On such business acumen did Amstrad prosper, until Sugar, casting round for a new outlet for affordable electronics, lighted upon the computer market.
The conception of the CPC has been well chronicled, notably in [[Amstrad Action]]. The original design team envisaged a machine based around the 6502 processor, because that was what [[Commodore]]’s [[Commodore’s VIC-20]] used – one of the best-selling computers of the time, but already on its way out.
The project was go. The designers weren’t. Proving inadequate to the task, they were swiftly booted out, and replaced with names still familiar to CPC users: [[Locomotive Software]], William Poel, and so on. The result was the original CPC 464, a well-built, easy-to-use home computer, which broke no new ground over and above the standards of the time – [[Sinclair]] [[ZX Spectrum]], [[Commodore 64]], [[BBC Micro]] – but was sensibly priced and intelligently packaged.