A history of the microcomputer industry in 300 adverts

SWTPC 6800 - Complete with 2K of memory

This is a straightforward advert from SWTPC - South West Technical Products Corporation, which originally made its name as a supplier of electronics kits - for the company's Motorola 6800-based computer...

Adler 1630: Because computer professionals need a professional computer

This computer doesn't seem to exist - at least there doesn't seem to be any information on it, although ribbons for its printer still seem to be available. OldComputers.com mentioned one of the company's...

NewBrain: No other micro has this much power in this much size for this much money

This machine is possibly best known as the computer that might have been the BBC Micro, as chosen by the BBC for its influential Computer Literacy project, if its owners had only managed to actually produce...

Osborne 1: The only personal business computer you can take anywhere

The Osborne 1, launched at the West Coast Computer Faire in March 1981 (with the first machine shipping in July), is often credited as being the first computer designed specifically to be portable, despite...

WHSmith: What Would I Do With a Computer?

This advert is a small A5 4-page booklet produced by UK newsagent chain WHSmith and demonstrates nicely how such regular high-street shops were very much part of the early home computer revolution. Sinclair...

RAIR: When it's time to stop playing games and get down to business

RAIR by name and rare by nature, if the lack of information about either the machine or the company (apart from at oldcomputers.com) is anything to go by. The company did, however, appear to start out...

Just How Big a Difference is there Between Digital and Other Personal Computer Manufacturers?

This advert is primarily worth including because it has a nice picture of the Grand Canyon in the background. It's not for any particular machine, rather it's to advertise DEC as safe, reliable company...

Dragon: Fire Your Imagination

This is a nice A5 landscape booklet, produced as sales material for the Dragon 32 probably around the time that the Dragon was released in August 1982. The Dragon 32 was first announced around June...

Qume - A New Range of Video Terminals

Whilst the world of small-business and home computers was in a raging turmoil with hundreds of random machines coming and going, one thing remained a constant - the world of the terminal. Frankly, beyond...

Your starter for £150 - the Commodore VIC-20

Commodore was fairly unconventional in its approach to selling computers: rather than just using the traditional tech outlets like Radio Shack, or electronics and nerd magazines, it elected to also sell...

Commodore 700: It's a picture - and it's worth a thousand words

With a case popularly believed to have been designed by Ferdinand Porsche, but which was actually designed by Commodore's regular industrial designer Ira Velinsky, an on-board 6509 CPU and an option of...

There's a Commodore Computer for every person, purpose and pocketbook

This advert, from Practical Computing, shows Commodore's range of computers and printers in the hands of archetypal business suits and the nuclear family. It includes the recently-launched VIC-20 - the...

Ronnie Barker and the Commodore PET Adverts

At the same time as William "Captain Kirk" Shatner was advertising for Commodore in the US, the UK saw TV's Ronnie Barker pressed in to service, with various nods towards Barker's knack of word-play and...

A two-minute operation turns your BBC Micro into the heart of a word-processor

Although didn't do much outside its home market, the Acorn BBC Micro Model B was quite a big thing in the UK. Its popularity in the UK was largely thanks to a unique collaboration with the BBC, which...

The Commodore Computer Range Price List

This advert is a sales-channel price list for later-model Commodore PET computers. Prices ranged from £632.50 for the entry-level 16K 40-column 12" screen PET 4016 (about [[632|1981]] in [[now]] terms)...