Sinclair adverts

Sinclair Project 60 and the Micromatic Transistor Radio

Here is a pair of adverts from the company, or at least the Sinclair Radionics part of it, that would go on to launch the ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. Sinclair Radionics wasn't directly connected to Sc...

"MK14 - the only low-cost keyboard-addressable microcomputer!"

This is the second-earliest reference in this collection (and the first to mention an actual computer) to the company that would become Sinclair - the company which did so much to kick-start the UK ho...

"The new Sinclair DM235 digital multimeter. 3.5 digits. Under £50!"

Sinclair Radionics, the company that was based in St. Ives, Cambridgeshire, was in some financial difficulties during the mid 70s, and was part-nationalised by the National Enterprise Board. During th...

"MK14 - the only low-cost keyboard-addressable microprocessor!"

What would become the home computing part of the Sinclair empire was at this time operating under the moniker of Science of Cambridge, whilst the Sinclair name itself was still attached to the now-par...

Now, the complete MK 14 micro-computer system from Science of Cambridge

Right on the cusp of the launch of the ZX80, Science of Cambridge was still selling its MK14, which had been launched back in the summer of 1978. The price was still broadly comparable, at £46 (around...

"Britain's first complete computer kit - Sinclair ZX-80"

The ZX80 was Sinclair's first real computer and was the machine that helped start the UK's home computer industry. It had many issues - not just the hard-to-use membrane keyboard, but also the fact th...

"Why the Sinclair ZX80 is Britain's best selling computer"

Just before the release of the ZX81 comes this advert for the ZX80. Somewhat amusingly it claims to be "a really powerful, full-facility computer", even though the same advert also says that a 16K RAM...

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 adve...

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 started the computer revolution in the UK. In common with several of S...

WH Smith: What Would I Do With a Computer?

This advert is a small A5 4-page booklet produced by UK newsagent chain WH Smith and demonstrates nicely how such regular High Street shops were very much part of the early home computer revolution. S...

"Sinclair ZX81 Personal Computer - the heart of a system that grows with you"

This advert was quite an impressive 4-page spread (only the first three are shown here) which featured in several computer magazines and was used to advertise the ZX81, which launched in the UK in Mar...

"Sinclair ZX81 - The Heart Of A System That Grows With You"

And grow it probably needed to, as the base system shipped with only 1K RAM, although Sinclair's BASIC was heavily tokenised and so it wasn't quite as bad as it sounded. These adverts are quaintly opt...

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 - wa...

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

This advert is part of an impressive 4-page spread that appeared early in 1983 for the Sinclair Spectrum, launched around April 1982 but which took eight weeks until first deliveries actually appeared...

ZX Microdrive - Now on release

Sounding something like a statement on the fate of a serial murderer from a top-security prison, this advert (part of one of Sinclair's regular "mini magazines" within the magazine they were placed in...