had one of these back in the day ... they overheated a lot and people used to sell fans and heatsinks for them, still ours smoldered itself to death (moved on to a commodore 64)
Spectrum+ didn't come out until October 1984, and I think this ad was from very shortly before (or after) release that year....I remember as I'd been saving up all summer to get a Speccy and then this was announced!
the 48K + was great and the hard keys were a huge improvement, but it still had the same membrane key switches underneath so it still suffered from dead keys now and again. They were fantastic in their day!
Had a ZX81, then a Spectrum 48K, then skipped this one and got the same looking Spectrum 128K. Then read about the QL, thought it was a business computer so got an Atari STe. CBM 64 owners generally went for the Amiga.
It's odd that CBM 64 owners likely went for VHS and Spectrum owners went for Betamax, Coke/Pepsi, McDonalds/KFC, Marathon/Mars bar, Conservatives/Liberals, brunettes/blondes etc...all shaped by our first computers lol
What about the Currah Speech Synthesizer that plugged into the back of the Spectrum. When you played Lunar Jetman and he was killed, it said through your speakers "Fu*k You" lol, I remember as I got a bollocking off my parents when playing it, I was only 12 years old!
In addition to being crap, Sinclair didn't even have the courtesy to provide the "entry-level" purchaser with even the most fundamental of peripherals...
You were expected to get the joysticks (which itself required an additional piece of chunky hardware bolted on to the expansion port before you could even plug it in), tape deck, disk drives etc yourself...
I was a Commodore 64 boy myself, but this seems a bit harsh on Sinclair. Their aim was to bring computing to the masses, which meant that low costs were the driving factor. For the time, and at the price, the Spectrum was a remarkable machine. In fact, it was Sinclair's mission to deliver low cost machines to Joe Public that inspired Jack Tramiel to turn Commodore away from business machines and deliver the low-cost VIC-20 and C64.
@ogicabp4u It's an old personal computer. It looks like you just buy the keyboard, but it's the keyboard and computer in one, the user supplied the screen (most often the TV, but didn't some Amstrad products come with their own monitors, anyone?) and there was no mouse, because computers weren't graphical back then (like with a 'desktop'), they were command line (you tell it what to do with B.A.S.I.C.).
@OBobson I had the Amstrad 6128, 3 inch disk drive. It had it's own monitor. Think I got the plush system with the TV tuner underneath it, pretty sweet at the time. I recall a friend having the tape version 464, both came with their own monitors.
@OBobson Another mate had a C64 and yet another the soft key Spectrum. Tape loading compared to disk loading was incomparable, but they had the original Dizzy, I didn't! Had to wait for Fantasy Island Dizzy. I did have Crazy Cars 2 though. Unfortunately the Amiga and Atari St wiped the floor of that generation. Kinda like what the PS1 did to every console and 'personal' computer of that era.
Wow...I still have the rubber keyed 48k with the demo cassette, all the wiring, instruction manual, box, and the separate tape deck my Grandad bought me to go with it. The only things missing are the plystyrene inserts lol. I had DT Decathlon too, but my fave was Manic Miner. Oooooh the memories!
I had the old 48k with rubber keys then later the +2(128k) happy days.except the lengthy load time followed by it crashing. Check out world of spectrum.com you can go the archives and play any game they ever made on the built in emulator
Sinclair competed with Acorn for the BBC computer contract. Acorn won, and although Sinclair sold many more machines to the general public in the 80s, Acorn went on to develop RISC computing and the ARM technology (Acorn Risc Machine). So the history of the Spectrum and modern-day ARM processors are very much intertwined.
For Americans like me who grew up in the 1980's, we really only knew Atari and Commodore. Looking at Spectrum and its various offshoots now, its graphics and sounds seem so surreal... like some weird scaled down version of our games; how our computers would have looked if we played them while dreaming.
@ForcedToSignUp Well were I came from C64, and latere on the Amiga was big. I thing it depends on what your neighbour had, if they had a C64 it was the thing, the same was the story about the ZX. I had a ZX Spectrum, I still have it, I loved it..... I think the ZX was so popular back then was because of the amount of games, just like today, most computeres are popular because of the amount of games, if you look away from apple ;-)
The Spectrum was a better machine than the VIC-20 and the Atari VCS. Not as powerful overall as the Atari 800 or the C64. It did actually have a faster processor, but it lacked custom chips for sprites et al, so couldn't run most arcade games as well. (It was pretty good for vector games, though.)
B Integreta out of range (was, i think one such error message that flashed up when you were trying to "create" a game or picture from code on the old ZX Spectrum.)
