The major problem with any parent who wishes to buy their kids a micro is in choosing the right one. The difficulty lies in choosing a micro that will not only provide entertainment through the playing of games and so on, but also finding some educational value.

The BBC Micro was designed with these two aims clearly in mind. The Model B is quite expensive and costs nearly £400. Moreover, it has many facilities that are not generally used - such as the large number of expansion ports - and for a school kids' machine, it has more facilities than are needed.

The escape from this dilemma is the Electron.

The Electron comes in a sturdy package which holds the Electron, the power supply, TV lead, two manuals and a cassette of example programs. No cassette leads are provided, but they are easy to obtain from most good hi-fi dealers.

The Electron itself is a very neatly designed unit. It looks good, and while it is small in size, its keyboard is full size. In fact, the keyboard is of very high quality, with proper moving keys, unlike the rubber, push button keys found on some machines.

To the left of the keyboard is a recessed yellow light which is there to indicate if you are in upper or lower case. On the top of the keys is printed the standard QWERTY alphabet, while on the front of the keys are printed Basic keywords and some commands.

Thus, it is possible to enter Basic commands by pressing the CTRL key and the keyword key at the same time. This 'single keyword entry' was first used on Sinclair's ZX80 and ZX81, but on the Electron it is optional. Typing out the word in full gives the same result, so you have the best of both worlds.

On the side of the Electron are the sockets to connect the Electron to a cassette recorder, and a TV set or monitor. The power supply socket is to the right of the machine, well away from the other sockets.

One thing that is missing from the design of the machine is an On/Off switch. If you wish to turn the machine on or off, then you have to either remove the 13-amp plug from the wall socket, or remove the power plug from the Electron. This, I am sure, will cause wear as time goes by.

Games enthusiasts will no doubt be disappointed to find that the Electron has no ports in which to attach joysticks. But what you do have is an edge connector at the back of the machine, and here, so Acorn promise, will be attached several 'adds-ons' when they become available.

Although the Electron is similar to the BBC Micro, it must be regarded as very much a cut-down version of the BBC, so don't expect all the features of its 'big brother'.

However, for £199, you do get a high-resolution colour computer with sound as well as a sophisticated Basic. As far as graphics and text is concerned, the Electron can operate in any one of up to seven modes, numbered 0 to 6. Depending on what mode you are in, you can have more or fewer colours and higher or lower resolution. The table below shows the different combinations:

It's important to note that the different modes take up different amounts of memory, and since there is only 32K of RAM that is available to the user, you have to be sure there is enough room for your program, as well as the information record of the screen.

Sound is also provided for, and this is accessed through the Basic commands, SOUND and ENVELOPE. There is only one channel for sound so you can only play one note at a time. Thankfully, you can alter the volume and this will no doubt save some parents' tempers.

Altogether, the graphics are quite sophisticated. and there is something for everyone - except sprites. To be brief, sprites allow you to move objects about the screen with the minimum of loss, and it's a pity that BBC Basic never incorporated them.

Game players will love the Basic that is on the Electron. It's fast and structured (to an extent). It's perfectly feasible to write games in Basic without having to translate into machine code.

There is one problem with the Electron implementation of Basic, in that the machine runs at different speeds in different modes. Experienced software authors will program around this, but it might prove to be a bit of a problem for those who wish to convert programs from the BBC Micro to the Electron.

The Electron will run some existing BBC Micro software, but there can be a few problems. The BBC Micro uses an extra mode, mode 7, which saves a lot of memory. but the Electron doesn't support this. This means that if you try to run some BBC Micro software that uses mode 7, then all you will get is garbage on the screen.

The software houses who produce software fo r the BBC micro will no doubt be busy converting their package to run on the Electron. This is all to the good for Electron buyers, since there already is an abundance of software for the Beeb.

In the meantime, Acornsoft are to produce a number of games for the Electron, which should be available by the time you read this. I understand that the first few items of software will mainly be of the arcade variety.

Meanwhile, Brainstorm Computer Solutions, of Seven Sisters Road, North London, have already produced two text-based adventure games for the Electron, and these will be marketed by Softek.

Much has been said about the Electron being a cut-down version of the BBC Micro, and it has to be said, this is true. What is not been emphasised enough is that this is still a very sophisticated machine for the money.

If, in the opinion of some reviewers, it doesn't fit into any particular price range, this is all to the good. At present you can either buy a machine under a hundred pounds which has some features but not others, or you can go for an expensive machine, at £400 upwards. In my opinion, the Electron is what a home computer should be, and with the facilities it has to offer, the price is just right.

Name: Acorn Electron
Manufacturer: Acorn Computers Ltd
Available: January 1984