CPCWiki forum

Something that has always interested me: Why did you choose the CPC?
I ask because in the 1980s, two camps of home computer enthusiasts had formed in my circle of friends. To put it simply:

One side (a slight majority) wanted video games above all else and chose a C64, whose weak BASIC and fuzzy TV picture therefore didn't deter them, while the large number of video games attracted them.

The other side (a strong minority), on the other hand, wanted to program above all and therefore chose the CPC because its BASIC was among the best and its monitor showed a razor-sharp image (especially the green one), ideal for texting and long sessions, while the number of video games was of secondary importance to them.

Main reasons for me/family was:
1. It came with a colour monitor(thankfully my dad hated anything monochrome including black and white movies lol - always said he spent long enough looking at a B/W tv he didn't want to go back to that) so no more hogging the tv as i used to do with the Binatone Pong "console" i had
2. I loved the vibrancy of the colours vs the C64
3. My young brain loved the colours of the 464 keyboard vs the boring beige C64 breadbin(i love the look of the breadbin now :) )
4. Games
5. Only realised this after getting the CPC, programming in basic was brilliant on it.

Disc, LPT, EXPANSION PORT, 80x25 text, Z80. Real microcontroler for Addin hardware.

Nothing else was sooo pretty and soo cheep with small drive, good keyboard and monitor like 6128, and I read in magazine about 80 columns and good Basic. Years later I seen how slowly was drive and Basic in other 8bit, I had no idea about it during buy, but that makes me feel it was even better choice than I though before. I had no idea about slower sprites either, but I don't care about it at all. All Polish magazines says CPC is good but no soft for it in Poland, but I was soo naive I believed Basic seems so easy I can write anything what I will be needed. I had no idea even CPC Basic is too slow for few things, and I was to lazy to learn Assembler, but for my lucky wasn't so bad with soft like they say. CPC 6128 was soo elegant, not like other toys, and big floppy for them was soo lousy, hard part was raise money and it took me several years, but choice was easy. :)

My parents were convinced by their friends that a Schneider CPC 6128 would be the better choice compared to a C64. 

I did not care so much about what exact computer I got as long as I could program in BASIC and get some nice games. I also liked the idea to have my own monitor and would not be forced to sit in the living room, so I did not object - and later I was really happy with my CPC.

Yaaaassssssssss! For once, I'm in the winning team. I also received it as a gift, so I had NO CHOICE!

Or hadn't I?

I mean, imagine you're an irritating, intellectually gifted kid who knows it all when he's 9. Your dad puts his CPC in your room, but you reject it. REJECT IT.

Why? I dunno...
- "Excuse me, my dear father, but I don't think you are prepared for the technology shift that's about to happen by letting such a machine in the hands of a child like me".
- "I deny the proposal. The exposure of my developing eyes to such lights, pressumably at late hours in the night, would surely affect my sleep cycles".
- "Does the Commodore 64 Club know about this? Because I believe you should tell them, they may need this statistic later".

Perhaps it would be more interesting to say why my dad wanted one. And I guess he wanted it because it was cool, it looked professional and it had colors. His previous computer was a 48k ZX Spectrum, and he most likely saw the CPC as his first chance to have a serious computer to do his text processing and simple physics simulations. Today he likes to play with topographical maps and stuff, so I guess in 1986-1989 he tried a number of applications for this machine... apparently he only liked one game: the chess one (not sure if 3D Voice Chess or Master Chess, maybe both... I hate chess!).

(https://i.ibb.co/zrKKBrq/the-rock-driving-cpc-1.jpg)

I got mine as a hand-me-down from my dad, who had just upgraded to an amiga.

My father's company had bought some of them to teach employees (and a few select family members) how to use computers. When the time came to buy a computer at home, my parents picked the same.

In turn, the company's choice was based on the versatility, i.e. availability of CP/M along with color capabilities.

We all got it as a gift.

I imagine that as my parents have never been flushed for cash they chose it because they could see the upcoming change and need for a computer in the home and it was the most affordable "plug and play" option which didn't require more than one purchase and didn't use the TV. They got the MP-1, too, though so we could use it on the TV when needed.

43% it's not everybody.

I didn't choose the CPC. It chose me.

They were our school's official "computer class" computers, which meant there was a steady stream of games available for swapping :D We also used them to produce our student magazine. When a classmate of my brother sold his 6128, I begged my dad to get it for me, and he relented.

A few years later the school got IBM PCs and let the CPCs go for a song, so I picked up two more for around 10 DM (5€) each.
The terrible thing is, I only have one of the school CPCs left in my possession, and I have literally no idea what happened to the other two.