@BuddyFantastic Integer out of range.Meant the number was not within the boundaries that were expected.
I used to hack the header code on these games to remove the often unreliable speed loaders that were also an early form of copy protection.I would then save the game on cassette or even search for addresses that would enable extra lives and stuff.Poke the address with a different number and hey presto, infinite lives lol.Ah, those were the days!
@TehUberCyberBeast - haha gotta love the old R Tape loading error, makes me laugh every time I see somebody making reference to it. At the time it could be incredibly annoying but again sometimes you just had to laugh. I remember me and a mate trying literally all night long once to get a copy of beach head to load, must have had about 15 x R Tape loading error's lol, then suddenly we cracked it and were whooping and hi fiving all over the place....hilarious at the time and great memories
I remember watching the tape counter creeping towards the fail point. Would it make it past?
You would be sweating, crossing the fingers - unbearable tension. Then, when it finally loaded, you would feel so good that the game itself was an anti-climax.
I think apple iPad is zx spectrum beefed up lol wi a built in screen fucking waste o money man just like the ps3 who in there right mind would pay 300 quid for something that looks like a center consol from a ford grenada from 1982
I had a Spectrum, and my friend had a Spectrum+. That was a far superior keyboard, but because he purchased it as an upgrade, it was somewhat dodgy in its reliability. But then, all Sinclair products were irritatingly fragile.
Type FODENF1 into your search box. You don't have to, it's up to you really, but you may be missing out if you don't. Like I said, it's entirely up to you.....
I remember typing the following on the display machines in menzies, then hitting return and retiring to a safe distance to watch the assistants try to shut the thing up (which could only be done by yanking the power cord out of the back, quite awkward on the security shelves they were on).
" For Atari to compete, they must at least quadruple their RAM. Apple and Sinclair will laos be faced with a sizeable chore. But Enterprise implode us with a 128k version. Seems like that when all the others step their ram up, we will have to double ours."
@doctordrew66 I remember Manic Miner was a pain... Owing to the way the loader was designed, even if there was an error, it still looked and sounded like it was still loading...
lol indeed they dont make them like they used to, i even threw mine down stairs the keys all popped out, but after putting them back in it worked and not a scratch, try doing that do a PS3 and Xbox and they die..
The 48k+ was what i had and the biggest fustration was the cassette player you used to have to plug in via a ear jack, and nothing worse was accidently knocking the player or wire while nearly loading the game.
Dont think todays kids would have the patience lol
@neogeo53 I had them all except the zx80 and the +3
Great days! Great times!
Come home from school and have a game of Manic Miner..Ahhh yes.
No wonder my homework never got done. Part of the reason they went bust was....It was SO easy to copy the games. I had over 500 games and about 400 of them were pirate copy's LOL.
I remember my brother and I getting a kit to 'upgrade' to the Spectrum+. It involved taking the guts out of the old speccy and putting it into the Spectrum+ keyboard. Our dad helped with the soldering that was required.
It wasn't a DIY upgrade but a kit with instructions ... don't remember where we got it though
I upgraded my original spectrum to a plus for 15 quid by mail order. this ad's late 83 early 84 by my reckoing. It still works after i bought a brand new membrane for key board off e bay. Only play Jetpac though as that's only game I've got on Cartridge.
now theres a blast from the past, remeber teh day they bought that out and i could finally stop stunting the growth in my fingers with the awefull ZX81's,,,,a real key board LOL YES!!!!!
they were the days lol......i had one of these and started my gaming on one....games like dizzy....jetset willy....booty.....paper boy....spy hunter....
the best bit about the spectrum was the noise the tape recorder made after a game had "loaded" for 10 minutes then just when it was ready to start, the screen froze and the sound bugged! NOOOOO! (as the tape machine hit the wall!)
whoah they wre expensive back then, today i could go down to a car boot sale and get one for a fiver! Great coputer tho, i can still remember the good times.
yep I spent much time playing jet set willy, but this ad was revamping the case without upgraiding the computer, stretching the income they could get , it is still the same as the old one. commador and Atari were pushung ahead at this point
The Spectrum + was the first computer i got, after criticism of the rubber keyed version they released this 'proper' typing keyboard. Was a nice little machine though, great memories of those days after school, swapping tapes and buying cheap 1.99 games from the chemists/WhSmiths etc !
you should be able to just hook it up directly to a tv. You might have to adjust the vertical hold but most tvs do this automatically since sometime in the 90's Good luck getting one
I still have the zx81 ànd the Spectrum 32K with tapestreamers (micro-something), i thought the + was crap at the time but their keyboard was indeed better. There was also a Curra Speech, which let you type in phonetic words and the Spec would pronounce them!
