Amstrad CPC: Difference between revisions

| Name         = Amstrad CPC

| Photo       = Amstrad CPC464.jpg

| Type         = [[Personal computer]]

| Developer   = [[Amstrad]]

| Released     = {{Start date and age|1984}}

| Discontinued = {{Start date and age|1990}}

| unitssold   = 3 million

| Processor   = [[Zilog Z80]]A @ 4 [[Hertz|MHz]]

| Memory       = 64 or 128&nbsp;[[Kilobyte|KB]],<ref>{{BDprefix|p=b}}</ref> expandable to 576&nbsp;KB

| Media       = [[Data cassette|Compact Cassette]], 3-inch [[floppy disk]]s

| Graphics     = [[Motorola 6845]] or compatible, custom [[gate array]]

| Display     = 160×200 pixels with 16 colours, 320×200 pixels with 4 colours, 640×200 pixels with 2 colours

| Input       = [[keyboard (computing)|Keyboard]]

| Connectivity =  

| OS           = [[AMSDOS]] with [[Locomotive BASIC]] 1.0 or 1.1; [[CP/M]] 2.2 or 3.0

| Baseprice   = {{GBP|359|1984|round=-1}} with colour monitor

The '''Amstrad CPC''' (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of [[8-bit]] [[home computer]]s produced by [[Amstrad]] between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the [[Commodore 64]] and the [[ZX Spectrum]]; it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe, and also Canada.

The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The ''[[Amstrad CPC 464|CPC 464]]'', ''CPC 664'', and ''CPC 6128'' were highly successful competitors in the European home computer market. The later ''464 plus'' and ''6128 plus'', intended to prolong the system's lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the ''plus'' hardware into a game console as the ''GX4000''.

The CPC 464 featured 64&nbsp;KB RAM and an internal [[cassette deck]]. It was introduced in June 1984 in the UK. Initial suggested retail prices for the CPC 464 were £249.00/[[Deutsche Mark|DM]]899.00 with a green screen and £359.00/DM1398.00 with a colour monitor. Following the introduction of the CPC 6128 in late 1985, suggested retail prices for the CPC 464 were cut by £50.00/DM100.00.

''[[Your Computer (British magazine)|Your Computer]]'' concluded that the CPC 464 had "Superior graphics and sound, an excellent Basic coupled with a flexible operating system" and that Amstrad's target sales of 200,000 by the end of 1984 were realistic.<ref name="beesley198406">{{cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/your-computer-magazine-1984-06/page/n69/mode/2up | title=Review: Amstrad | magazine=[[Your Computer (British magazine)|Your Computer]] | date=June 1986 | access-date=8 January 2025 | last=Beeesley | first=Simon | pages=70–72 | volume=4 | issue=6 | publisher=[[Business Press International Ltd]] | location=Sutton, Surrey }}</ref>

Although it was possible to obtain compilers for Locomotive BASIC, [[C (programming language)|C]] and [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]], the majority of the CPC's software was written in native Z80 [[assembly language]]. Popular assemblers were Hisoft's Devpac, Arnor's Maxam, and (in France) DAMS. Disk-based CPC (not Plus) systems shipped with an interpreter for the educational language [[Logo programming language|LOGO]], booted from CP/M 2.2 but largely CPC-specific with much code resident in the AMSDOS ROM; 6128 machines also include a CP/M 3.1, non-ROM version. A C compiler was also written and made available for the European market through Tandy Europe, by Micro Business products.