Quote from: Targhan on 18:18, 06 May 24I didn't choose the CPC. It chose me.

Yeah!  Whole universe was create because God wanted to you got CPC. :)

In 80's my papa was the publisher of a "racing form". A 4 pages newsletter on horse racing published 3-4 times a week, our family business. A friend of him, a pioneer computer programmer, eventually convinced him to add comparative racing data to the newsletter. In 1986 he offered to write the software for granted. And he did too (in GWBasic), both for data entry, a prediction analysis alghorithm (which was quite genial at the time) and for printing the proofs (via an electronic typewriter). The only thing we needed was a "PC compatible". So papa bought an Amstrad PC 1512 (with double disc drive, and no hdd). The plan proved to be very successful but this is another story. Alongside the 1512, the seller convinced him to buy a CPC 464 with green screen monitor for his nerdy son (yours truly) who was craving for anything, well, nerdy.

So the answer is that the CPC chose me, not the vice versa. And I'm happy it did!

Everyone was talking about the Atari 2600. Never seen one or something similar, just arcades.
So I told my mother I want one.
Then I went out to brag to my friends that I would get one too.
A friend told me then : Why don't you get a Spectrum, it's an Atari and computer.
(You guessed right if you think that we were totally noobs)
Went back to home asking for a Spectrum...
Out again, same thing. Another one told me : Why don't you get an Amstrad?
What's this now? It's an Atari and computer, but it has a disk instead of tape and loads faster.
And Amstrad it was for me.

Similar story to @VincentGR 's. Saw a 2600 at a cousin's home. My jaw dropped when I realised you could control what happened on-screen. Simply an unimaginable concept. Didn't say much about it though, yet my parents did take note.

...and decided to get me a computer instead, bless them. I bet the 464 was their choice both because of the seller at the store (which was the Amstrad distributor :D ) AND because it came with a screen. 

Quote from: Gryzor on 09:33, 09 May 24Similar story to @VincentGR 's. Saw a 2600 at a cousin's home. My jaw dropped when I realised you could control what happened on-screen. Simply an unimaginable concept. Didn't say much about it though, yet my parents did take note.

...and decided to get me a computer instead, bless them. I bet the 464 was their choice both because of the seller at the store (which was the Amstrad distributor :D ) AND because it came with a screen.

Micropolis?

Well when I saw arcades for the first time, I was amazed too for controlling what I saw.
I was thinking how it works, maybe had lightbulbs in the shape of aliens?  ;D

Quote from: VincentGR on 09:46, 09 May 24

Quote from: Gryzor on 09:33, 09 May 24Similar story to @VincentGR 's. Saw a 2600 at a cousin's home. My jaw dropped when I realised you could control what happened on-screen. Simply an unimaginable concept. Didn't say much about it though, yet my parents did take note.

...and decided to get me a computer instead, bless them. I bet the 464 was their choice both because of the seller at the store (which was the Amstrad distributor :D ) AND because it came with a screen.

Micropolis?

Well when I saw arcades for the first time, I was amazed too for controlling what I saw.
I was thinking how it works, maybe had lightbulbs in the shape of aliens?  ;D

Yeah, Micropolis 😊

The company where my father worked had a offer that employees could buy a computer at a discount. As far as I can remember, the C64, MSX, Enterprise, C64 and Atari 800XL were the options. My father chose the CPC as we only had one TV and my father (wisely) thought, that if the computer didn't come with a monitor, conflicts may arise. Unfortunately, he wasn't convinced that I needed a computer at all, so he went for the cheapest model: CPC464 with a GT65*.

Bryce.

* Yes, it really came with a GT65 although it was a 464.

Lucky you, so you could right away deploy a Gotek withit  :laugh:

Quote from: Bryce on 18:22, 09 May 24As far as I can remember, the C64, MSX, Enterprise, C64 and Atari 800XL were the options. My father chose the CPC as we only had one TV and my father (wisely) thought, that if the computer didn't come with a monitor, conflicts may arise.

Your father was a wise man: instead of chosing one of the two C64s, he opted for a secret option... the CPC! I wonder what kind of morse code was transmitted or wrinkled note was handled to your dad so he could understand...

(https://j.gifs.com/vM7qoY.gif)

Quote from: Bryce on 18:22, 09 May 24cheapest model: CPC464 with a GT65*.

800xl and c64 were more expensive???  :o

Given we were mostly kids at the time, we got one because it's what our parents purchased. In my case we had an Amstrad dealer in town and my Dads drinking buddy had a 464 with twin drives and everything you could imagine! He designed aircraft windows for a living and clearly had plenty of money for his own home computer setup!

