Triumph-Adler Advert - April 1981
From Practical Computing
New Adler Alphatronic: Now £1550 can buy you a lot of computer
Here's an advert for the new Alphatronic from Triumph-Adler of West Germany - one of several traditional office equipment manufacturers, like Olivetti and Olympia, to enter the new-ish microcomputer market.
Nominally launched in the UK in early 1981 - at around the time of this advert - Practical Computing didn't actually review it until February of the following year, when it was still calling it "one of the latest [micros] to join to flood".
As such, it's possible that either it did so poorly that it was re-launched after it had been forgotten, or manufacturing or technical issues caused a delay to its shipping.
In fact, when Practical Computing tried to take apart its review machine, it noticed a significant amount of metal foil used for electrical screening as well as the presence of a "Heath-Robinson" earthing bar near the video socket with the screen of the printer cable attached to it - perhaps signs of last-minute fixes for interference issues.
Either way, it's a fairly standard machine with 48K RAM, but which ran CP/M on an Intel 8085A processor, rather than the more usual Z80.
Because of this, the machine came with pre-supplied software including the word processor Lexicom, written by British software house Microtrend.
Although Practical Computing considered this package as good, and better than WordPro on the Commodore PET, it still pointed that few, if any, of the Alphatronic's programs were portable.
This wasn't necessarily a problem as it seemed like the machine was aimed at the "small-business owner who likes to work at home", right down to the bundled software, Sanyo monitor and optional printer - very much making it a precursor to Amstrad's PCW 8256.
The review in February 1982's edition concluded:
"The Alphatronic computer works as well as any other in its field, even if it is uninspiring. The Alphatronic is a good buy for the first-time coputer user; however competition is hot. I am afraid I can do nothing but damn the Alphatronic with faint praise, which is a pity because it deserves better".
The P1 model with monitor retailed for £1,550 plus VAT, or around £9,880 in 2026 money, whilst the P2, with two disk drives, monitor and a printer retailed for £2,345 + VAT, which is £14,900 now.
Triumph-Adler updated the Alphatronic range with the P3, released towards the end of 1982.
Date created: 17 February 2026
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Text and otherwise-uncredited photos © nosher.net 2026. Dollar/GBP conversions, where used, assume $1.50 to £1. "Now" prices are calculated dynamically using average RPI per year.
