Photos: BBC Micro, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC 464 and more - the machines that defined British computing

Hardware

Photos: BBC Micro, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC 464 and more – the machines that defined British computing

By Nick Heath February 26, 2015, 2:14 AM PST

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Photos: BBC Micro, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC 464 and more – the machines that defined British computing

Acorn BBC Micro

Image: Stuart Brady

Acorn BBC Micro

Launched: 1981

Specs: 2MHz 8-bitrnprocessor MOS Technology 6502 processor, and came with 16KB to 32KBrnof memory. In most instances loaded programs from tape, floppy disc.rnSupport for 640u00d7256, two colour display.

Price: Model Arnu00a3235

Image: Stuart Brady

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Image: Gamespot

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Launched:1982

Specs: 8-bitrnZilog Z80 processor, 16KB or 48KB of RAM and 16KB of ROM. 256 x 192rnresolution display of up to eight colours. Software ran from tapes orrnfloppy discs.

Price: u00a3125

Image: Gamespot

Grundy NewBrain

Image: The National Museum of Computing / http://www.tnmoc.org

Grundy NewBrain

Launched:1982

Specs:4MHz Zilogrn80A, 24KB RAM. Output display to TV or monitor. Model AD had a onernline 16-character fluorescent display built into the keyboard. Ablernto drive 640 x 256 display.

Price:u00a3199

Image: The National Museum of Computing / http://www.tnmoc.org

Jupiter Ace

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Jupiter Ace

Launched: 1982

Specs: 3.85 MHzrnZilog Z80, 3KB RAM, up to 256u00d7192 graphics and storage via externalrncassette tape.

Price: u00a389.95

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Dragon 32 and 64

Image: John Robertson / The National Museum of Computing

Dragon 32 and 64

Launched: 1982

Specs: 0.89 MZrnMotorola MC6809E processor, 8-bit CPU with limited 16-bitrncapabilities, 32KB or 64KB of memory.

Price: From u00a3199

Image: John Robertson / The National Museum of Computing

Camputer Lynx

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Camputer Lynx

Launched: End ofrn1982 / 1983

Specs: 4MHz Z80ArnCPU, from 48KB of RAM and a Motorola 6845 as video controller.rnOptional 5.25″ floppy disk-drive available for higher speccedrnmodels.

Price: u00a3225

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Memotech MTX

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Memotech MTX

Launched: 1983

Specs: 4MHz ZilogrnZ80 A CPU, 32KB u2013 128KB of RAM capable of driving a display with arnresolution of up to 256 x 192 with 16 colours.

Price: From u00a3275

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Acorn Electron

Image: Rupert Goodwins / ZDNet

Acorn Electron

Launched: 1983

Specs: MOSrnTechnology 6502A CPU clocked at 1MHz when accessing ROM andrn1MHZ/0.5897Mz when accessing RAM, 32KB of RAM. Support for up to 640rnx 200 resolution display with 2 colours. Loaded programs fromrncassette with optional floppy disk add-on.

Price:u00a3175

Image: Rupert Goodwins / ZDNet

Oric

Image: Nick Heath / ZDNet

Oric

Launched: 1983

Specs: 1MHz 6502A processor, up to 48KB of memory. Display capable of two modes, LORES showing 28 rows of 40 characters and HIRES of 200 rows of 240 pixels above three lines of text.

Price: u00a3129 / u00a3169

Image: Nick Heath / ZDNet

Apricot Portable

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Apricot Portable

Launched: 1984

Specs: 4.77MHz Intel 8086 CPU, 256KB of RAM and a 3.5-inch floppyrndrive. 80-column / 25 line LCD screen, speech recognition able torndetect 64 words at any one time. Able to output 640 x 256 8-colourrndisplay to monitor.

Price: u00a31965

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Amstrad Colour Personal Computer

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Amstrad Colour Personal Computer

Launched: 1984

Specs: 8-bit 4MHz Zilog Z80A CPU, 64KB or 128KB of memory splitrnbetween video, ROM and user, integrated tape/disc depending on version. Display resolutionsrnranging from 160u00d7200 pixels with 16 colours to 640u00d7200 pixels withrntwo colours.

Price: From u00a3249

Image: The Centre for Computing History / www.computinghistory.org.uk

Enterprise

Launched: 1985

Specs: 4MHz Zilog Z80 CPU, 64 KB or 128 KB of RAM. Supportsrndisplay with maximum resolution of 640u00d7256 with 2-colours. Keyboardrnwith integrated joystick.

Price: u00a3228

RiscPC

Image: Public Domain

RiscPC

Launched: 1994

Specs: From 30MHz ARM 610 CPU, maximum memory of 256MB DRAM and 2MB ofrnvideo memory. Supports display with 16-million colours and 8-channelrnsound.

Price: u00a31249

Image: Public Domain

By Nick Heath

Nick Heath is a computer science student and was formerly a journalist at TechRepublic and ZDNet.

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