Better than the 16k, though! If you wanted to play anything more elaborate than noughts and crosses on that, you needed a memory pack the size of a suitcase!
wow, a whole 48k, awesome.. hack the us D.O.D mainframe with that raw power,lol. Seriously though, look how far computers have come in a relativity short space of time, imagine what will be available in 15 years from now, 5tb graphics cards?
So when will I be able to get a PC that response as quickly to the keyboard as a Spectrum (without me being able to type faster than the letter show up at times)?
Back then, a pint was 80p - petrol was 50p a litre - and you could go to the cinema and buy some chips on the way back, and still have change from a fiver.
But the average wage for a schoolteacher was about £5000 a year.
had one of these back in the day ... they overheated a lot and people used to sell fans and heatsinks for them, still ours smoldered itself to death (moved on to a commodore 64)
ah the 80's
alSation81 1 month ago
Spectrum+ didn't come out until October 1984, and I think this ad was from very shortly before (or after) release that year....I remember as I'd been saving up all summer to get a Speccy and then this was announced!
FunkyMagicUK 1 month ago 3
Still got both models and I think they still work.
wisteela 3 months ago
the 48K + was great and the hard keys were a huge improvement, but it still had the same membrane key switches underneath so it still suffered from dead keys now and again. They were fantastic in their day!
charade993 3 months ago
What a gigantic hunk of shit.
UberLifeTroll 3 months ago
@UberLifeTroll Yes, like your mum.
8DX 3 months ago
Yeah baby......one of these & some £1.99 corner shop mastertronic games,,,,
AlexBuono1974 4 months ago
a whole friggin 48k of memory!!!!!! It's the future!!!
reddeadreview 4 months ago
Ah, those dreaded words on your screen after 20 mins of waiting:
read error b
aodgabelogan 4 months ago in playlist Old School Computer & Video Games
Had a ZX81, then a Spectrum 48K, then skipped this one and got the same looking Spectrum 128K. Then read about the QL, thought it was a business computer so got an Atari STe. CBM 64 owners generally went for the Amiga.
It's odd that CBM 64 owners likely went for VHS and Spectrum owners went for Betamax, Coke/Pepsi, McDonalds/KFC, Marathon/Mars bar, Conservatives/Liberals, brunettes/blondes etc...all shaped by our first computers lol
slider2732 4 months ago
I miss my Zx 48+ wonder if it's worth eBaying it ... What do you say shall I?
leef0324uk 6 months ago
Our childrens in the future seeing videos like this, but about xbox 360 and wii 2
elyoda12 6 months ago
What about the Currah Speech Synthesizer that plugged into the back of the Spectrum. When you played Lunar Jetman and he was killed, it said through your speakers "Fu*k You" lol, I remember as I got a bollocking off my parents when playing it, I was only 12 years old!
MinkeySimon 7 months ago
In addition to being crap, Sinclair didn't even have the courtesy to provide the "entry-level" purchaser with even the most fundamental of peripherals...
You were expected to get the joysticks (which itself required an additional piece of chunky hardware bolted on to the expansion port before you could even plug it in), tape deck, disk drives etc yourself...
supahdupahguy81 7 months ago
@supahdupahguy81
I was a Commodore 64 boy myself, but this seems a bit harsh on Sinclair. Their aim was to bring computing to the masses, which meant that low costs were the driving factor. For the time, and at the price, the Spectrum was a remarkable machine. In fact, it was Sinclair's mission to deliver low cost machines to Joe Public that inspired Jack Tramiel to turn Commodore away from business machines and deliver the low-cost VIC-20 and C64.
KaitainCPS 7 months ago
Playing a Spectrum game is like trying to light the coals of a barbeque by vigourously rubbing a pair of toothbrushes together.....
A unique, but ultimately utterly pointless experience....
supahdupahguy81 7 months ago
I remember having to set up a fan at the back cause it always overheated
alSation81 7 months ago
going to my local rumbelows tomorrow to buy one been saving my paper round money for 34 years
cant wait
vania1013 7 months ago 36
@vania1013
Deja Vu! Got a paper round in 1984 to save up and buy a Spectrum.
When I'd saved £140 quid, went to Rumbelows in August '84 and bought one.
Still got it in original box! vania1013 - made my day!
mnyoung1971 6 months ago
@vania1013
LooOOOool
PrAnG2000 5 months ago
@vania1013 prepare for extreme disapointment
CragsyCentral4 5 months ago
Such elegant design.
khunag 7 months ago
WOW that looks so high tech compared to anything I've seen these days!!!
