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Ah yes, the 80s, when everyone had a computer.
by chickensong 5mo ago
Ah yes, the 80s, when everyone had a computer.
- ErroneousBosh 5mo agoWell, yeah. The home computer revolution. Literally everyone had a ZX Spectrum, or Commodore 64, or a BBC Micro if their parents were rich and thought that having the same as they had at school was a good idea.
- chickensong 5mo agoIf you change "literally everyone" to "a minority" we can agree.
- ErroneousBosh 5mo agoWell, no, because it wasn't a minority. They were cheap and ubiquitous, unless I suppose you were in one of "Iron Curtain" countries.
- chabska 5mo agoA quick google query says 15% of US households own a personal computer in 1989.
- ErroneousBosh 5mo agoOkay, well, it was far more than that in the UK and Europe. I suppose it's a bit like television, it would have been more popular where it was invented.
- jen20 5mo agoAround 5 million ZX Spectrums were sold between 1982 and 1992. If all were sold in the UK (they weren’t), that would put the penetration around 25% based on the number of households in 1990.
- ErroneousBosh 5mo agoOne specific model of ZX Spectrum, which is one specific make and model of home computer. Did you live in the UK in the 1980s?
- rng-concern 5mo agoAsking chatgpt, in UK in late 80s, it would be 20-25% across all computers, depending on definition of "computer". A 1/4 of households is still high. It may have been higher in your neck of the woods.
- jen20 5mo ago> Did you live in the UK in the 1980s? Yes. > One specific model of ZX Spectrum I do not believe this to be the case, that number appears to include the 128K and the Amstrad variants also.
- adampunk 5mo agoMy house did not have a computer in it until 1992. I knew many people who did not have a computer in the house in the 1980s. Computers were expensive!
- ErroneousBosh 5mo agoEven in the early 80s they were 100 quid, that was nothing.