Other Computers:16 bit computers
The 16 bit computer generation peacefully "killed" the 8 bit computers.
Amstrad couldn't see this move and released the Amstrad Plus range which should have been 16 bit. (Or perhaps it should have another Z80 to get a 2x8 bit while keeping compatibility with the the old range .... why not ?)
On the other hand, Amstrad was still producing cheap 16 bit PC compatibles with pseudo EGA capacity (16 colours), so in this way it was actually a 16 bit producer.
See Amstrad PC for more information on Amstrad's ventures into the 16bit world.
Notable 16-bit machines of the era:
- TI-99/4 (1979)
- IBM PC (1981), PC/XT (1983), PC/AT (1984), PS/2 (1987)
- NEC PC-98 (1982)
- Sinclair QL (1984)
- Apple Macintosh (1984)
- Atari ST (1985)
- Commodore Amiga (1985)
- Apple IIGS (1986)
- Sharp X68000 (1987)
- MSX Turbo-R (1990)
Notable 32-bit machines of the era:
- Compaq Deskpro 386 (1986)
- Acorn Archimedes (1987)
- Apple Macintosh II (1987)
- FM Towns (1989)
- Atari TT (1990)
- Amiga 3000 (1990)
Note: With the advent of 32-bit machines, hardware coprocessors became largely irrelevant for 2D games. The CPU was finally powerful enough to manage it all in software.
