1983 adverts

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

The Commodore 500 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 market...

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 ...

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-...

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 fir...

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 "io...

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 star...

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 an...

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 Limit...

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 ...

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 ...

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 Na...

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 bus...

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 whic...

Research Machines: Graphics machine

There weren't many constants during the microcomputer explosion, but if there was one it was possibly this: Research Machines' 380Z. First launched in 1977, it was still going he...

Three out of every four computers going into schools are BBC Micros

Acorn churned out a lot of adverts around this time which were broadly similar: a BBC Micro doing something, with reams of text explaining it. This one - whilst even more wordy t...