Quote from: McArti0 on 07:20, 11 May 24

Quote from: Bryce on 18:22, 09 May 24cheapest model: CPC464 with a GT65*.

800xl and c64 were more expensive???  :o

Cheapest CPC model.

Bryce.

I simply calculated what would be cheapest "all in" - computer, monitor and datasette - as teenager and that helped my parents a lot which computer to buy for me. Glad they invested that money, helped me a LOT to get where I am now.

Thanks to everyone for taking part in this survey and writing the posts. I immensely enjoyed reading everything.

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy your home-computer devices and emulators.
Long live the good old CPC. :-)

Quote from: Bryce on 18:22, 09 May 24The company where my father worked had a offer that employees could buy a computer at a discount. As far as I can remember, the C64, MSX, Enterprise, C64 and Atari 800XL were the options. My father chose the CPC as we only had one TV and my father (wisely) thought, that if the computer didn't come with a monitor, conflicts may arise. Unfortunately, he wasn't convinced that I needed a computer at all, so he went for the cheapest model: CPC464 with a GT65*.

Bryce.

* Yes, it really came with a GT65 although it was a 464.

Yeesss, I bought the cheapest system...

xesrjb 

I only have it 3 weeks. It was never on my radar. Even on my regular visits to the Home Computer Museum nearby, I never gave the CPC a try. But the question "what was the best 8-bit computer of its time" kept hunting me.
So I started comparing the main contenders of the time on specs and the CPC looked like a winner. And because I already had 2 Z80 systems, I thought a third Z80 machine would be easier to get into. So I found a very nice looking but untested CPC 464 on the cheap on Ebay, and apart from the common bad tape belt and fimsy tape counter reset button, it was fully functioning. I added a ULIFAC internally, so the tape is no longer an issue.
And as I grew up with Rick Dangerous, it was a treat to find out this is such a great Rick Dangerous machine. It is basically on par with the Amiga version, yet 8-bit only.
In 3 weeks it has become by second favourite machine, but that is because I'm very deep into research for my nr.1, our locally beloved P2000T. That machine is less gaming oriented, even though there are some seriously brilliant ones in Teletext graphics, but the way they developed and distributed local Dutch software for it is truly unique. So where most ZX,C64 and CPC programs lack basic usability demands like a quit option, instructions, navigation menu's, version control and more, P2000T software never had those issues because of the tightly organised community of developers. Distribution was mainly free and "online" through Viewdata servers.

Our neighbour had a CPC 464. No idea how he came to get one. His wife apparently told him he was spending too much time with it, so it was "either me or the computer". He eventually sold my parents the computer, with a few games (Sorcery, Fruity Frank at least... and a manual in English). Such a game changer! With my brother (Orphee), we were instantly hooked. It took a few months (and my uncle who was engineer at IBM) to understand how to save type-ins on tape instead of typing them every time we wanted to use them (none of my parents were good enough in English to understand the manual). In France, there was nearly a new magazine every 3 months, so we quickly learned how to use the machine. Ah, such great memories.

It was chosen for me.

In 1986, I visited my uncle in Stockport and was hooked on his Vic 20. Later that year my mother asked where we could get one and he (wisely) advised against it and recommended an Amstrad because it came with a monitor and wouldn't dominate the television.

Of course, he was right, but I was initially disappointed as I couldn't play Pharoh's Curse (sp?), but Oh Mummy and Harrier Attack quickly made me forget about that.

But for me, it was primarily for gaming. I didn't (and still don't) have the head for programming. Although I'm such a stubborn fuck that makes me a great debugger! :D

So yeah... there you have it. :)

PS: I have since installed retroarch on multiple systems and have finished both Vic20 and C64 versions of Pharoh's Curse)

Quote from: retro space on 08:39, 02 June 24I only have it 3 weeks. It was never on my radar. Even on my regular visits to the Home Computer Museum nearby, I never gave the CPC a try. But the question "what was the best 8-bit computer of its time" kept hunting me.
So I started comparing the main contenders of the time on specs and the CPC looked like a winner. And because I already had 2 Z80 systems, I thought a third Z80 machine would be easier to get into. So I found a very nice looking but untested CPC 464 on the cheap on Ebay, and apart from the common bad tape belt and fimsy tape counter reset button, it was fully functioning. I added a ULIFAC internally, so the tape is no longer an issue.
And as I grew up with Rick Dangerous, it was a treat to find out this is such a great Rick Dangerous machine. It is basically on par with the Amiga version, yet 8-bit only.
In 3 weeks it has become by second favourite machine

Great story! You see, only the winners choose the Amstrad CPC!

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GKupC0BagAAx16i?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)