Erm...what is it exactly?!?!
ogicabp4u 7 months ago
@ogicabp4u It's an old personal computer. It looks like you just buy the keyboard, but it's the keyboard and computer in one, the user supplied the screen (most often the TV, but didn't some Amstrad products come with their own monitors, anyone?) and there was no mouse, because computers weren't graphical back then (like with a 'desktop'), they were command line (you tell it what to do with B.A.S.I.C.).
OBobson 7 months ago
@OBobson LOL!! I used to have 2 and a ZX80 and a C64 and a CPC6128. It's a joke...I'm being sarcastic.
ogicabp4u 7 months ago
@OBobson I had the Amstrad 6128, 3 inch disk drive. It had it's own monitor. Think I got the plush system with the TV tuner underneath it, pretty sweet at the time. I recall a friend having the tape version 464, both came with their own monitors.
dezhar 6 months ago
@OBobson Another mate had a C64 and yet another the soft key Spectrum. Tape loading compared to disk loading was incomparable, but they had the original Dizzy, I didn't! Had to wait for Fantasy Island Dizzy. I did have Crazy Cars 2 though. Unfortunately the Amiga and Atari St wiped the floor of that generation. Kinda like what the PS1 did to every console and 'personal' computer of that era.
dezhar 6 months ago
Heap of shit!
My one blew up!
hearts76100 8 months ago
great memories - almost 30 years later and i'm still playing computer games. (and still playing spectrum games via emulation).
Thanks for the upload.
mulder3035 8 months ago
@TehUberCyberBeast That about says it all.
morval99 8 months ago
'lord of the rings' adventure, around 5 minutes to load, (or not..arrgghh!)
loading between levels on 'renegade'
over doing the cheat codes in 'jet set willy' just to have it crash *after* loading.
lenslock, rubber keyboard, and 'colour clash'.....
Yep, the ZX was a pain in the a**e, but we LOVED IT.
morval99 8 months ago
£129 was a lot of money back then (it still is now really).
No wonder sir Alan hit the big time.
Y0UTUBERCUL0SIS 8 months ago
The weekends I lost playing Elite. When games were more than fancy graphics.
Huttate1 8 months ago
woot manic miner jetset willy , great times i notoly wore the letters of the keys but i wore the membarne out under it to.
1kicka1 8 months ago
Yes, loading time was a pain. By the way when mine ZX got too hot, after 8 houers of gaming, it crashed, but it was good times, and a lot of fun.
MrJumper68 8 months ago
I had one with Rubber Keys Played Spy Hunter until the Letters wore off
nagl417 9 months ago
he told the games really crappy( compared to what we to day on our cell phones)
robodudeable 9 months ago
my dad had one of these back in the way back in the day before met mother
robodudeable 9 months ago
They look nice.
meatisdeliciouse 9 months ago
IT SU-ALL HAIL SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM,ALL HAIL ZX SPECTRUM!
stogi5959 9 months ago
just what every user wants
more keys.
InternetLad 9 months ago
Does anyone remember annoying the family players by pressing the SPACE bar when the game was just about loaded?
spuddy83 9 months ago
Wow...I still have the rubber keyed 48k with the demo cassette, all the wiring, instruction manual, box, and the separate tape deck my Grandad bought me to go with it. The only things missing are the plystyrene inserts lol. I had DT Decathlon too, but my fave was Manic Miner. Oooooh the memories!
Cazbo1972 10 months ago
I had the old 48k with rubber keys then later the +2(128k) happy days.except the lengthy load time followed by it crashing. Check out world of spectrum.com you can go the archives and play any game they ever made on the built in emulator
DONALDSON51 10 months ago
Wow, how slick. i can imagine the same commercial to be shown today (with better screenshots of course). ZX Spectrum ++, ARM / Android powered :)
korbatz 10 months ago
@korbatz
Sinclair competed with Acorn for the BBC computer contract. Acorn won, and although Sinclair sold many more machines to the general public in the 80s, Acorn went on to develop RISC computing and the ARM technology (Acorn Risc Machine). So the history of the Spectrum and modern-day ARM processors are very much intertwined.
KaitainCPS 7 months ago
For Americans like me who grew up in the 1980's, we really only knew Atari and Commodore. Looking at Spectrum and its various offshoots now, its graphics and sounds seem so surreal... like some weird scaled down version of our games; how our computers would have looked if we played them while dreaming.
