1981 adverts
Atari
6th April 1981
Three Atari Video Computer Systems Must Be Won!
A nice competition advert which featured in a March or April edition of the comic 2000AD, offering the chance to win one of three Atari VCS2600 (sometimes known as "Woody") game co...
Ithaca
June 1981
Outside of the garden you need a computer that can grow - Ithaca InterSystems DPS1
This adverts shows one of many ageing Zilog Z80-based machines of this era running on an S-100 bus - the Ithaca InterSystems DPS1. It seemed to aimed at the laboratory market, wi...
Sinclair
August 1981
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" ...
Sinclair
September 1981
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. I...
Commodore
September 1981
Vic 20: The Waiting is Over. The Rush has Begun
This is the advert that kicked off Commodore's marketing campaign in the UK for the VIC 20 - the 6502-based colour computer which became the first ever to sell a million units, and...
Commodore
September 1981
Commodore PET: Choosing a Computer Made Simple
The PET had been around for nearly five years by the time this advert was published, and so it's less of a case of advertising the hardware - which hasn't really changed much, apa...
Pearcom
September 1981
Pear II - we proudly announce the arrival of the computer you have been waiting for
This advert is a brazen attempt to sell an Apple II clone machine, but unlike Franklin's Ace 1200, had the extra "beyond the call of duty" feature of even naming the machine and c...
EACA/Genie
September 1981
Versatility is the Key - The Video Genie System
The EG 3003 Video Genie System was a sort-of TRS-80 Model 1 clone, made by enigmatic Hong Kong electronics company EACA and distributed in the UK by Lowe Electronics. Lowe, an es...
Acorn
September 1981
Important notice to all micro-computer purchasers: The BBC Micro-computer system
This is perhaps the advert that really started it all for Acorn, at least in terms of the Acorn Proton, a.k.a. the BBC Micro. It announced the upcoming availability of the new BB...
Commodore
1st September 1981
"The Commodore Computer Range" Price List
This advert is a sales-channel price list for later-model Commodore PET computers. Prices ranged from £632.50 for the entry-level 16K 40-column 12" screen PET 4016 (about £3,040 in...
Sinclair
November 1981
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 c...
Microsoft
November 1981
Turn your Apple into the world's most versatile personal computer.
This is a real curiosity from Microsoft which shows how different the company was before the power of its coming hegemony with Intel and its own MS-DOS - and later Windows operati...
Commodore
December 1981
You don't need a degree to use a VIC-20 Home Computer - just a degree of common sense
This advert, given that it shows a Mark 1 VIC-20 without the bundled tape drive that soon came long, probably comes from late 1981 - the year that the VIC-20 was launched in the UK...