1982 adverts

When you outgrow your personal computer, that's the time you'll wish you-d bought a DAI

Rather than being the name of a computer made by a staunchly Welsh computer company, the curiously-shaped DAI comes from Belgian company Data Applications International. It had 48K RAM and a generous...

The graphic difference between Atari computers and all the others

The Atari 800 and its cheaper membrane-keyboard sibling the Atari 400 were the result of a project that was kicked off soon after the launch of the legendary Atari 2600 "Woody" games console. They were...

New! Sinclair ZX81 Personal Computer

First appearing in May 1981, this is another common advert for Sinclair's ZX81 - the home computer which shipped with only 1K RAM, although Sinclair's BASIC was heavily tokenised and so it wasn't quite...

North Star's Advantage is easy to see

The North Star advantage was launched in 1982 and came with dual 360K 5.25" floppies, for a total storage of 720K, an optional 5MB Winchester, and high-resolution 640x240px graphics with its own 20K of...

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...

Vector 4: The Versatile Computer with the features you need for Today and Tomorrow

This advert is for the curious-looking Vector 4, from Vector Graphics of the US, as distributed by long-time UK distributor Almarc Data Systems. Contrary to the company's name, this machine was noted...

Think ahead! ITT 3030 Programmed for Growth

When Apple had been a "new struggling company with few resources and [ITT] was a big consumer group with manufacturing and marketing ability in Europe", ITT had secured the gig to manufacture the Apple...

Informex Wicat Multi-User System 150

WICAT had been founded in 1980 as a division of the World Institute for Computer-Assisted Teaching, and concentrated on multi-user systems for educational institutions. The multi-user Wicat System 150,...

Franklin's Baker's Dozen!

The Franklin 1200 was an update of Franklin's earlier 1000 model, and both were unofficial Apple II clones. The company always referred to its machines with the acronym ACE, which stood for Apple Compatible...

Memotech explores the excellence of your ZX81

Memotech, the company which would end up producing its own range of well-regarded almost-MSX machines during 1984, started out as a producer of memory and interface expansions for Sinclair's plastic-wedge...

Silicon Office: Now you can do all the filing with one finger

This is a slightly disturbing advert produced by Commodore in partnership with (or sponsorship of) Bristol Software Factory, for the latter's Silicon Office product. It's along the lines of the "buy...

The BBC Microcomputer System: The Shape of Things to Come

From this attractive A3 sales brochure is the quote "Amongst the shifting sands of computer technology the BBC Microcomputer is here to stay". And it was, in its various guises, until 1994 at least,...

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...

Probably the fastest computer in the universe - the Jupiter Ace

Perhaps this early advert for the Jupiter Ace - an 8-bit Z80-based micro designed by ex-Sinclair engineers Richard Altwasser and Steven Vickers, both of whom had worked on the ZX Spectrum - is edging...

The world's best personal computer for under £500

Sinclair was nothing if not bold with its claims, including this one that the Spectrum - announced just a few months before at a press conference at the Churchill Hotel on Friday, 23rd April 1982 - was...