ForcedToSignUp 11 months ago
@ForcedToSignUp Well were I came from C64, and latere on the Amiga was big. I thing it depends on what your neighbour had, if they had a C64 it was the thing, the same was the story about the ZX. I had a ZX Spectrum, I still have it, I loved it..... I think the ZX was so popular back then was because of the amount of games, just like today, most computeres are popular because of the amount of games, if you look away from apple ;-)
MrJumper68 8 months ago
@ForcedToSignUp
The Spectrum was a better machine than the VIC-20 and the Atari VCS. Not as powerful overall as the Atari 800 or the C64. It did actually have a faster processor, but it lacked custom chips for sprites et al, so couldn't run most arcade games as well. (It was pretty good for vector games, though.)
KaitainCPS 7 months ago
B Integreta out of range (was, i think one such error message that flashed up when you were trying to "create" a game or picture from code on the old ZX Spectrum.)
BuddyFantastic 11 months ago
@BuddyFantastic Integer out of range.Meant the number was not within the boundaries that were expected.
I used to hack the header code on these games to remove the often unreliable speed loaders that were also an early form of copy protection.I would then save the game on cassette or even search for addresses that would enable extra lives and stuff.Poke the address with a different number and hey presto, infinite lives lol.Ah, those were the days!
: )
JooHaxDemoTaken 11 months ago
@TehUberCyberBeast lmao........ omg that brings back memories lol
anjin66 11 months ago
rubber keyboard
seva809 1 year ago
@TehUberCyberBeast - haha gotta love the old R Tape loading error, makes me laugh every time I see somebody making reference to it. At the time it could be incredibly annoying but again sometimes you just had to laugh. I remember me and a mate trying literally all night long once to get a copy of beach head to load, must have had about 15 x R Tape loading error's lol, then suddenly we cracked it and were whooping and hi fiving all over the place....hilarious at the time and great memories
Stevieboy74 1 year ago 2
@Stevieboy74
I remember watching the tape counter creeping towards the fail point. Would it make it past?
You would be sweating, crossing the fingers - unbearable tension. Then, when it finally loaded, you would feel so good that the game itself was an anti-climax.
jazzx251 10 months ago
@Stevieboy74 lol yes load "" )followed by enter and hit the play of a low quality tape recorder
guitargamery 3 months ago
I think apple iPad is zx spectrum beefed up lol wi a built in screen fucking waste o money man just like the ps3 who in there right mind would pay 300 quid for something that looks like a center consol from a ford grenada from 1982
303seany 1 year ago 2
48k... notepad alone consume 2900+k
Hells616 1 year ago
damn, I wanna time travel back to the 80's, I've never been there
MrTheRocketmaster 1 year ago
@MrTheRocketmaster
It was great. :)
KaitainCPS 7 months ago
@TehUberCyberBeast
I remember that
Hitradio1991 1 year ago
fifty quid extra for a keyboard which is rotten in comparison to a current supermarket £10 el cheapo model - madness!
alanlovedog 1 year ago
Check this out. "ZX81 chess in 1K"
Just Google it
ThereIsCake 1 year ago
I had a Spectrum, and my friend had a Spectrum+. That was a far superior keyboard, but because he purchased it as an upgrade, it was somewhat dodgy in its reliability. But then, all Sinclair products were irritatingly fragile.
GuanoLad 1 year ago
I wrote a word processor for the ZX81. It worked in 1k of memory and still had room to edit and save a whole paragraph.
Dave83C 1 year ago
Comment removed
ThereIsCake 1 year ago
was about 13 when ZX came out,it was my first gaming console/PC and only had 4games but of course swapped with mates.
Still spent daft amount of hours playing games.
May have been poor by todays standards but if its all there is then it was great,just don't mention loading games..darn tapes.
guderiank 1 year ago
If only I'd kept up the coding, I'd me Mark Zuckerberg now. 48k??!!
diamondogz 1 year ago
Type FODENF1 into your search box. You don't have to, it's up to you really, but you may be missing out if you don't. Like I said, it's entirely up to you.....
FodenF1 1 year ago
I had one of these! ! !
Kiryutka22 1 year ago
I remember typing the following on the display machines in menzies, then hitting return and retiring to a safe distance to watch the assistants try to shut the thing up (which could only be done by yanking the power cord out of the back, quite awkward on the security shelves they were on).
10 PRINT "FUCK OFF"
20 RANDOMIZE USR 1331
happy days lol
pepeladouche 1 year ago
From Commodore in the UK:
" For Atari to compete, they must at least quadruple their RAM. Apple and Sinclair will laos be faced with a sizeable chore. But Enterprise implode us with a 128k version. Seems like that when all the others step their ram up, we will have to double ours."
jjovereats 1 year ago
I started gaming on a second hand Vic 20 - I would of done anything for a ZX Spectrum back then!
