Interesting (though short) discussion on Burning Rubber

[TotO]

What is this mythical 6128 you mention, tell me more.

Continuum space time failure? 
Hopefully, the CPC 464 allows 64K dkTronics RAM expansion. 

[ivarf]

What is this mythical 6128 you mention, tell me more.

I believe the Amstrad CPC 6128 was sold in France only. People in Britain could not afford such a expensive machine. Neither did the USA. Stupid Spanish people somehow thought Americans had money. Have a live Amstrad CPC 6128 ever been spotted in Chicago? I wonder if it was branded Indescomp or Amstrad...


Or did the french take computing (and gaming) more seriously than the british?

[TotO]

People in Britain could not afford such an expensive machine. Neither did the USA.

C64 only was 599$, required to add tape drive, floppy drive, monitor or TV set... So, I'm not sure that was a problem to afford a computer. The french CPC 6128 advertising made the job in France.

[Otto]

C64 only was 599$, required to add tape drive, floppy drive, monitor or TV set... So, I'm not sure that was a problem to afford a computer. The french CPC 6128 advertising made the job in France.

Good to hear. With great interest I follow this experience discussion here, how situations were different in different countries.

Also here in Germany the CPC 6128 was widely used, much more than the CPC 464 or the 664. All my CPC friends except one had a CPC 6128 actually. Since I had bought my CPC half a year earlier, I got this CPC 664 which was only produced for half a year (or so)?

But your mentioned  "64K dkTronics RAM expansion" made the CPC 664 into a CPC 6128 (for 99% of the cases). :-)  That was really great, since I preferred the 664's keyboard and layout compared to the 6128's.

Several of us had a ZX Spectrum before the Schneider CPC, and since we lost so many files with the Spectrum's tape madness, when the CPC 464 appeared we naturally waited and saved pocket-money until Amstrad released a version with floppy disc drive.

Anyway, CPCs with 128K do rock! Retro games should try to use it.

[trocoloco]

Lucky you French and German people, in Spain we were poor so people had  an Amstrad 464 in vast majority, it was the first computer for most of us.

Even a Spanish exclusive CPC 472 was made in order to avoid taxes the same year that 6128 arrived, and sold more ofc! The 6128 was for the few lucky & privileged..

Good stuff I had the chance to change so many tapes with friends and schoolmates and among them Renegade and Gryzor ofc, which i still enjoyed very much even without scroll!

[arkive]

C64 only was 599$, required to add tape drive, floppy drive, monitor or TV set... So, I'm not sure that was a problem to afford a computer. The french CPC 6128 advertising made the job in France.

599$ was the launch price. In 1985 in the UK C64 costed ~180 pounds (Spectrum ~130) vs ~320 for Amstrad.
Even so, it sold a little bit better than C64 in UK, so it was probably also advertising and some "buy British!" angle.

[asertus]

599$ was the launch price. In 1985 in the UK C64 costed ~180 pounds (Spectrum ~130) vs ~320 for Amstrad.
Even so, it sold a little bit better than C64 in UK, so it was probably also advertising and some "buy British!" angle.

Selling pitch for cpcs, as most Amstrad products, was all in one. For that price you got monitor, tape/disc, and home TV stays available for the family.. so price must be considered with all this in mind.


I was a lucky owner of 6128 because my father used it also for accounting, word processing and even mailing (print letters, and sticher with addresses to send by post mail ). But it was quite expensive, around 700€, color + printer.

[arkive]

Selling pitch for cpcs, as most Amstrad products, was all in one. For that price you got monitor, tape/disc, and home TV stays available for the family.. so price must be considered with all this in mind.

Maybe not the price itself, because if you added a tape/drive it would be still much lower for the competitors (everybody  had a TV already). But the psychological effect was there for sure.

Such bundle also looked better - and more serious, with the monitor -  in the ads.

[TotO]

599$ was the launch price. In 1985 in the UK C64 costed ~180 pounds (Spectrum ~130) vs ~320 for Amstrad.
Even so, it sold a little bit better than C64 in UK, so it was probably also advertising and some "buy British!" angle.

What I mean is that if peoples was able to buy the C64 and an external drive from the began, the price was not an issue.
By the way, you are comparing stock C64 vs CPC with tape drive + colour monitor.

[arkive]

What I mean is that if peoples was able to buy the C64 and an external drive from the began, the price was not an issue.
By the way, you are comparing stock C64 vs CPC with tape drive + colour monitor.

C64 did not get so popular because people went and bought the most expensive configuration at launch, only so called early adopters did that (as it always is). Also, these were options, not a built-in stuff. The price was very much an issue in the Eighties, any teenager growing up in that era, without enthusiast/minted parents, will attest to that.

My price comparison was an extrapolation of sources. Wikipedia says green 6128 had initial RRP of 299 pounds. Personal Computer News from May 1985 in its bestseller list mentions just "Amstrad" at 349 pounds. That aside from the fact you could buy other micros second hand in 1985, even cheaper,  6128 not so much.

We are discussing 6128's market performance. Most kids wanted to play games and didn't have much pennies t spare, so ZX at 130 quid or C64 at ~200 (with tape), which you could use with any TV, were primary targets. When faced with choice of loading from tape and playing on a TV (often B/W) now vs keeping on saving  for a fancy Amstrad (which didn't have most of the chart topping games anyway) most went with the former option.

CPC was always a bit more upmarket choice (and 6128 a semi-biz machine) and did reasonably well considering all these factors.

[TotO]

Kids playing games in the 80s was a minority and mainly by opportunity of their parents computer or a video games console.
The French Wikipedia said that CPC 464 (tape + monitor) was sold the same price as the C64 alone in 1984... Really attractive to not disturb the parents on the TV Set.

About the 6128, the price dropped very fast after one year (because the Atari ST?), so many peoples took the opportunity to buy it with a colour monitor as home computer for the family at less in France and Germany.

[arkive]

Kids playing games in the 80s was a minority

Ummm...

[Gryzor]

Well he's not wrong - he means computer games obviously. What percentage of pupils had their own computers in '82 or '84 or '86?

[Axelay]

What I mean is that if peoples was able to buy the C64 and an external drive from the began, the price was not an issue.
By the way, you are comparing stock C64 vs CPC with tape drive + colour monitor.

I've always found the 'CPC was expensive/luxury platform' assertion some make a bit odd.  I didn't know a single C64 owner without a disk drive that I understood was quite expensive at the time, and a specific TV or monitor for it.

[sigh]

I've always found the 'CPC was expensive/luxury platform' assertion some make a bit odd.  I didn't know a single C64 owner without a disk drive that I understood was quite expensive at the time, and a specific TV or monitor for it.

Agreed. My 464 was bought for me by my parents in xmas 87 and they were both low wage earners. They bought it primarily as a learning tool (I used it quite a bit for art work) and we also didn't 'own' a tv. We rented our television.

My friend received a disk drive for his C64 - and it was not cheap by any means. He also had the tv bought for him.

[Carnivius]

My 464 was bought for me by my parents in xmas 87 and they were both low wage earners.

My CPC464 was bought in 1985. I don't even know why.  My folks never had that much interest in computers.  My dad did own a ZX81 but I never saw him use it, it was just stored in it's box in a cupboard under junk.  So how come we got a CPC464?  I mean it was the green screen version but still a lot of money on something with seemingly no reason and in a family who weren't earning a whole lot.  I'm gonna have to ask them about that next time I speak to them.