Many unofficial clones were released around the world throughout the 1980s. Referred to during development as the ZX81 Colour and ZX82,it was launched as the ZX Spectrum by Sinclair to highlight the machine's colour display, compared with the black and white display of its predecessor, the ZX81.
Licensing deals and clones followed, earning Clive Sinclair a knighthood for services to British industry. The Commodore 64, Dragon 32, Oric-1, Oric Atmos, BBC Micro and later the Amstrad CPC range were rivals to the Spectrum in the UK market during the early 1980s.
It was first released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982.
The Spectrum was released as eight different models, ranging from the entry level with 16 KB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 KB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987; altogether they sold over 5 million units worldwide (not counting clones). The Spectrum was among the first home computers in the UK aimed at a mainstream audience, similar in significance to the Commodore 64 in the US or the MO5 in France.
It was originally released on 23 April 1982 with 16 KB of RAM for £125 (equivalent to £348.92 in 2019) or with 48 KB for £175 (equivalent to £488.48 in 2019); these prices were later reduced to £99 and £129 respectively.
Either socket could be connected to headphones or an amplifier as an audio output, although this would not disable the internal speaker. === ZX Spectrum+ === Planning of the ZX Spectrum+ started in June 1984, and was released on October 15th.
In early 1985, the original Spectrum was officially discontinued and the ZX Spectrum+ was reduced in price to £129.95.
=== ZX Spectrum 128 === In 1985, Sinclair developed the ZX Spectrum 128 (code-named Derby) in conjunction with their Spanish distributor Investrónica (a subsidiary of El Corte Inglés department store group).
The Spectrum was released as eight different models, ranging from the entry level with 16 KB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 KB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987; altogether they sold over 5 million units worldwide (not counting clones). The Spectrum was among the first home computers in the UK aimed at a mainstream audience, similar in significance to the Commodore 64 in the US or the MO5 in France.
The machine was officially discontinued in 1992. == Hardware == The Spectrum is based on a Zilog Z80, a CPU running at 3.5 MHz (or NEC D780C-1 clone).
It was originally released on 23 April 1982 with 16 KB of RAM for £125 (equivalent to £348.92 in 2019) or with 48 KB for £175 (equivalent to £488.48 in 2019); these prices were later reduced to £99 and £129 respectively.
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