Date   : Thu, 08 Jan 2015 17:11:54 +0000
From   : andrewwaite1@... (Andrew Waite)
Subject: Compromises or lack of

>> the games market was clearly exploding so putting more colours in,
>If it was for the game market, wouldn't Acorn have spent a little bit more 
.>on the Electron (I know, I shouldn't use foul language!) to promote it 
as a >home computer that was partly backwards compatible with the BBC Micro,
but >also had unique features as in more colours, audio through TV, perhaps
even >built-in joystick ports instead of relying on 3rd party expansions?
>Of course the Electron already was pricy enough compared to the Sinclair, 
>Commodore, Amstrad etc competition so perhaps there was not much financial
>room to add features, bringing it to the full price of a Beeb, just two
>computers with similar but different specs/approaches.
>Best regards
>Anders Carlsson
It is a pity that Acorn never revised the Electron as Sinclair did with the
ZX Spectrum 128. 
The ZX Spectrum 128 had four 64K x 4 DRAM chips and the AY-3-8912A sound 
chip. Adding DRAM chips with a wider data bus would have solved the speed 
issues when the Electron CPU accessed RAM and a discrete sound chip would
have given the machine the same sound capabilities as the BBC. Acorn would
then have had a more compelling machine to compete with the Commodore 64.

Andrew Waite.