One of the most iconic home computers of the 1980s is celebrating its 30th anniversary today. Released in the UK and Ireland by Sinclair Research, the ZX Spectrum combined iconic design with a pocket-friendly price point to become the most popular home computer of its time, on this side of the Atlantic, at least.
Conceived as a cheap alternative to the BBC Microcomputer and Commodore 64, the 8-bit ZX featured a 3.8MHz CPU and came in models with a whopping 16- and 128-Kb of memory and sold for £125 and £175 on release. As with the Commodore 64 it used a cassette tape to load games, which were programmed in Sinclair BASIC, already a common programming language.
In the mid-80s Sir Clive Sinclair sold the Spectrum range to Amstrad, leading to the release of a series of bigger home computers with integrated cassette decks but at a similar price point.
The ZX Spectrum was discontinued in 1992 having sold an estimated 5 million units in total leaving behind a legacy of 23,000 software titles, although a community of hobbyists continue develop programs for it.
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