Retro & Vintage Computers, old consoles and classic gaming.
What’s the best 8 bit computer?
This is a question that always gets the classic computer enthusiasts talking – what’s your best/favorite 8 bit computer? Is it because it has the best graphics, best sound, best choice of hardware, best selection of games etc?
Please leave a comment below explaining your choice!
Let the 8 bit war commence. I’ve left a ‘other’ category as i’ve bound to miss out someones favourite system.
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#4 written by Nick Sharratt 2 years ago
For me it has to be the BBC micro. Built in assembler, well designed basic, good solid hardware with lots of expansion options suitable for hacking, and best of all, a very well designed OS that taught me lessons about how computing _should_ be done that still hold true today. Eg, write once and keep it simple but reusable, make it open and well documented and allow the community to extend it (sideways roms designed in from the start).
Sure, other machines had some bits of hardware that were better (C64 sound, CPC just because it was later), but the 6502 used in the Beeb was a delight to learn how to write really tight optimised code on, the teletext graphics chip was practically unique and Fred and Shelia became like old friends.
The games often came out first on platforms with more sales, but the Beeb ports were almost always crisper and more polished.
It also spawned truly innovative games such as Elite and Exile which were ported to other platforms.
The Social significance and impact of the C64 and Spectrum can’t be dismissed, but their popularity was built on price and games, they didn’t have the elegance of the Beeb which as a computing scientist I still appreciate today.
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Do you want the right answer, or the real one?
Naturally the Spectrum was the best computer ever, because it was just like the ZX81, only with some colours, and a noise, and it was surprisingly cheap for all that. Even the keyboard was better, feeling like recently deceased flesh instead of the fossilised flesh of million year old dead plastic dinosours.
But then again the Commodore 64 really amped things up with its 16 shades of brown and properly arcade quality synthesizer, even though the BASIC couldn’t actually do anything and the floppy drive was slower than a three legged rocking horse.
Atari did a pretty good job with the 800 and the XLs, and really let things rip with the XEs – which in practical terms didn’t seem to do anything mush different from the original 400 other than have BASIC in an actual ROM and a keyboard you didn’t want to puke on. At least the 400 looked like something Buck Rogers would land on.
The Apple IIs, at least in our market, were horrendously expensive and didn’t seem to be especially functional for the money. They were like the giant beige plastic battletanks of the moderately expensive home computer world.
Then there were the Beebs. Cheaper than Apples, beiger than Speccys and more educational than an evening out with my 5th Form maths teacher they had one of the best BASICs on the market, the best game ever made (Elite of course) and the most Owly logo known to mankind. The pinnacle of 8-bit computer has to be the Master 512 – a BBC Master 128 with more RAM and a 80186 co-pro built in.
So, in conclusion, I vote for the ZX81. ‘Coz it was my first computer, dammit, and nothing beats that.
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#9 written by Darren Wilson 2 years ago
The great thing was that me and my friends all had different machines. I had an Amstrad 6128 whilst others had spectrum or C64′s. We enjoyed the fact we could play on the different machines and there wasn’t the fatboy mentality that accompanies consoles. The Amstrad was let down by the strange mode set up whereby the more colours you had, the blocking the graphics. But some games still managed to look gorgeous. The Speccy had great innovative and payable games despite the hardware limitations whereas the Commodore was probably the best overall machine. Can I.vote for all three as they all trigger an immense sense of nostalgia and a huge smile on my face.
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Voted for the spectrum.
Any poll like this is likely to have a high degree of bias based on what systems people owned at the time. I think that having all the BASIC keywords show on the keyboard of the speccy was a good way to encourage programming (when it was still called programming and not ‘coding’).
Eventually moved onto BBC’s. A much better basic and more powerfully system overall but high cost and out of the reach for many at home.
Would be interesting to see what 8 bit machines people who now have IT careers started with. -
Spectrum. The BBC Micro was technically more capable, but it always seemed to me to be although solidly designed, somewhat over-engineered, with too much TTL.
The Spectrum gave access to computing for millions of children in a way the Beeb couldn’t – because it was cheap, because the design was more efficient. Or maybe it was ‘cos I had one and I actually liked the single keyword entry
-cheers from julz
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#13 written by eck 1 year ago
the c64 ,it had great games like exploding fist and barbarian etc way ahead of the the others in terms of graphics and awesome sound.
Although i did enjoy looking at different versions of games on other machines ,you could usually tell which machine a game was for just by looking at a screenshot .Anyway i’m sure there were great games for other micro’s ,but me i had a c64 which is probably why it will always be the best 8bit in my book -
#15 written by Martin 9 months ago
Don’t forget non gaming software, the CPC had a great mode for word processing and wrote a lot of college work back in the day on it. You could run your business on it (and if I ever start one I just might to be an awkward bugger). So CPC for me as an all rounder although if you judge it on games only… then too close to call, so many playable games on C64 and Speccy… I just think the 640×200 mode and CP/M gives it an extra edge… what you think? PS I’m now a programmer and learned how to on this machine so yes I’m biased but wow, what an amazing time to get a computer for christmas.. whichever one
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Amstrad CPC (464/664/6128) just because it is.