Changes
/* Machine comparisons */
= Machine comparisons =
*Spectrum was released in the UK in 1982. The Amstrad was released in the UK in 1984.
*Spectrum 48K sold for £99. The CPC464 with Green Screen monitor sold for £299 and with colour monitor for £399. One selling point was that the Amstrad needed only 1 plug, and that you didn't need to use the family television to use it.
*Spectrum (48K machine) has 48K RAM, approx 6.5k of this is screen. The Amstrad has 64K ram, approx 16K of this is screen.
*The Spectrum's video ram takes approx 6K. The Amstrad's video ram takes 16K (approx 12K when screen is reduced).
*The Spectrum 48k can't do double buffering in hardware, (the Amstrad can. The Spectrum later 128K machines can do double buffering), the Amstrad could from the start. On the Amstrad and Spectrum 128K you can use hardware double buffering, but then you need to sacrific twice as much video ram (e.g. For Amstrad: 2 x 16K).
*The Spectrum has a fixed palette of 15 colours (8 colours with bright versions of each making 15 in total - LIGHT black is still black). Amstrad has a palette of 27 colours. In mode 0 you can choose 16 of these, in mode 1 you can choose 4 of these, in mode 2 you can choose 2 of these. The Amstrad's palette includes equivalent colours that match closely the Spectrum's colours.
*Amstrad has hardware scrolling, Spectrum does not.
* The Spectrum was designed to be used with a television, the Amstrad was designed to be used with an Amstrad and was sold with either a green screen monitor or colour monitor.
* The Spectrum was sold as a games machine, the Amstrad was sold more as a multi purpose machine (in the UK anyway).
* The Spectrum 48K's keyboard was made from rubber, the CPC had a proper keyboard. The later Spectrum's had proper keyboards too.
* The Amstrad had connections for printer, stereo sound output and expansion. It had an internal speaker, with volume control. The Spectrum 48K had connections for tape player, TV aerial and expansion. It had an internal piezo electric buzzer, the volume of which couldn't be controlled.
NOTE: The Spectrum was acquired by Amstrad after the Spectrum 128K had been made. Amstrad then improved the build quality and enhanced it. The result was that the Spectrum +2, was closer in looks and build to the CPC464. The Spectrum +3 was similar to the Amstrad CPC6128 because both had a internal 3" drive. The overall hardware of the Spectrum didn't change, the graphics was the same, the sound was the same, but the later Spectrum's had built in joysticks, built in cassette or disc, connections for printer etc, all which the Amstrad had starting with the CPC464.
