16k & 48k Sinclair Spectrum

There can be only one..
In the early 1980's most of us had a choice of either two mainstream home computers - the Sinclair or Commodore. The more discerning of us opted for the former.

Released in 1982, the 'Speccy' as it would be referred to as, initially cost £125 for the 16k version, later reduced to £99, and £175 for the 48k version, later reduced to £129

LOAD ""
Pre-loaded with BASIC, this is where many budding programmers such as myself got our first taste of writing basic games. Programs were saved and loaded on tape and commercial games too about 3 to 4 minutes to load.

Based on a Zilog Z80 CPU running at 3.50 MHz, the Spectrum came with either 16KB or 48KB of RAM (an expansion pack was also available to upgrade the former).

Rubbertastic!
Its quirky rubber keyboard is looked back on with both a smile and a scowl! However, it did the job and kept costs down, bringing it into the price range of us poor folk.

Vitals:

Keyboard: QWERTY
Rubber keyboard (40 keys) with up to 6functions each!
CPU Zilog Z80 A
SPEED 3.5 MHz
RAM 16k or 48k (42k left for programming)
ROM 16k (Basic & OS)
TEXT MODES 32 x 24
GRAPHIC MODES 256 x 192
COLORS 8 with two tones each (normal and bright)
SOUND 1 voice / 10 octaves (Beeper)
SIZE / WEIGHT 23 x 14,4 x 3 cm / 550g
I/O PORTS Expansion port, tape-recorder (1200 bauds), RF video out
POWER SUPPLY External PSU, 9v DC, 1.4A (centre polarity = -ve)
PERIPHERALS ZX printer, ZX microdrives, Joystick Interfaces