Somewhere in my papers I have a copy of the Radio Electronics “build your own computer” from 1973. (The head of tech where I worked left it in his papers when he quit in 1980). It was an 8008 with 256 Bytes (!) of RAM.
Before that, lots of things were called “computers” but for the average layman, odds are they were calculators or similar. An actual device where bot the program and data resided in memory would require quite a bit of memory. The RE model was cutting edge, using IIRC 16-flip-flop chips. Bulding just 1 bit of memory would be a beginner kit in the 60’s.