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I'm not sure they were as widespread as you think. I was born in the late 70s, and while we did get a ti-99/4a when they hit the bargain bin, I didn't have anot

I'm not sure they were as widespread as you think. I was born in the late 70s, and while we did get a ti-99/4a when they hit the bargain bin, I didn't have another computer at home until I started college in the 90s. Until then I had to use the computer lab at school because they were simply too expensive for us to own one at home. And the TI I had was of limited use when I had to use it on the family TV and any basic I typed couldn't be saved because we didn't have the floppy drive.

Lio 2y ago
Might depend on location but in the UK and most of Europe at least, 8 bit computers were very, very common. The ZX Spectrum went for about £99, that was pretty cheap even back then. The less capable ZX81 was only £49 in kit form. Games consoles were not common here until the 90s because of the wide take up of home computers.