Sharp MZ-80K

[dbnnet]

I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these:
The Sharp MZ-80K.

https://dbnnet.blogspot.com/2018/06/my-most-memorable-computers.html
https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=174&st=1

From late 1980 to 1983 I must have spent a good
few thousand hours trying to master it!
Was an amazing little machine that provided much pleasure.
Had to load the BASIC from tape every time you switched it on.

[Andy Burns]

dbnnet wrote:

> I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these: The
> Sharp MZ-80K.

A school-friend had one, maybe he still has?

[dbnnet]

In article <klo3km...@mid.individual.net>, use...@andyburns.uk
says...

They were quite popular in the UK, Germany, Japan etc but don't think
that they were ever marketed in North America.
I bought mine in South Africa where Sharp always had a strong presence.

[Andy Burns]

dbnnet wrote:

> andy burns says...

>
>> dbnnet wrote:
>>
>>> I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these: The
>>> Sharp MZ-80K.
>>
>> A school-friend had one, maybe he still has?
>
> They were quite popular in the UK

I don't think I'd agree they were popular here, they may have been
technically good machines, my friend's father would likely have chosen
it on that basis, but I never heard of anyone else having one.

[Andy Leighton]

Well they were around a bit before the real surge in home computers.
To my mind they were a competitor of the PET. Like the PET it was
fairly expensive and people I knew had stuff like the UK101, Atom,
Microtan-65 and Nascom-1 in early 1980. By 1982 that had all changed,
none of those machines (with maybe the exception of the Atom) were seen
as particularly desirable. Generally the MZ80K got the occasional
listing in some of the computer magazines of 1982 (and maybe 1983) so
there must have still been some around.

--
Andy Leighton => an...@azaal.plus.com
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"
- Douglas Adams

[Anssi Saari]

dbnnet <dbn...@yahoo.com> writes:

> I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these:
> The Sharp MZ-80K.

A couple of my friends had the later MZ-800 models I think but I don't
think I've ever seen an MZ-80K.

[dbnnet]

In article <sm0y1hh...@lakka.kapsi.fi>,
anssi...@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi says...

It certainly was more advanced than the MZ-80K.
I never saw one physically, other than this photo:
https://old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?c=208

[dbnnet]

In article <slrnufdrtj...@azaal.plus.com>, an...@azaal.plus.com
says...

>On Tue, 5 Sep 2023 08:55:42 +0100, Andy Burns <use...@andyburns.uk> wrote:
>> dbnnet wrote:
>>
>>> andy burns says...
>>>
>>>> dbnnet wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these: The
>>>>> Sharp MZ-80K.
>>>>
>>>> A school-friend had one, maybe he still has?
>>>
>>> They were quite popular in the UK
>>
>> I don't think I'd agree they were popular here, they may have been
>> technically good machines, my friend's father would likely have chosen
>> it on that basis, but I never heard of anyone else having one.
>
>Well they were around a bit before the real surge in home computers.
>To my mind they were a competitor of the PET. Like the PET it was
>fairly expensive and people I knew had stuff like the UK101, Atom,
>Microtan-65 and Nascom-1 in early 1980. By 1982 that had all changed,
>none of those machines (with maybe the exception of the Atom) were seen
>as particularly desirable. Generally the MZ80K got the occasional
>listing in some of the computer magazines of 1982 (and maybe 1983) so
>there must have still been some around.
>

Yes... was very much aimed as a competitor to the Commodor PET whick was
launched the year before. The Radio Shack TRS-80 (I) was also launched in
1977.
The MZ-80K was launched in 1978 (same year as the Exidy Sorcerer)and was
initially priced at 60O Pounds in the UK. That was later reduced to under
400 though.
In 1980 the Sinclair ZX80 was launched... and that was to be a game changer
as it was a lot cheaper. The next year they launched the ZX81 as well.