“Before Jobs (and he screwed things up, in my book), computers were for guys with soldering irons, paper tape readers, and lots free time on the weekends.”
I think you are not remembering all of history. There were many computers out at the time the first Apple was released in 1976. The first apple was also not a complete computer and needed additional parts to be a usable computer. Apple was no doubt part of that history but it is not accurate to claim they were the first, the best, or anything better than the rest.
They did have the first complete slick cased PERSONAL computer with a wide appeal. I had the PET and an old S-100 bus, but those were hardly personal computers. Computers, yes. But not PCs.
/johnny