1983 adverts

At £299 it's very little. At 64K it's very large

The Commodore 64 was the company's replacement for its VIC-20 machine, the limited but popular home computer which was the first to sell more than 1 million units. Designed by a team including Bob Russell,...

It's only £695. And that's the last reason you should buy it.

The Commodore 500, sometimes known as the P Series, was part of the CBM-II Series - an attempt to produce an update for the original Commodore PET and seen as the company's last chance to break the business...

Casio PB-100: The best way to put 1,568 steps in your pocket

Casio's PB-100 was one of several small "pocket computers" released around the same time that look more like calculators, however it was programmable as it had a resident version of BASIC capable of storing...

Home is the last place you should learn about a home computer

Even though the Commodore 64 was on the market, there was still plenty of demand for the VIC-20, launched two years before in 1981 (or three if you count Japan, where it was test-launched in 1980). Whilst...

ZX Spectrum - 16K or 48K RAM from only £125!

This advert is part of an impressive four-page spread that appeared early in 1983 for the Sinclair Spectrum, launched at the end of April 1982 but which took eight weeks until first deliveries actually...

Our professional-series integrated business systems software is free

Winner of the award for most puzzling advertising campaign must surely go to Iotec, which for the best part of a year seemed to feature adverts all in black with just the word "iotec" on them, or with...

Portable micros - taking the computer a step further

This is one of a few adverts that appeared around about the same time which could be read as something of a sad coda on the life of Transam Microsystems Limited. Transam had started out as Transam Components,...

32/16-bit power and unique versatility at your fingertips

The Corvus Concept was one of several 32/16-bit machines appearing at the time, like the Fortune 32:16 or Sage II, in an era when 16-bit machines were only really getting going and 8-bit home computers...

The new British Minstrel with Winchester drive

This machine and advert is such a spectacular throw-back that it had to be included. It's for the "New" British Minstrel, as produced by the oddly-named Hotel Microsystems Limited of London - a name...

Microframe - Future-proof computing systems from under £3000

With a futurist "space cargo"-style modular box construction, the "future proof" Microframe seemed to live up to its name. Although not directly billed as an IBM compatible, it did use an Intel 8088...

Future-proof multi-user CP/M system

Here's an early advert for Bromley Computer Consultancy, trading as Bromcom, for its Superstar CP/M-based multi-user system, which would be around until at least the summer of the following year. Essentially...

I'm happy and proud to present your friendly IBM personal computer

The IBM PC, a.k.a 5150 had been launched in the US in 1981, but had only been unofficially available in the UK via the grey import market since the summer of 1982. It was being imported by companies...

Sig/Net For a growing business

Shelton Instruments Limited, of White Lion Street near Angel Tube Station in London's Islington, had been started back in 1970 by Chris Shelton, who ended up working a stint at Nascom - once the UK's...

RAIR: The box is not always black

This advert from RAIR shows the company's credentials as an OEM supplier, with the its original "Black Box" - shown on the bottom - also showing up as the Innsite micro, Ryman business computer, and most...

What can 16 CP/M user have in common?

This advert almost didn't make it in as it's one of those text-heavy layouts with not much apparently going on. However, it's worth an entry because it's for a microcomputer which took the idea of "multi-processor"...