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Amstrad jumped into the home computer market in June 1984, just in time to shake things up with its almost unique all-in-one concept (year after the other one [[MSX]] Standard of June 1983 which was Apple Macintosh launched a few months before thought at the CPC 464)time to be the end of the "cowboy" era of disparate and incompatible 8-bit computers.

It even happened after the [[MSX]] Standard of 1983 which was thought at the just in time to be shake things up with its unique all-in-one concept for the end of home market.  While earlier computers like the "cowboy" era of disparate Commodore PET, Tandy TRS-80 Model III, Apple Lisa and incompatible 8bit computersApple Macintosh had pioneered the all-in-one design, they were primarily aimed at businesses and education.

One notable exception was the sound chip: while the C64 employed the splendid custom [[SID ]] chip, Amstrad opted for a generic sound chip - [[AY|AY-3-8912]] - with unremarkable features. It is no surprise though as there was not much choice in off-the-shelf sound chips in early 1984. The reason is that Yamaha had patented its hardware implementation of frequency modulation synthesis (FM) in the 1970s, allowing it to nearly monopolize the market for this technology until the mid-1990s [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_modulation_synthesis Source].

A good choice could have been to use the 6-voice SAA1099 soundchip. It would have been [https://youtu.be/HeMdJmR0H48 About As SID As it's Going To Get]. But unfortunately, the chip was introduced on the market in late 1984, too late for being used in the CPC.

Despite initial denials, the machine was launched in Europe shortly afterwards, replacing the 664 for the same price - a situation which understandably irritated some of those who had recently purchased 664s. As well as the [[CP/M ]] 2.2 and [[DR Logo]] that had shipped with the DDI-1 and the CPC664, the 6128 came bundled with CP/M Plus (with the GSX graphics extension) making it an appealing all-round computer at a low price. Though the 128KB of memory could not be accessed all at once from BASIC (due to limitations of the [[Z80]]), the upper 64KB could be used readily from machine code courtesy of an upgraded [[Gate Array]]. A bundled program, [[Bankman]], provided some access from BASIC.

Described as a solution of 'too little, too late', this was Amstrad's second effort to prolong the life of its 8-bit computer The Plus series in were quite (but not 100%) compatible with the face of fierce competition original CPC computers. The compatibility issues came mostly from :* The new 16-bit machines (notablyAmstrad ROMs, breaking ROM access to the floppy drive (can be easily fixed by using a [[Atari STPlus System Cartridge|Downgrade System cartridge]] and the Commodore )* The emulated [[Amiga8255|PPI]]). chip, making the keyboard unresponsive* The emulated [[CRTC]], breaking CPC demos* Unlike the original model, the 464 Plus series lacks a tape counter for tracking cassette positions. It also omits the distinctive loading sounds that were mostly (but not quite 100%) compatible with once audible through the speaker during tape operations on the original CPC computers, and 464. The Plus series incorporated a list of [[ASIC|new features]], like a cartridge port for instant program loading, DMA for the [[AY]] soundchip, enhanced hardware scrolling, programmable interrupts, 16 hardware zoomable sprites (not vectorized) with an independent palette of 15 colours, and a choice of 4096 colours all in a new, sleek case which mimicked the keyboard-computer design that was ''en vogue'' in the 16-bit market (ST, Amiga etc).  Described as a solution of 'too little, too late', this was Amstrad's effort to prolong the life of its 8-bit computer series in the face of fierce competition from new 16-bit machines (notably, the [[Atari ST]] and the Commodore [[Amiga]]).

While the Amstrad Plus computers were one of the most advanced 8-bit computers ever built for the mass market, they died an early death as the 16-bit era was already in full swing. And 32-bit computers were already appearing. The year before, Amstrad launched its first 32-bit PC, the [[Amstrad PC|PC2386]].

The Also, the [[Apple II|Apple IIGS]] and the [[MSX|MSX Turbo-R]] proved that 8-bit machines could be upgraded to 16-bit. It would have been possible with the CPC if Amstrad had decided to do so.