Amstrad CPC 464
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AMSTRAD CPC 464

1984

Z80

64KB

160 x 200 and 16 colours, 320 x 200 with 4 colours and 640 x 200 with 2 colours.

3 channel

Reasonably successful selling computer in Europe, considering the dominance of the Commodore 64.

Atari 800 XL
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ATARI 800 XL

1983

6502B

64KB

320 x 192 and 256 colours

4 channel

Designed by Jay Miner the gentlemen responsible for the Amiga 1000 computer.

Commodore 16
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COMMODORE 16

1984

7501

16KB

320 x 200 and 121 colours

2 channel

Poor sales ensured this machine was destined to be a commercial failure.

Commodore 64
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COMMODORE 64

1982

6510

64KB

320 x 200 and 16 colours

3 channel

The best selling home computer of all time as listed officially in the Guinness Book of Records.

Commodore Plus/4
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COMMODORE PLUS/4

1984

7501

64KB

320 x 200 and 121 colours

2 channel

Poor sales ensured this machine was destined to be a commercial failure.

Commodore Vic-20
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COMMODORE VIC 20

1981

6502A

5KB

184 x 176 and 16 colours

3 channel

Forerunner to the mighty Commodore 64. Very successful at the time, partly due to its low cost.

It was also famously promoted by William Shatner of Star Trek! You can view the ad at the end of this article courtesy of YouTube.

Sharp MSX 1 Hotbit HB-8000
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Sharp MSX 1 (Hotbit HB-8000)

1985

Z80

64KB

256 x 192 and 16 colours

3 channel

Although the MSX series of machines were a commercial failure. This model and others sold very well in Brazil.

MSX stands for - Machines with Software eXchangeability.

Sinclair QL
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SINCLAIR QL

1984

Motorola MC-68008

128KB

256 x 256 with 8 colours, 512 x 256 with 4 colours. (256 colour palette).

1 channel beeper

A huge commercial failure. Launched just before the arrival of the Apple Macintosh...

Enterprise 128
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ENTERPRISE 64 and 128

1985

Z80A

64 or 128KB

256 x 160 with 16 colours, upto 672 x 512 with 2 colours. (256 colour palette).

3 channel

A huge commercial failure. Announced in 1983 but did not appear until 1985!

Apple Macintosh 128

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APPLE MACINTOSH

1984

Motorola 68000

128KB

512 x 342 black and white display.

No sound.

The forerunner to the successful Apple Macintosh series of personal computers. Featuring an icon driven interface that was the inspiration for Microsoft Windows and other mouse operated systems.

Clever marketing and promotion helped give Apple a small but important market share.

One of the most famous computer commercials of all time was created by Apple and appeared during the 1984 Super Bowl. The advert was directed by the movie director Ridley Scott. You can view the ad below courtesy of YouTube.


1984 Super Bowl commercial from YouTube (dwyerlupin)
Note: the neat addition of an Ipod on the runner...


Commodore Vic-20 commercial from YouTube (PsiKnife)
Note: Some people have wondered how Commodore got William Shatner to front these adverts.
Simple - they paid a fortune...


Commodore 64 (Elephant in Boxing Ring) commercial from YouTube (kryptothedog78)
Note: The Elephant was supposed to stand up in the ring but unfortunately during filming the shorts got ripped!
That's the reason the elephant is sitting down throughout...


Article reproduced from Big K magazine March 1985 edition.
Although all text appears unchanged, some photographs or images have been added or modified for aesthetic purposes. 'The Machines' page is an addition and did not feature in the original article.

If you would like to comment on this article then please use the comment/rating feature available.

Thank you to the following websites which were used for sourcing some images that appear in this article:
BBC, Old-Computers.com, Scuzz Retro, Stage Select, Wikipedia.