A history of the microcomputer industry in 300 adverts

The Commodore 64. Under $600

It's another Commodore advert, from August 1983, playing to Jack Tramiel's famous adage "Computers for the masses, not the classes". The origin of this famous quote dates back to 1980, which Michael...

The New Electronic Wonderland: Atari VCS/2600

Although the Fairchild "Channel F" had pioneered the idea of a video-game console which used generic microprocessors and plug-in cartridges - as opposed to the older systems which had hardwired discrete...

The $149.95 Personal Computer: Introducing the Sinclair ZX81

Before Sinclair cut a deal with US watch-manufacturer Timex to distributes the ZX81 in the US as the Timex Sinclair 1000 or 1500, it was available in its original "Sinclair ZX81" form, as this US advert...

The Remarkable SV-318 Personal Computer

The Spectravideo SV-318 was a Zilog Z80A-based computer with 32K RAM and Microsoft BASIC, which had been the de-facto standard on pretty much every computer since the MITS Altair of 1975. When launched...

Apple II: The managing director's Personal Computer

It's another advert for the Apple II, the 6502-based computer that might not have made it - as it was over twice the price of its compatriots - had it not been for the advent of VisiCalc. Apple's price...

The Sinclair ZX81 Personal Computer - New High Performance, New Low Price, Same Sinclair Simplicity

Here's another advert for the Sinclair ZX81 - the computer that sold more than 1.5 million units and which almost single-handedly kick-started the computer revolution in the UK. In common with several...

After you ask what it can do for you now, ask what it can do for you later: HP-86

More proof that it took at least a few years for the IBM PC format to bulldoze everything in its path, comes this advert for the Hewlett-Packard HP-86. Looking a bit like a very slimmed-down Commodore...

Why we chose the 'NCR' computer

From the days when computers took up whole rooms and secretaries stood around in front of monster tape drives smiling at cardboard, comes the NCR 390 - introduced in 1962 as a cut-down version of the...

Dragon 32: There's only one thing harder than bulding a great computer. Building software to match.

The Dragon 32 was another entry in the burgeoning early-80s British computer scene and was originally developed by Mettoy, the company that also made Corgi toys. Mettoy suffered ongoing financial problems...

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...

Communications Engineered: The Bendix G-20 Computer System

Hot on the heels of Bendix's valve-based G-15 computer came the G-20, built with transistorised modules. It had memory comprising 32,000 32-bit words - analogous to 128K - with a 6μsec cycle time - very...

Commodore Plus/4: Clean up your study once and for all

Here's a nice advert showing Commodore's Plus/4 as some sort of vacuum cleaner, sucking up a load of invoices, receipts and a tax return. There are some great 80s names in the in-tray, including the...

IBM System/360: Getting smaller... thinking bigger

This is a great advert which perfectly encapsulates the evolution of electronics in one photo. It shows what is effectively the same functional component and how it has evolved over time: the board...

It's the same old Apple II, except for the front, back and inside

The Apple III, which had been released three years before in 1980, had been a relative failure, shifting only 65,000 units before it was canned, so the venerable Apple II line was continued with this...

/ability - It Comes Naturally With The Altair 8800b

This is an advert for the later-model Intel 8080-based Altair 8800b, showing several system boards rising out of its chassis. Released in June 1976, it's an update to the original 8800 which had launched...