High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The NCR 304, introduced in 1957, was National Cash Register (NCR)'s first transistor-based computer. The 304 was developed and manufactured in cooperation with General Electric. Its follow-on was the NCR 315. Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century (1940 1945). These were the size of a large room, consuming as much power as several hundred modern personal computers (PCs).