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The idea that an Apple II could have been "the computer you used when you were growing up" was a rather late and surprising discovery to me. Nobody I knew could

by cannam 10y ago

The idea that an Apple II could have been "the computer you used when you were growing up" was a rather late and surprising discovery to me. Nobody I knew could afford an Apple II, and to this day I don't think I've ever seen one running except under emulation. (Of course the Apple came out a good few years before the Sinclairs as well, but I gather it was still sold throughout the 80s.) My own first computer was a Spectrum, which I loved, but I didn't have access to a colour TV at the time. I got to know all the fancy colour games in black and white.

protomyth 10y ago
Schools bought them because that was what schools bought in the late 70's and it did carry over even into the IBM era (1981+). To Apple's credit, they did get how to do educational sales. I didn't know anyone who owned one personally, but that was probably an income-based observation.
- cannam 10y ago
  Here in the UK, I think schools in the 70s often had the Research Machines 380Z (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/13/archaeologic_the_research_machines_380z_story/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/13/archaeologic_the_re...) which was a marvellously chunky Z80-powered machine running CP/M. I used those at school and liked them a lot but, I guess like the Apple II, nobody would have bought one for their home because they were expensive and sold mostly through education channels. In the 80s they generally switched to BBC Micros, which were affordable enough that some better-off families had their own. So I can see it being a regional thing that I never used an Apple II -- they didn't appear in schools in the UK -- but I wonder about other countries besides the US. Was the Apple all that widespread anywhere else?
  - protomyth 10y ago
    I think Canada, and something about Japan since their was a special model: Apple II J-Plus.
digi_owl 10y ago
Some variant of the Apple II sold into the early 90s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIGS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIGS
jhbadger 10y ago
The Apple II was really mostly a US thing. It was more of the higher end of the home computer market. Having a Spectrum makes me think you are from the UK. The BBC micro was basically the Apple ][ equivalent there. I'm from the US and actually had a Franklin Ace 1000 (a cheap Apple II clone that was sued out of existence by Apple) growing up
- cannam 10y ago
  Yep, I'm from the UK. And it may have had to do with exchange rates, but I think even the BBC Micro (£400 then, £1300 in today's money) was only about half the price of the Apple II. Though I can't seem to find a good source for the UK selling price of Apples back then. (I'm fairly sure the Franklin Ace was available over here as well; at least it appeared in listings at the back of computer mags I used to get. I never saw one and, at the time, never registered that it was an Apple clone.)

by cannam 10y ago

protomyth 10y ago

Schools bought them because that was what schools bought in the late 70's and it did carry over even into the IBM era (1981+). To Apple's credit, they did get how to do educational sales. I didn't know anyone who owned one personally, but that was probably an income-based observation.

cannam 10y ago
Here in the UK, I think schools in the 70s often had the Research Machines 380Z (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/13/archaeologic_the_research_machines_380z_story/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/13/archaeologic_the_re...) which was a marvellously chunky Z80-powered machine running CP/M. I used those at school and liked them a lot but, I guess like the Apple II, nobody would have bought one for their home because they were expensive and sold mostly through education channels. In the 80s they generally switched to BBC Micros, which were affordable enough that some better-off families had their own. So I can see it being a regional thing that I never used an Apple II -- they didn't appear in schools in the UK -- but I wonder about other countries besides the US. Was the Apple all that widespread anywhere else?
- protomyth 10y ago
  I think Canada, and something about Japan since their was a special model: Apple II J-Plus.

digi_owl 10y ago

Some variant of the Apple II sold into the early 90s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIGS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIGS

jhbadger 10y ago

The Apple II was really mostly a US thing. It was more of the higher end of the home computer market. Having a Spectrum makes me think you are from the UK. The BBC micro was basically the Apple ][ equivalent there. I'm from the US and actually had a Franklin Ace 1000 (a cheap Apple II clone that was sued out of existence by Apple) growing up

cannam 10y ago
Yep, I'm from the UK. And it may have had to do with exchange rates, but I think even the BBC Micro (£400 then, £1300 in today's money) was only about half the price of the Apple II. Though I can't seem to find a good source for the UK selling price of Apples back then. (I'm fairly sure the Franklin Ace was available over here as well; at least it appeared in listings at the back of computer mags I used to get. I never saw one and, at the time, never registered that it was an Apple clone.)