When was the ZX Spectrum first released and how much did it cost?
The ZX Spectrum was first released in Britain on the 23rd of April 1982. The 16 KB model launched at £125 and the 48 KB model at £175, with prices reduced in 1983.
Questions about ZX Spectrum
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who designed the ZX Spectrum and where was it manufactured?
The ZX Spectrum was designed by Clive Sinclair and a team of 20 engineers at 6 King's Parade, Cambridge. The hardware was led by chief engineer Richard Altwasser, and the case was designed by industrial designer Rick Dickinson. It was manufactured by Timex Corporation at the Dryburgh factory in Dundee, Scotland.
How many ZX Spectrum units were sold?
Over five million ZX Spectrum units were sold by the time the machine was discontinued in 1992. The millionth unit was manufactured on the 9th of December 1983, with an average of 50,000 units sold per month by that point.
Why did Sinclair Research collapse after the ZX Spectrum's success?
Sinclair Research's decline followed the commercial failure of two products: the Sinclair QL professional computer, which sold only 139,454 units, and the Sinclair C5 electric tricycle, which sold just 17,000 units and lost £7 million. These failures eroded investor confidence, and on the 7th of April 1986 Clive Sinclair sold the entire Spectrum product range and the Sinclair brand name to Amstrad for £5 million.
What is attribute clash on the ZX Spectrum?
Attribute clash is a graphics limitation where all pixels within a character block share one foreground colour and one background colour. Chief engineer Richard Altwasser designed this colour system to fit within less than 7 kilobytes of memory, but it meant a desired colour for a specific pixel could not be selected independently of its neighbours. Altwasser received a patent for the underlying design.
How popular was the ZX Spectrum outside the United Kingdom?
The ZX Spectrum was widely used internationally. In Czechoslovakia an estimated 100,000 units were in use by 1988, making it the most popular home computer in the country despite never being officially advertised there. In India, a licensed version called the dB Spectrum+ sold over 50,000 units and achieved an 80 per cent market share. Unofficial clones were also produced across Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and South America.