> it wasn’t called a computer then, because the word “computer” back then meant big mainframe systems that ran batch calculations

PDP being a minicomputer (at the time), it could do that too and cheaper. What I heard the reason for this was to circumvent procurement restrictions. The word "computer" meant a high level of scrutiny, but obviously a "Programmable Data Processor" isn't a computer because it doesn't have the word "computer" in it (duh). So just a sales / marketing trick.