1981 adverts
Commodore
1981
Thanks to Commodore Computer we now use computer simulation to test heat pump and solar design applications
So says Cristoph Sobotta, R&D Director of Stiebel Eltron, in this US advert. Stiebel Eltron was based in West Germany and came under the purview of Commodore Germany, which was ...
Apple
1981
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 V...
Comart
January 1981
Comart Communicator: The clean simplicity outside... conceals the pedigree inside
Comart - based in St. Neots, Huntingdon - had started out in 1977 as a reseller of North Star and Cromemco micros imported from the US. It soon started building its own third-pa...
Vector Graphic
January 1981
Almarc and Vector Graphic - the complete partnership in microcomputers
Here's another straightforward advert from Vector Graphics' sole UK distributor, Almarc Data Systems of Nottingham. It shows nicely Vector's range of micros available at the time...
Equinox/Parasitic
January 1981
Equinox: A Word Processor, Data Base Manager and a computer all for £1,195
Parasitic Engineering of Albany, California, would go bust in 1983, but prior to that it had established a network of resellers for its Equinox 100 micro throughout Europe, includ...
Atari
10th February 1981
Atari: There's No Comparing It With Any Other Video Game
It's another advert for the legendary Atari 2600 "Woody" games console, launched four years before in 1977 and still doing well in 1981. The advert shows a nice stack of games cart...
Acorn
March 1981
Unique in concept - the home computer that grows as you do!
The Acorn Atom was a 6502-based 8-bit computer that in its basic version managed to pack even less RAM than the VIC-20: 2K compared to 3.5K. However, it was very modular and so ...
Sinclair
March 1981
Why the Sinclair ZX80 is Britain's best selling computer
Just before the release of the ZX81 comes this advert for the ZX80, available in kit form for only £80, or £450 in 2024. Somewhat amusingly it claims to be "a really powerful, f...
Hewlett-Packard
March 1981
"Discover the full professional power of Hewlett-Packard's personal computer"
Hewlett-Packard, which like Commodore, TI and Tandy also had a line in calculators, had launched its HP-85 micro at the beginning of 1980, with the machine even originating from th...
Commodore
March 1981
"The Commodore PET offers you a safe passage through the primeval swamp of computerisation"
This advert had a point - there were hundreds of different manufactures around at this point all producing different systems with different CPUs on different architectures, and man...
Commodore
March 1981
Buy a wordprocessor for under £3,500 - and get a microcomputer for free
Well, perhaps software was a bit more expensive in the early 80s, but word processing software for £3,500 (or £16,800 in 2024 terms) seems a little steep. However, that's what the ...
Tangerine
March 1981
Microtan 65 - Designed With Expansion in Mind
The basis for the Microtan 65 was a 6502-based single-board computer, which as advertised was sold for the bargain price of £80, only about £380 in 2024 money. However, that's sli...
Commodore
March 1981
You're Never Alone With A Commodore PET
In the year that the VIC 20 would be released comes an advert - very much a contemporary of the similar Primeval Swamp - for the Commodore PET, or rather not for any particular PE...
Fortronic
March 1981
Fortronic F500: The £4,000 microcomputer that thinks it's an £8,000 microcomputer
This advert seems to be treading somewhat risky ground with its assertion that somehow £4,000 (about £19,200 in 2024 money) is actually cheap for a micro, when something like the t...
RAIR
March 1981
RAIR: Black Box III Microcomputer solutions
Nearly nine years before the band Black Box released chart-topping track "Ride on Time", The other "Black Box" from RAIR was released. Based on Intel's 8085, and later 8088 CPUs...