Cromemco Advert - April 1977

Just a few months after Cromemco's Z-1 Z80-based micro comes the update in the shape of the Z-2.

Only there doesn't seem to be that much updated - it still runs the same 4MHz Z80 microprocessor, or μP as Cromemco seemed to like saying, with a similar number of S-100 bus slots.

There's no mention of memory, so that was probably an "optional extra", but otherwise the biggest difference is that the Z-2 lacks the switches and indicator lights - sometimes known as "blinkenlights" - of its predecessor.

This apparently made it "tamper proof", and thus less susceptible to "accidental program changes or surprise memory erasures".

On the downside, it would mean that it was now essential to buy a terminal - at significant extra cost - to talk to the Z-2 in order to do anything with it.

The kit version of the Z-2 retailed for $595, or about £3,460 in 2024. However it must have required quite a lot of assembly, as the pre-built version - the Z-2W - cost nearly twice as much at $995 or £5,750 now.

The machine was still available into 1979, and was being distributed in the UK by Comart - a company that went on to produce its own range of micros in the early to mid 1980s.

Comart lent Personal Computer World one of its Z-2Ds - the version with one or two floppy disk drives - for a review, however the magazine noted that the loan period was far too short to give a proper evaluation.

Despite that, the machine seemed to review well, with Sheridan Williams and David Smith writing:

"So to conclude, the Z-2D is an excellent machine, we greatly look forward to being able to have one for longer, unfortunately if we did we would be very reluctant to part with it^[1]".