Compaq continued releasing updated models of the Deskpro 386 as newer revisions of the 386 chip were introduced by Intel.

The Deskpro 386 line features the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus identical to that of the IBM Personal Computer/AT.

The highest amount of RAM that Compaq offered in this daughtercard-and-piggyback-card arrangement on the initial release of the Deskpro 386 was 10 MB.

[3]: 138 The Deskpro 386 was developed in large part by Gary Stimac, Compaq's vice president of engineering and the company's fifth employee hired.

Development of the Deskpro 386 was a close collaboration between Compaq, Intel, and Microsoft, who each signed a three-way non-disclosure agreement.

The Deskpro 386 project officially commenced in March 1985, after Intel shared Compaq the first block diagram for the 80386 processor architecture.

Stimac described this diagram as a listing of the 386's new and upgraded features, as well as a schedule of milestones for its development and eventual production runs.

Gates recalled in 1997: A big milestone [in the history of the personal computer industry] was that the folks at IBM didn't trust the 386.

[1]: 1  The Wall Street Journal wrote that, while relatively steep, the prices were set by Compaq "in the lower range of what industry analysts have been predicting such machines would cost".

[7] Journalists latched onto Compaq's status as a compatible maker revising a major component of the IBM Personal Computer de facto standard,[10] with InfoWorld running the headline on the cover page of their September 15, 1986, issue: "Compaq Introduces 386 PC, Challenges IBM to Match It".

[11][12][13] According to The New York Times, the release of the Deskpro 386 established Compaq as the leader of the personal computer industry and "hurt no company more—in prestige as well as dollars—than [IBM]".

Journalist Laton McCartney wrote that the Deskpro 386 was popular among corporate executives and financial analysts who needed number-crunching power.

"[3] Tom Hill of The Ottawa Citizen wrote that the result of its increased processing speed and fast hard drive "is a high-quality, quiet-running personal computer of unmatched performance and potential.

"[21] Writing retrospectively in 2006, PC World called the Deskpro 386 the second greatest personal computer of all time, behind the original Apple II.

[22] Compaq continued releasing updated models of the Deskpro 386 as newer revisions of the 386 chip were introduced by Intel.