A Brief History of the Sinclair Spectrum

The real beginning of home computing all started with the ZX Spectrum. Introduced by Sir Clive Sinclair in 1982, it proved to be a huge hit in the home.

The machine was small, smaller than any laptop available today. It plugged into a standard television set and used a standard tape recorder for storage. It was equipped with 48K of ram which was plenty for what it needed to do. A 5.25" disk drive was available for those that needed it (programmers and the like). It was a machine tailored for home use.

Sinclair proved that his machine could be a flexible tool. Word Processing, database & spreadsheet applications were cheaply available and it mimicked the action of the arcade games which had become so popular in the late 70's. Space Invaders, Pac Man, Pong - all classics of their time and could all be played cheaply within the home.

Despite Sinclair having to sell Sinclair Research to Amstrad after the dismal sales provided by the Sinclair C5, the ZX spectrum continued to thrive. New 128K versions with more powerful sound were produced with a choice of a built in disk or tape drive.

The games became more advanced. Dizzy proved to be a classic of its time, providing great puzzles. The computer also managed to keep up with the hottest arcade games of the era. Although the spectrum could not compete graphically with the arcade power, it managed to match the gameplay with astounding success. Operation Wolf, Chase HQ and Streetfighter II all proved to be amazing conversions for the computer.

Of course no technology can keep up with the ever increasing demand placed on it by the consumer market. 16 bit computers and consoles such as the Sega Megadrive and Commodore Amiga well outsold it with their advanced graphics and superior speed. However, they themselves only lasted a few years before being replaced with 32bit equipment. Pentium processors were selling like hot-cakes and Sony made a tremendous break into the market with the Playstation.

For 10 years the ZX Spectrum was a mainstream computer. Nothing before or since has matched it. Just think how obsolete the Pentium III will be in 10 years time. The spectrum was incredibly well designed and it is the amazing British design which put it in good stead for an entire decade. No computing machine could match that today.