MOSTechnology 1 year ago
were all in love with technology.
Isaiah6517 1 year ago
load""
wait 20 minutes watching coloured flashing bars around the border of your tv
get the loading error message
repeat 17 times
explode with excitement when it finally loads
spend the next 24 hours smashing the crap out of the keyboard on Daley Thompsons decathlon
Happy days!
doctordrew66 1 year ago 58
@doctordrew66 I remember Manic Miner was a pain... Owing to the way the loader was designed, even if there was an error, it still looked and sounded like it was still loading...
Astragali 1 year ago
@doctordrew66
you need to use a mini screwdriver in the tape deck...lol
davh1231 4 months ago
@doctordrew66
sounds like vista...lol
davh1231 4 months ago
@doctordrew66
lol indeed they dont make them like they used to, i even threw mine down stairs the keys all popped out, but after putting them back in it worked and not a scratch, try doing that do a PS3 and Xbox and they die..
The 48k+ was what i had and the biggest fustration was the cassette player you used to have to plug in via a ear jack, and nothing worse was accidently knocking the player or wire while nearly loading the game.
Dont think todays kids would have the patience lol
BanjoKiD2K 3 months ago
@BanjoKiD2K or the IQ :p
Urko2005 3 months ago
This may actually be from 1984, which is the year the Spectrum+ (figured in the commercial) was released.
Bucketheadwear 1 year ago
@TehUberCyberBeast
I remember that !
Hitradio1991 1 year ago
Really nice advert, it still looks good today
khunag 1 year ago 2
This was my first computer, had the smaller one with rubber-keys. Loved it :).
nofreedomofspeech 1 year ago
your lucky im getting a zx spectrum +2
neogeo53 1 year ago
ive always liked 80s computers but the spectrum beats them all great vid!
neogeo53 1 year ago
@neogeo53 I had them all except the zx80 and the +3
Great days! Great times!
Come home from school and have a game of Manic Miner..Ahhh yes.
No wonder my homework never got done. Part of the reason they went bust was....It was SO easy to copy the games. I had over 500 games and about 400 of them were pirate copy's LOL.
matsui2001 1 year ago
I wonder what computer they used for the "3D" parts?
artemusprine 1 year ago 2
Does anyone know who wrote the music for this?
RetroElectroville 1 year ago
i loved my speccy back then i told my mum and dad it would help with my homework
but really i just wanted to play manic miner and ant attack lol.
crazy how its all gone.
parkeyx 1 year ago
£180 quid haway
grahamt1978 1 year ago
Good synth pop music! hehe
cinqo7 1 year ago
you could kid on to your parents you were into programming but only ever play games on it.
Gonzoidzz 1 year ago
It's so thrilling watching a bunch of ZX Spectrums going on a conveyor belt...
Funky787 1 year ago
This advert is mid to late 1984 at the earliest, I remember getting a Speccy Plus in 1985 and it hadn't been out long.
mpwheatley 1 year ago
I had a Commodore Vic 20.
Feisty1967 1 year ago
I remember my brother and I getting a kit to 'upgrade' to the Spectrum+. It involved taking the guts out of the old speccy and putting it into the Spectrum+ keyboard. Our dad helped with the soldering that was required.
It wasn't a DIY upgrade but a kit with instructions ... don't remember where we got it though
Shrike12 1 year ago
The BBC Micro was far better and probably more value as a programming tool but the Spectrum had so many games and was so much more cooler.
A great classic 80's advert!
death2utubenow 1 year ago
Both SINCLAIR and Commodore were good. This made my mum scream.
jjovereats 1 year ago
Remember that annoying sound when data was loaded from audio cassettes? Sometimes I turn on my 56k US Robotics modem just to hear the sound.
Pseudologic 1 year ago
spectrum sucks c64 rules, but nice advertisement.
y2k4ever1 1 year ago
Awesome home computer
Lufttygger306 1 year ago
Wow - this reminds me of some sort of video game music from my youth. I think the game was called Fury 3.
SuperNESFreak 1 year ago
I upgraded my original spectrum to a plus for 15 quid by mail order. this ad's late 83 early 84 by my reckoing. It still works after i bought a brand new membrane for key board off e bay. Only play Jetpac though as that's only game I've got on Cartridge.
smellycatchris 1 year ago
@smellycatchris Haha, yeah my membrane went too. Hope you didn't pay as much as they're asking now 'cos they're only 8 quid fifty off some sites.
richardmaudsley77 1 year ago
Ahh I so remember this. Thanks for posting!!
