1986 adverts
Tandata
March 1986
The Tandata PA - Data/voice communicating workstation
Tandata originally formed out of Tangerine, which produced a single-board computer called the Microtan 65. By 1984 it had become Tandata Holdings PLC, with Tandata Marketing Limit...
Gemini Micro
March 1986
Gemini: Pick a disk... any disk
Gemini had been founded by John Marshall shortly after the receivers had been sent in to his former company Nascom - builder of what was once Britain's most popular kit computer, ...
ACT/Apricot
May 1986
Apricot Collection starts where others finish - then GEM gives you more
This is an advert for an Apricot bundle - the "collection" - which includes the F2 micro, a monitor, printer, keyboard and a tracker-ball mouse. The whole lot came together with...
Victor
May 1986
They're both analytical and calculating
It's not that common for microcomputer adverts to get political, but this one from Victor is getting stuck right in, with a comment on the lack of action for small businesses from...
Kaypro
May 1986
Kaypro PC
The earlier Kaypro 2 luggable, built by Andrew Kay's Non-Linear Systems as a direct competitor to the Osborne 1, was very successful, selling around 10,000 units a month at one po...
Commodore
June 1986
Commodore 64: The World's Best-Selling Computer Now Comes ... With a Mouse
The first trackball pointing device had been invented way back in 1941 by Ralph Benjamin as part of British Royal Navy project, but the computer mouse is generally credited to Dou...
Amstrad
August 1986
Amstrad 6128: While other computers are still under starters orders, you're off and running
The Amstrad CPC 6128 (although the CPC part seems to have been dropped) was first launched in the US in June 1985, before appearing in the UK in August the same year. It had onl...
Comart
August 1986
Switch on to the world's first plug-in-and-go multi-user computer
Comart was another member of a small group of companies that survived from the 1970s and through the era of the IBM PC, although it wasn't entirely unscathed as it had been bought...
Amstrad
August 1986
If you want to upgrade your office, here's a tip
It's another advert for Amstrad's PCW 8256, featuring a rubbish-tip metaphor that occured in a few of the adverts run around this time. The PCW 8256 and 8512 were hugely succes...
TeleVideo
August 1986
Introducing the TeleCAT-286. AT performance for £2695 complete.
TeleVideo - the terminals company founded in San Jose, California, in 1975 - was one of relatively few companies from that era which survived through the era of the IBM PC and bey...
Bromcom
September 1986
Hyper Micro: Three computer architectures combined to give the best advantages of each
In the olden days of computing, i.e. the 1970s, there were essentially three types of computers: room-sized mainframes like IBM's 360, refrigerator-sized minicomputer systems like...
Acorn
November 1986
The BBC Master Compact: Think of it as a down payment on your child's future uniform
The BBC Master Compact was an entry in the BBC Master series, which in turn was produced as the follow-up to the BBC Model 'B' Micro. It was designed jointly by Acorn and design...
Commodore
December 1986
Commodore Amiga - astounding by any stretch of the imagination
The Amiga, code-named "Lorraine", was first demonstrated to a select few at June 1984's CES show in Chicago, by Amiga, a company founded by Jay Miner, one of the original designer...
Metacomco
December 1986
Programming the 68000 by Metacomco
St Pauls, Bristol-based Metacomco had been quietly writing system software and compilers for the Motorola 68000 processor, and had also previously licenced its own 8086 Basic inter...
Tandon
December 1986
Tandon: The Magnifient Seven
This advert more than many sums up the state of the microcomputer industry in the latter half of the 1980s. Instead of an actual variety of computers, like Commodore might have h...
Tandy/Radio Shack
December 1986
The New Tandy 102: Technology ni yoru shinpo
It's three years since Tandy launched its TRS-80/100 portable computer, and it's back with an updated model, which is smaller and now comes with a built-in modem. It's also compl...