يحاول ذهب - حر
Amstrad PCW 8256
September 2025
|PC Pro
David Crookes takes a look at the first entry in Amstrad’s – and Britain's – biggest-selling computer series from the 1980s
-

Right now, one of those memory erasers from the Men in Black movies would be a godsend. It would allow me to wipe clean the computing knowledge I've accumulated over the past 40 years and approach the computer in front of me from the perspective of someone who has never so much as touched a keyboard.
After all, the Amstrad PCW 8256 was squarely aimed at first-time computer users whether they were at home or in the office. How nice it would be to view it in the same way that so many others did following its release in 1985. Instead, I’m left wondering if this machine is going to be capable of igniting my curiosity and imagination. It was, to put it bluntly, never intended to be exciting.
Amstrad never made any promises of cutting-edge technology; no ambition to be a wonderful all-rounder. Rather, the 8256 simply offered something to look at, something to press and something to splash ink on to pieces of paper - and yet that combination of screen, keyboard and printer proved more than sufficient for so many people. As Amstrad boss Alan Sugar always believed it would, the PCW 8256 succeeded in changing the face of office work.
Lord Sugar, as he’s now known, had the idea when he was flying between Tokyo and Hong Kong. He sketched his plan on the back of a Cathay Pacific serviette and he imagined the creation to have a monitor with a printer stuck to the top. That idea was sensibly ditched in favour of separate units, but the concept of a word-processing machine to compete against electronic typewriters stuck. And while Lord Sugar was never a visionary in the mould of Steve Jobs, he had a knack of knowing what would sell.
By this point, Lord Sugar had experience in the computer market. His CPC 464, 664 and 6128 computers - the first one being tape-based, the latter two using disks - were shifting many units and Amstrad, far from suffering the huge financial losses of its competitors, was making healthy profits.
هذه القصة من طبعة September 2025 من PC Pro.
اشترك في Magzter GOLD للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة، وأكثر من 9000 مجلة وصحيفة.
هل أنت مشترك بالفعل؟ تسجيل الدخول
المزيد من القصص من PC Pro
PC Pro
How connected tech could fix roads
Oceans of data, AI-managed traffic signals and more autonomous cars on the road all have the potential to make our roads safer.
9 mins
October 2025

PC Pro
"I'm an evil system tester, thinking up software-breaking situations, and this occasion was no different"
What would life be like without Google if its services were unavailable due to a deliberate act of sabotage?
9 mins
October 2025

PC Pro
"Ransomware is an extortion racket, and the people behind it are as caring as the Kray twins"
Guilty: it's another column about ransomware, but this one is different as Davey asks whether the government is right to ban ransom payments
8 mins
October 2025
PC Pro
Synology DiskStation DS1525+
A well-priced and powerful desktop NAS with top performance and heaps of data protection features
3 mins
October 2025

PC Pro
LENOVO THINKSTATION P5 TOWER
Great design, but Intel's Xeon can't compete with AMD's processors
2 mins
October 2025

PC Pro
Will Intel ever be back in the workstation market?
Certainly not this year. But there are promising signs for next year, if Intel hits all its claims - and assuming AMD doesn't jump ahead once more
4 mins
October 2025

PC Pro
Commodore: The comeback
David Crookes looks at how a once powerful and influential tech brand hopes to shine once more, including an exclusive interview with Commodore's new owner
8 mins
October 2025

PC Pro
Real world computing
\"I think cynicism is a good thing. And blunt sarcasm has been my trademark for 30 years\". New age-verification laws for 18+ sites raise questions about the trust we can place in third-party services that promise not to keep our data
10 mins
October 2025

PC Pro
Six things to look for in a workstation
There are few bigger and more important investments to make than a new workstation, or a fleet of them. Here's what you need to consider before taking the plunge
8 mins
October 2025

PC Pro
IDrive RemotePC Enterprise
Secure cloud-hosted remote support that's easy to use, very versatile and incredible value for larger businesses
2 mins
October 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size