Home Computer - Notable Home Computers - 1980s

1980s

• 1980: Commodore VIC-20 (N. Am.), under US$300; first computer of any kind to pass one million sold.
• 1980: TRS-80 Color Computer (N. Am.), Motorola 6809, optional OS-9 multi-user multi-tasking.
• June 1981: Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, based on the less successful TI-99/4, first to add sprite graphics.
• 1981: Sinclair ZX81 (Europe), £49.95 in kit form; £69.95 pre-built, released as Timex Sinclair 1000 in US in 1982.
• 1981: BBC Micro (Europe) (premier educational computer in the UK for a decade; advanced BBC BASIC with integrated 6502 machine code assembler, featured a myriad of I/O ports, ~ 1.5 million sold.
• April 1982: Sinclair ZX Spectrum (Europe), best-selling British home computer; catalysed the UK software industry, widely cloned by the Soviet Union.
• June 1982: MicroBee (Australia), initially as a kit, then as a finished unit.
• August 1982: Dragon 32(UK) became, for a short time, the best-selling home micro in the United Kingdom.
• August 1982: Commodore 64 (N. Am.), custom graphic & synthesizer chipset, best-selling computer model of all time: ~ 17 million sold.
• Jan. 1983: Apple IIe, Apple II enhanced. Reduced component count and production costs enabled high-volume production, until 1993.
• 1983: Acorn Electron A stripped down 'sibling' of the BBC microcomputer with limited functionality. The Electron recovered from a slow start to become one of the more popular home computers of that era in the UK.
• 1983: Coleco Adam, one of the few home computers to be sold only as a complete system with storage device and printer; cousin to the ColecoVision game console; one of the first systems to be "orphaned" by its maker, a casualty of the North American video game crash of 1983.
• 1983: MSX (Japan, Korea, the Arab League, Europe, N+S. Am.), a computer 'reference design' by ASCII and Microsoft, produced by several companies: ~ 5 million sold.
• 1983: VTech Laser 200, entry level computer aimed at being the cheapest on market, also sold as Salora Fellow, Texet TX8000 & Dick Smith VZ 200.
• 1983: Oric 1 and Oric Atmos, a home computer equipped with a full travel keyboard and an extended version of Microsoft BASIC in ROM.
• January 1984: The Apple Macintosh is introduced, providing many consumers their first look at a graphical user interface, which would eventually replace the home computer as it was known.
• April 1984: Apple IIc, Apple II compact. No expansion slots, and built-in ports for pseudo-plug and play ease of use. The Apple II most geared to home use, to complement the Apple IIe's dominant education market share.
• 1984: Amstrad/Schneider, CPC, PCW ranges (Europe), British standard before IBM PC; German sales next to C64.
• 1985: Elektronika BK-0010, one of the first 16-bit home computers, and the only "official" home computer in USSR.
• 1985: Robotron KC 85/1 (Europe), one of the few home computers produced by the East German VEB Robotron-Meßelektronik "Otto Schön" Dresden.
• 1985: Atari ST (N. Am.), first with a graphical user interface (GEM) for less than US$1000; first with built-in MIDI interface; also 1MB RAM for under US$1000.
• June 1985: Commodore 128 (N. Am.) Final, most advanced 8-bit Commodore, retained full C64 compatibility while adding CP/M in a complex multi-mode architecture
• July 1985: Commodore Amiga (N. Am.), custom chip set for graphics and digital audio; multitasking OS with both GUI and CLI interfaces; Motorola 68000 processor.
• 1986: Apple IIGS, Fifth and final model in the Apple II series, with greatly enhanced graphics and sound abilities. Used a 16-bit 65C816 CPU, the same as used in the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
• 1987: Acorn Archimedes (Europe), launched with an 8 MHz 32-bit ARM 2 microprocessor, with between 512kB and 4MB of RAM, and an optional 20 or 40MB hard drive.
• 1989: SAM Coupé (Europe), based on 6 MHz Z80 microprocessor; marketed as a logical upgrade from the Sinclair ZX Spectrum.