On This Day – 5th March

Launched on 5th March 1981, the ZX81 was a home computer produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Scotland by Timex Corporation. It was designed to be a low-cost introduction to home computing for the general public.

It was hugely successful, with more than 1.5 million units sold before it was discontinued. The ZX81 found commercial success in many other countries, notably the United States, where it was initially sold as the ZX-81. Its distinctive case and keyboard brought its designer, Rick Dickinson, a Design Council award.

The ZX81 was designed to be small, simple, and above all cheap, using as few components as possible to keep the cost down. Video output was to a television set rather than a dedicated monitor. Programs and data were loaded and saved onto audio tape cassettes. It had only four silicon chips on board and a mere 1 KB of memory. The machine had no power switch or any moving parts, using a pressure-sensitive membrane keyboard for manual input.

Mass-market computing

The ZX81 could be bought by mail order in kit form or pre-assembled. In what was then a major innovation, it was the first cheap mass-market home computer that could be bought from high street stores, led by W. H. Smith and soon many other retailers. The ZX81 marked the first time that computing in Britain became an activity for the general public, rather than the preserve of business people and electronics hobbyists. It inspired the creation of a huge community of enthusiasts, some of whom founded their own businesses producing software and hardware for the ZX81. Many went on to play a major role in the British computer industry in later years.

The ZX81's commercial success made Sinclair Research one of Britain's leading computer manufacturers and earned a fortune and an eventual knighthood for the company's founder, Sir Clive Sinclair.

Today's question – what was the price of the original ZX81, in assembled form?

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