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It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy? 

What would YOU buy?
BBC Micro B - £399 36%  36%  [ 9 ]
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (16k) - £125 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Sinclair ZX Spectrum (48k) - £175 36%  36%  [ 9 ]
ORIC 1 (16k) - £129 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Dragon 32 (32k) - ~£200? 8%  8%  [ 2 ]
Some kind of pie. 20%  20%  [ 5 ]
Total votes : 25

It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy? 
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leeds_manc
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
New Brain, cos it sounds cool.
Fri Oct 09, 2009 1:07 pm
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timark_uk
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
Whatever can run Elite the best.

Mark

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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
timark_uk wrote:
Whatever can run Elite the best.

Mark


At the time - BBC Model B then. Wait a few years, and you can get a Master or a second processor and run Elite in more colours.

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Fri Oct 09, 2009 1:31 pm
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brataccas
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
I had a dragon 32 years ago, played berzerk and phantom slayer which scared me a lot :x

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Fri Oct 09, 2009 2:54 pm
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John_Vella
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
My dad lent me and my youngest brother the money to buy a Dragon 32, which we paid back out of our pocket money... but I'm sure he called it quits with us long before we paid him... * Note to self - must stop remembering for now... welling up again *

He chose it over the Commodore 64 "because the buttons, (keyboard) were bigger" ;) :lol: :roll:

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Fri Oct 09, 2009 3:02 pm
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
I'd wait for the Commodore 64.
( It's still in my loft ;) )

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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
A lot of Dragon 32’s - what were they like? What did they cost?

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brataccas wrote:
your posts are just combo chains of funny win

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Fri Oct 09, 2009 9:44 pm
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
paulzolo wrote:
A lot of Dragon 32’s - what were they like? What did they cost?


I'll ask Best Beloved, and try to stay awake while he tells me. I'll report back later if I can.

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Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:03 am
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cloaked_wolf
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
My dad bought the ZX Spectrum+ when it came it out. It was a 48k like the "ZX Spectrum 28k" but differed crucially in that the entire thing was plastic. That's right - no rubber keys! The computer unfortunately developed a fault and we got a cheap upgrade to the 128k version instead. This had the ability to let you type commands as you would type text, rather than having to press a zillion key combos to get each command up.

However, I never used any other machine during the 80s and as a result, I'm completely biased and would go with the spectrum again.

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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
The Spectrum+ had QL type keys, and yes, being able to type the command was far more sensible that doing odd key combinations.

The BBC Micor always let you use abbreviations, so:

Code:
10 P. "Hello"


became

Code:
10 PRINT "Hello"


It also (cleverly) knew that COLOUR and COLOR were the same!

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brataccas wrote:
your posts are just combo chains of funny win

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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
timark_uk wrote:
Whatever can run Elite the best.

Mark


+1

I remember happy days of programming in BASIC :)

p.s. I have clearly not been here long enough - why is pie included as an option in all polls?
Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:55 pm
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rustybucket
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
BBC Micro B

Stryker's Run FTW!

phantombudgie wrote:
p.s. I have clearly not been here long enough - why is pie included as an option in all polls?


No-one's too certain but I think the best explanation would be either:

"Because" or "PIE!"

;)

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Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:18 pm
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paulzolo
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
rustybucket wrote:
BBC Micro B

Stryker's Run FTW!


Blimey - I’d forgotten that one! That was another game which modified the video output to conserve RAM.

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brataccas wrote:
your posts are just combo chains of funny win

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Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:29 pm
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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
big_D wrote:
Geiseric wrote:
Paul1965 wrote:
I'd buy a Commodore 64 I think, £399, and starve.

Of the above list I'd get the BBC Micro.


Yes, wasn't the VIC 20 the poor man's version of the Commodore 64?

A friend had the C64 and when Ghostbusters came out his version looked so much better than the spectrum version, I was very jealous.

No, the VIC 20 was the rich man's ZX81... It preceded the Commodore 64 by about 3 years. The 64 replaced it, when it was released.

We used Commodore PETs at school, 2000 and 4000 series. The newer PETs that were launched around the time of the C64, and the Commodore 700 were lovely, much nicer than the C64, but they were too expensive for home use. :(

We also had PETs at college for the first year.


The order of my computers was:
Sinclair ZX81 (Kayde Keyboard and 16KB BugByte RAM Pack)
Commodore VIC20 (I got the 32KB RAM pack)
Memotech MTX500
Amstrad CPC6128
Commodore Amiga 500 (expanded to 1MB RAM and 20MB HD)
ACT Apricot Xi (2nd hand, 10MB HD, with GUI, Office suite, Pascal, C, C++ and BASIC compilers plus documents and still 5MB spare)
Commodore Amiga 1200 (40MB HD model)
Gateway 2000 P90 (with 16MB EDO RAM and 100MB hard drive & 17" Trinitron monitor)
Self-built Cyrix 686 133Mhz with Matrox Mystique graphics
Evesham Pentium II 400, 64MB RAM
Advent Pentium III 1Ghz notebook
Evesham Athlon XP2200+ (upgraded to 2GB RAM and 1st gen 17" TFT - 2002)
Medion Athlon XP2000+ (upgraded to 2GB RAM, Linux test rig, later windows test rig when Athlon64 became main Linux workstation)
Self-built Athlon 64 3200+ (2GB RAM, SATA drives in swappable drive bays - 1 drive for Windows, 1 for Linux, 2004)
Acer Aspire 6100WMLi
Apple iMac 24"
FJS Scaleo P C2Q

The Memotech is still sitting in a shop window in Stadthagen!

now you are just making me feel old . :( :( :( :( ;)

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Post Re: It’s 1983 -what computer would YOU buy?
The first computer I used was a VAX 11/750 (1980)! It was sitting there, in the UK data centre in East Grinstead and chatting over the IM client with the ops in Dallas, Fort Worth - yes it was an oil company, no the Boss wasn't JR ;)

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