Quantum leap is now official

SINCLAIR has now formally announced its new £399 QL computer (see Popular Computing Weekly, January 12):

First deliveries of the 128K Ram, twin QL microdrive machine, based on the 32-bit 68008 processor, are scheduled for the end of February.

Initially the QL will be sold by mail and orders will be accepted by Sinclair in Camberley from Friday, January 20, onwards.

Each order for the machine should be accompanied by a further £7.95 to cover postage and packaging. Owners may also choose to pay an additional £35 to join QLUB, the QL User’s Group, for a 12-month period.

Members of QLUB will receive a bi-monthly newsletter, and be able to get help with the four software package from Psion, receive annual upgrades of the software free of charge and be offered peripherals for the QL before non-members.

Sinclair plans an ambitious list of peripherals for the QL: 0.5M Ram expansion module, Winchester hard disc interface, terminal emulator, analogue/digital interface, modem, parallel Centronics
interface and multichannel sound generator and an IEEE- 488 interface.

The QL will be manufactured exclusively by Thorn EMI Datatech.

In the autumn the machine will go on sale through retail outlets in the UK and will be launched in North America. In the US it will sell for $499 and be marketed by Sinclair, initially by mail order.