Back in the days of choice and innovation. Glad to have been a part of it and I'll love my Speccy forever :)
flickrsteve 1 year ago
now theres a blast from the past, remeber teh day they bought that out and i could finally stop stunting the growth in my fingers with the awefull ZX81's,,,,a real key board LOL YES!!!!!
brothermalick 1 year ago
this is shite, acorn electron was the future!
fletch357 1 year ago
ZX Spectrum was one of the reasons I became a video gamer in my life. Who the Hell can forget Saboteur 2?
PsychotronicWar 1 year ago
they were the days lol......i had one of these and started my gaming on one....games like dizzy....jetset willy....booty.....paper boy....spy hunter....
ak77dragon1 1 year ago
Cool
falkerhard 1 year ago
hi am 11...and what is this?
CoolConejo 1 year ago
@CoolConejo ROFL!! :p some nifty stuff thats more advanced than your flat, empty keyboard.
angeltiger1986 1 year ago
These computers still have my deepest respect.
DictatorRoB 1 year ago 2
the best bit about the spectrum was the noise the tape recorder made after a game had "loaded" for 10 minutes then just when it was ready to start, the screen froze and the sound bugged! NOOOOO! (as the tape machine hit the wall!)
paulvev 1 year ago
It's the Terminator factory
MLFreese 1 year ago
I can't wait for this to come out!
Colonelbasic 1 year ago 2
@Colonelbasic LOL!
marcstalkspot 1 year ago
great stuff...
i had both when they first came out.. the original 48k and the +
might get em again for the nostalgia buzz..
moonboots69 1 year ago
@useless1997 More like the intro to Black Celebration.
wattage2007 1 year ago
@wattage2007
Lol your right haha what an album
Colonelbasic 1 year ago
Does anyone else remember watching and thinking "The future is HERE!"
RainStyle967 1 year ago
whoah they wre expensive back then, today i could go down to a car boot sale and get one for a fiver! Great coputer tho, i can still remember the good times.
CoolDudeClem 1 year ago
Great!
PSXDooMERR 1 year ago
Very good ad!
LAMEIRAS360 1 year ago
sinclair nostalgia !
14pm221 1 year ago
computing will never be the same again... :(
ogicabp4u 1 year ago
the spectrum was shit it only had 8 colours or some thing like that as the c64 was better and the amstard cpc464
JOCKATEO 1 year ago
very small and nice lookin
kinmanyuen 1 year ago 2
I loved the 80s growing up with these computers i owned the 48k+ and the 128+2
uggla03 1 year ago 3
The original Speccy came in '82. This ad must have been aired around the time the Plus came out (end 1984).
rasputniktellyvision 1 year ago
................what?..................
ripper497 1 year ago
Hats off to anyone that could type on the "professional keyboard".
wikichris 1 year ago
I had an +2A and it was flawless ... although the old gummy was more woowy though
cybercow222 1 year ago
The melodie at 0:22 reminds at a Depeche Mode song, but I can't remember which it was.
Could be Fly on the Windscreen.
useless1997 1 year ago 4
Yes, it does indeed sound like Fly On The Windscreen! A good three years before Depeche Mode made it too...
Jarren202 1 year ago
Good old times!
Thanks for posting!
mig189189189 1 year ago
OMG what humble beginnings.
I started Gaming on this when Electronic Arts was nothing more than a couple of spotty students with some mates who could code.
I guess things have moved on, EA now suck sweaty ball-sacks but I still know where my spectrum is.
(it's in a box, in my attic)
ThereIsCake 1 year ago 30
@ThereIsCake : I want your Spectrum. Name the price.
PsychotronicWar 1 year ago
@PsychotronicWar
I would no sooner part with my Spectrum than I would part with the fully functional "Decimo International" calculator my father bought in 1973.
tinypic [dot] com/r/35j0208/4
tinypic [dot]com/r/2pskkcm/4
I can appreciate your interest but I'm keeping it.
ThereIsCake 1 year ago
@ThereIsCake lol, same, and i have over 400 cassette tapes
H4rdcor3TilliDi3 10 months ago
Comment removed
ThereIsCake 10 months ago
@H4rdcor3TilliDi3
So much history in those tapes.
ThereIsCake 10 months ago
Classic machines. I still have both models now.
wisteela 1 year ago
@wisteela
You are lucky, it's like owning Ford Model A 1930.
