The best 80s computer / console

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mjnurney

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Now heres and argument waiting to happen but in your opinion which computer / console was the best in the 80s?

Perhaps it died quickly or staggered on in to the 90s....

what are your thoughts on what should of made it in our living rooms and should be around today , should PC World or Wall mart be selling the revised , evolved version today?

a pointless question but fun anyway:)

80s time line (via wiki)

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
April 1982: Sinclair ZX Spectrum (Europe), best-selling British home computer; catalysed the UK software industry,
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 , 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.
Apr. 1984: Apple IIc, Apple II compact. No expansion slots
1983: Acorn Electron A stripped down 'sibling' of the BBC microcomputer with limited functionality.
1983: Coleco Adam, one of the few home computers to be sold 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, 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.
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.
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 built-in MIDI interface; also 1MB RAM for less than US$1000; Motorola 68000 processor.
1985: Commodore 128 Final, most advanced 8-bit Commodore, retained full C64 compatibility
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.
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.
 
lol obvious one !

i was going to add a poll but did it wrong lol
 
i never had the 128, i had the 48k+ ....was the 128K much better?
 
Actually - C64. It wasn't until 89 or 90 that I got my first Amiga. My c64 setup was awesome. I had the slick design one, two 1541's, a Freeze Frame, a Modem which connected to Compunet courtesy of a ROM hack that let me clone my mate's modem for gold level access and a sweet Star LC24-10 printer. I think I had the most fun on my c64 and I learned assembly language too. Amiga was the Muts Nuts in the 90's though :)

John
 
wow thats was a good c64 setup .....i slummed with a tape deck until 87 , got a disk drive then shortly after bought an amiga
 
Hehe I was 17 when I got into my C64 as I was Spectrum from 1984 (before that ZX81). C64 definitely came into it's own around 1987 / 88 and I jumped ship. My mate was saving for this Amiga that we'd heard of and helped me out with my C64 setup - good days when no-one had much cash and we just wanted to help each other out with stuff - hey a bit like here actually hehe.

Re the 128 - as far as games went - no it wasn't really better, more sound channels but as usual no-one developed for it.

J
 
i didnt have much money in those days (like now in-fact) but i started with the ti99/4a £30 i think in '85 or so , then zx81,spectrum, c64 - amiga. in fact the A500 is the only computer (to date) ive bought new from a shop £399

Pc's i built myself before selling the lot and now i use Apple
 
the thing with the spectrum is...it was awful, poor graphics, bad sound, poor keyboard, awful basic...
 
I got banned from the compter room at my secondary school for hacking the Econet network and having the Winchester file-server plus all connected BBC micro's playing the Captain Pugwash theme tune.

From there, it was C64 until my first miggy back in '94

Happy days :D
 

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Thats what made the Spectrum great. You had to have your small screwdriver to hand, no one could move near it when loading :lol: spend all the time just for a few games that where great.. I was just at the right age to be amazed and the Amiga 500 was a dream come true :thumbsup:
 
i forgot how bad the spectrum was for loading errors....now i remember.The c64 was more reliable but it took some game 15 mins to load (omg)
 
I'm with John, Even though I had a few spawny mates with Amiga 500's, My fave 80's machine was the C64. Then Amiga was literally the whole of the 1990's dedicated :)
 
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