Centaur, etc.), and popularity of Windows/DOS. It was fun experiencing how x86 beat faster RISC CPUs (Alpha, PowerPC, Itanium) when there were builds of Windows NT.

Now, people are downgrading to ARM to use their low-power, low-performance portable toys (tablets, smartphones) running inferior operating systems. Sadly, Intel did an horrendous job with the Atom until 2-3 years ago, and Microsoft did even worse releasing the bloated Vista, which was awful for the now-dead netbook market.

Atoms are finally good enough, but still, the absurd 2GB RAM limit, and high power consumption (most Windows tablets can't charge from USB hub or PC) is still not good enough for Windows 8 (the real one, not RT).

And, please don't teach your kids x86 ASM. Modern C++ compilers generate good optimized code, runtime libraries are optimized. Besides, x86 code looks backwards, instruction set origins are from a 1970 terminal! (datapoint 2200), has endianness from hell, few registers, etc.

I agree, it might qualify for non-profit versions of Windows. If Access doesn't qualify, anyway the MS Access Runtime is free. It's the full MS Access, w/o menus or IDE, although all menu options are available from VBA. Access Runtime might work in Wine, but I don't think the EULA allows it.

Besides, porting can be impossible, Access is quite unique: VBA (functions can be called in forms, reports, and even from SQL), Eval() (self-executing code), reporting is unique, Win32 API calls, and, it can automate any other Office application.

...easy to use pogo stick commonly found in workplaces that can automate Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Access. I admit it's an awful programming language, but it's not that far away from PHP (Hack improves it), and Javascript (TypeScript, Dart).

Anyway, US schools have historically used technology as expensive educational toys, not for programming or other useful practical things. BASIC was barely taught in the 80's when it was built-in all micros/PCs, and most computer magazines included program listings, for example, Compute! and Family Computing.