DictatorRoB 1 year ago
thats the one i had, was awsome!
nvstewart 1 year ago 2
I see they dont show it working , even then it was not good
Ashmansworth 1 year ago
You serious ? It was the most popular home computer in the UK, sold by the bucket load.
psj3809 1 year ago
yep I spent much time playing jet set willy, but this ad was revamping the case without upgraiding the computer, stretching the income they could get , it is still the same as the old one. commador and Atari were pushung ahead at this point
Ashmansworth 1 year ago
The Spectrum + was the first computer i got, after criticism of the rubber keyed version they released this 'proper' typing keyboard. Was a nice little machine though, great memories of those days after school, swapping tapes and buying cheap 1.99 games from the chemists/WhSmiths etc !
psj3809 1 year ago
thumbs up to that, it was an event
Ashmansworth 1 year ago
£179 SHIIIIT. U ALL GOT KNOCKED IN THE 80's
jpod1989 1 year ago
I've got to get one of these, but I live in the USA, so I don't know what to use as a display. Maybe a Commodore monitor??
dave4shmups 2 years ago
you should be able to just hook it up directly to a tv. You might have to adjust the vertical hold but most tvs do this automatically since sometime in the 90's Good luck getting one
therealMrMackem 2 years ago
no they fit regular old scholl tvs with a rf input or u can use yoiur vcr input to patch it in to a newer tv
enemoj 1 year ago
But wouldn't my TV have to accept a PAL signal?? How do I know if it can do this??
dave4shmups 1 year ago
Still now a great design!
FrullaChristi 2 years ago
i bought a new commodore 16 with my paper round money from "currys" and each week would buy a mastertronic budget game..
the sound from this machine was far superior to the speccy and the games were just as good.
DaisyAdair24 2 years ago
I still have the zx81 ànd the Spectrum 32K with tapestreamers (micro-something), i thought the + was crap at the time but their keyboard was indeed better. There was also a Curra Speech, which let you type in phonetic words and the Spec would pronounce them!
atzenanu 2 years ago
Better than the 16k, though! If you wanted to play anything more elaborate than noughts and crosses on that, you needed a memory pack the size of a suitcase!
mistofoles 2 years ago
I used to have one of these, I squandered so many hours on it.
Seladoor 2 years ago
i want 1
tottenham06 2 years ago
Guardo muy buenos recuerdos de este ordenador, tenía algunos juegos que eran mas divertidos que muchos de los actuales.
1Glaurung 2 years ago
I still have my 48k ZX Spectrum. I use it as a paperweight / conversation piece.
hsd628 2 years ago
I had a ZX Spectrum +, and a +2 after that. I liked it alot at the time.
mkaatr 2 years ago
i got one of these at a car boot sale for £2 because the person who was selling it thought it was a keyboard
laurdy 2 years ago 3
@laurdy uahuhauha LOL :) lucky you!
AMsElectronicMusic 2 years ago
wow, a whole 48k, awesome.. hack the us D.O.D mainframe with that raw power,lol. Seriously though, look how far computers have come in a relativity short space of time, imagine what will be available in 15 years from now, 5tb graphics cards?
boazandjiacinth 2 years ago
You can buy 1Tb hard drives now, what's suprising is that you can buy them from a supermarket.
fightthepurple 2 years ago
So when will I be able to get a PC that response as quickly to the keyboard as a Spectrum (without me being able to type faster than the letter show up at times)?
iDalek 2 years ago
maybe a Petabyte... : )
JonnyInfinite 2 years ago
This confuses me now. If I would have seen it back then, I would have been even more confused.
theboombody 2 years ago
The thing is though, this isn't that long ago. It's a bit scary how far we've come in such a short time.....
shrivel1 2 years ago 2
My uncle has a ZX Spectrum... I'd probably break it if I used it :(
07tazman95 2 years ago
HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF JESUS...Only 179.95 Pounds...Now that WAS a real bargain...:D
Freelancer2000 2 years ago 2
@Freelancer2000
That was about £400 in today's money.
Back then, a pint was 80p - petrol was 50p a litre - and you could go to the cinema and buy some chips on the way back, and still have change from a fiver.
But the average wage for a schoolteacher was about £5000 a year.
jazzx251 10 months ago
Positive typing action...FTW!
bigpoopie69 2 years ago
Wow thats really impressive and high tech. I think I'll get me one of those.
Maesterskurken 2 years ago
Holy Shit! A Whole 48K!!! Lol
I miss my Atari ST!
nightmathzombieethan 2 years ago
wow! What a blast from the past - most emails are bigger than the memory in this baby :)
tjf4375 2 years ago 3