Home Computers

YEAR:1985 (announced 1983) INITIAL RETAIL PRICE: Unknown PRAE is the first home computer integrating a 100% Romanian technology concept, from design to build. The computer was oriented towards students as a personal computer or home computer. The computer was born at the Institututul de Tehnică de Calcul din Cluj-Napoca  under the surveillance of engineer Miklós Patrubány. In Latin, præ means […]

Year: 1985-1994 Initial Price: ?     The HC stands for Home Computer and it represents a series  of microcomputers made  from 1985 until 1994 at ICE Felix București. They were based on the Z80 CPUs or the Romanian clone, the MMN80 CPU. The design has been inspired from the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. There were 5 series and sub-series of this computer. 1HC 85

YEAR: 1988 Initial Price:  1800,- DEM \ $1,058, 2,208 in 2020   The PC was an MS-DOS-based home computer of the Schneider computer division. The motherboard was installed in the keyboard housing. Almost same hardware was also packed in the Sinclair PC200 and Amstrad PC20. There seemed to be some kind of minor rush to get

YEAR: 1982 INITIAL PRICE:  $595,  $1,477 in 2016   The C64 dominated the low-end computer market for most of the 1980s. Part of the Commodore 64’s success was its sale in regular retail stores instead of only electronics or computer hobbyist specialty stores. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control costs, including custom integrated circuit chips from MOS Technology. The Commodore

YEAR: 1981 INITIAL PRICE: $525, $1,901 in 2021 “Now computers are like toasters, cheap and un-interesting.” The Texas Instruments TI-99/4A is a home computer released in June 1981 in the United States. It is an enhanced version of the less successful TI-99/4 which was released in late 1979. The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are the first 16-bit home computers, using the Texas Instruments TMS9900 16-bit CPU. Both

YEAR: 1982 INITIAL PRICE: $595, $1,477 in 2016   The Commodore 64, also known as the C64 or the CBM 64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, January 7–10. 1982). It is listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-selling single computer model of all time, with independent estimates placing

Year: 1984 Initial Price: £359.00, £1,161 in 2020   The Schneider CPC (short for Colour Personal Computer) is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Schneider and Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain,

YEAR: 1988 INITIAL PRICE: 15 000 lei, aprox. $500, $1,100 in 2020   A Romanian Sinclair ZX-Spectrum clone made from 1988 by Electronica CIE and sold only in Romania in blue or red case color version. In fact, the colors only differed on the keyboard marquee, the case color being the same. On the red version

YEAR: 1984 INITIAL PRICE: $210, $526 in 2020   Planning of the ZX Spectrum+ started in June 1984, and it was released in October the same year. This 48 KB Spectrum (development code-name TB) introduced a new QL-style case with an injection-moulded keyboard and a reset button that was basically a switch that shorted across the CPU reset capacitor. Electronically, it was

YEAR: 1982 INITIAL PRICE: £175, £566 in 2020   The ZX Spectrum (UK: /zɛd ɛks ˈspɛktrəm/) is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research. It was manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, in the now closed Timex factory. ZX Spectrum         1982 ZX Spectrum Developer Sinclair Research Manufacturer Timex Corporation Type Home computer Generation 8-bit Release date United Kingdom:

Year: 1988 Price: $129, $283 in 2020   These were the 65XE and 130XE (XE stood for XL-Expanded). They were announced in 1985, at the same time as the initial models in the Atari ST series, and visually resembled the Atari ST. Originally intended to be called the 900XLF, the 65XE had 64 KB of

Year: 1984 Price:  $299, $749 in 2020 The Commodore Plus/4 is a home computer released by Commodore International in 1984. The “Plus/4” name refers to the four-application ROM resident office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, database, and graphing); it was billed as “the productivity computer with software built-in”.   Internally, the Plus/4 shares the same basic

Year: 1984 Initial Price: £129, £501 in 2020 The Commodore 16 is a home computer made by Commodore International with a 6502-compatible 7501 or 8501 CPU, released in 1984 and intended to be an entry-level computer to replace the VIC-20. Media ROM Cartridge, Cassette tape Operating system Commodore BASIC 3.5 CPU MOS Technology 7501 or

YEAR: 1979 Initial Price: $999, $3,581 in 2020 Announced: December 1978 Released: November 1979 Price : US $999.95 CPU: MOS 6502,1.8MHz RAM: 8K base, 48K max Display: 24 X 40 text   320 x 192 monochrome   160 x 96 with 128 colors Expansion: 4 internal expansion slots   2 cartridge slots Ports: 4 controller