Date   : Thu, 08 Jan 2015 19:36:48 +0000
From   : tim.fardell@... (Tim Fardell)
Subject: Compromises

Daniel Beardsmore wrote:
> What do the rest of you think Acorn should have done differently, if anything?

I'd have put the various I/O connectors on the back or side of the unit, instead 
of underneath, and used 3.5mm jacks for the cassette in/out instead of a DIN. 
I'd also have had a door or cover allowing access to the ROM sockets, and a 
sound output. I'd also have added a volume knob for the built-in speaker, or at 
least a way to mute the speaker, and made the composite video output carry a 
colour signal.

That said, the BBC was too expensive anyway. Pretty-much everyone at my school 
had Spectrums at home, presumably chiefly because they were cheap, which made 
them popular, which in turn made them even more popular, and meant the software 
availability was immense. If you had a BBC at home you were an oddity. 
Personally I think the Spectrum was just about perfect; good enough to be fun to 
use, and cheap enough for just about anyone to afford. The BBC was too good.