CNET TV's Top 5 computers of the 1980's
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CNET TV's Top 5 computers of the 1980's
CNET TV has posted a short video listing the Top 5 computers of the 1980's. The Commodore 64 wins out by being number 1! The Amiga computer comes in fifth place. To see the video, go to
http://cnettv.cnet.com/1980s-computers/ ... uselArea.1
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
http://cnettv.cnet.com/1980s-computers/ ... uselArea.1
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
For those who can't wait to see the video clip, here is the list:
1. Commodore 64
2. TRS-80 Model I-IV
3. Apple II/II+/IIc etc
4. TI-99/4A
5. Amiga 1000/500/2000
I agree with Mikam, definitely an US centric list. I like how the host praises the expandability on the TI-99, although it took a horseload of extra hardware to expand it with pretty much anything beyond a 4K memory expansion. For a system with floppy drives, printer, speech synthesis, modem and everything else he mentions, you not only needed a big wallet but also a big desk to fit it all. Indeed a Commodore 1515/1525 and a 1541 take some space too, but nowhere near as many extra items to plug in.
Anyway, I think the TRS-80 series belongs to the 1970's. By the early 80's they had started to get old, and what Tandy sold were the Color Computer series, although totally incompatible as far as I know. Given that Texas Instruments after a few years of big losses and price cuts ceased production of the TI-99 in mid 1983, it just barely was a computer of the 1980's.
1. Commodore 64
2. TRS-80 Model I-IV
3. Apple II/II+/IIc etc
4. TI-99/4A
5. Amiga 1000/500/2000
I agree with Mikam, definitely an US centric list. I like how the host praises the expandability on the TI-99, although it took a horseload of extra hardware to expand it with pretty much anything beyond a 4K memory expansion. For a system with floppy drives, printer, speech synthesis, modem and everything else he mentions, you not only needed a big wallet but also a big desk to fit it all. Indeed a Commodore 1515/1525 and a 1541 take some space too, but nowhere near as many extra items to plug in.
Anyway, I think the TRS-80 series belongs to the 1970's. By the early 80's they had started to get old, and what Tandy sold were the Color Computer series, although totally incompatible as far as I know. Given that Texas Instruments after a few years of big losses and price cuts ceased production of the TI-99 in mid 1983, it just barely was a computer of the 1980's.
Anders Carlsson
I think the ZX81 would feature above the MSX.
Somehow I don't like thinking of 16 Bit machines like Amiga in the 80s - just me, don't remember it being affordable till '89 or '90.
C64, Speccy, Vic, Zx81, Dragon 32, BBC B would probably feature in UK.
Oric 1 and Atmos more in France though some following in UK too.
Strange Atari 400/800 didn't feature - probably less UK centric more US though there were a few about and later 65xe and 130xe seemed popular.
Somehow I don't like thinking of 16 Bit machines like Amiga in the 80s - just me, don't remember it being affordable till '89 or '90.
C64, Speccy, Vic, Zx81, Dragon 32, BBC B would probably feature in UK.
Oric 1 and Atmos more in France though some following in UK too.
Strange Atari 400/800 didn't feature - probably less UK centric more US though there were a few about and later 65xe and 130xe seemed popular.
Vic20-Ian
The best things in life are Vic-20
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I don't know about the UK, but in Sweden the Atari 8-bit computers were expensive as sin. At one point in time you could get one and a half C64 for the price of one Atari 800XL.
Edit: Err.. make that 1.8 C64's for the price of one Atari. That is you could get a C64 + 1541 for the price of the 800XL without peripherals.
Edit: Err.. make that 1.8 C64's for the price of one Atari. That is you could get a C64 + 1541 for the price of the 800XL without peripherals.
Anders Carlsson
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I'd say the UK list would be (in order of release date):Vic20-Ian wrote: C64, Speccy, Vic, Zx81, Dragon 32, BBC B would probably feature in UK.
Speccy
C64
Electron
Amstrad CPC
Amiga/ST
The VIC was big, but not for long enough to make the top 5.
[EDIT: I replaced the Beeb with it's stepchild the Electron, since it outsold the Beeb.]
Last edited by Kweepa on Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Not so much big as wide...carlsson wrote:For a system with floppy drives, printer, speech synthesis, modem and everything else he mentions, you not only needed a big wallet but also a big desk to fit it all.
I love that picture.
While the Z80-based TRS-80s and 6809E-based Color Computers were incompatible, Tandy/Radio Shack chose to market them all under the TRS-80 moniker which means models of the TRS-80 line were continuously available from 1977 to 1991. The majority of those years are in the 80's and the majority of the machines sold were sold in the 80's so I don't think it unreasonable to refer to the TRS-80 as a computer from the 80's. Granted, the models depicted in the video were all from the 70's so go figure.Anyway, I think the TRS-80 series belongs to the 1970's. By the early 80's they had started to get old, and what Tandy sold were the Color Computer series, although totally incompatible as far as I know.
In the end it will be as if nothing ever happened.
What an odd thing to say.Jeff-20 wrote:You could smuggle a small child in it.
It was huge and heavy too because of that printer with the system's power supply thing. I don't think that was a very good design. My embarrassing confession for the day is that I considered buying one when they came out because I was so into the Colecovision and I came really close to buying one on clearance after they were discontinued. There was suppose to be a way to expand a Colecovision into an Adam but I never saw such a device for sale anywhere. I wonder if it was ever released?
In the end it will be as if nothing ever happened.