ZX Spectrum 16k adjusted for inflation was 461

#“ZX Spectrum 16k adjusted for inflation was \u0080461”

Yesterday I finally got both MHL to the TV and Bluetooth to the Wiimote working with a ZX Spectrum Emulator on my HTC Sensation (video coming over the weeked). I was amused by the fact that I was emulating a cheap old computer with an expensive mobile phone.

Then I wondered - How cheap was the Spectrum compared to the Sensation? Some googling for inflation adjusters later and I realised I was completely wrong. It wasn’t cheap at all.

My original 1982 16K Spectrum cost 125 in WH Smith. Adjusted for inflation that’s 377.50 which is 461! Ouch, I really had no idea. An unsubsidised Sensation on Expansys ischeaperat 439.

If my parents hadn’t paid that serious chunk of money back then, who knows where I would have ended up in life…….

UPDATE: All of which makes the Raspberry Pi a staggering bargain and utterlytransformational. Seeing someone on their site beg for early samples so he could show them to a African country’s government is just one example of how important RPi is. Far beyond its technical specs or size.

Conor O'Neill

Tech guy who likes running slowly

Bandon, Cork, Ireland https://conoroneill.net