4 ms·

True, but for the C64 "anyone" meant anyone middle-class. The Spectrum "anyone" really meant almost anyone.

• ido 8y ago
  You may underestimate how much: 1. prices for computers were lower in the US than in the UK 2. wealthier Americans were than europeans in the 70s and early 80s (the gap closed the further from WW2 we got) That "double" priced c64 in the UK probably set an American family back as much as a spectrum did in the UK in terms of their respective disposable income.
  • Marazan 8y ago
    The C64 launched at 600 dollars in the USA, the Timex licensed version of the Spectrum was 200 dollars.
    • rwallace 8y ago
      But the Timex Sinclair 2068 was released just over a year later, so while there was still a price discrepancy, it was much smaller than 3x.
    • classichasclass 8y ago
      And the C64 price quickly sunk like a rock once the VIC-20 left the market. The T/S 1000 (the US ZX-81), its contemporary, was seen as cheap junk. I remember my parents being critical of the keyboard and the construction, and I don't think they were atypical. The T/S 2068 was better than the 1000 in every respect, but had compatibility issues with the Spectrum, and Timex's computer division had already suffered from the poor perception of their earlier home computers.
      • ido 8y ago
        and the article actually describes that very price war that commodore initiated with TI et al :) the c64 itself was quickly sold for ~$200.