The Amstrad computer comes as a two part package with the keyboard and cassette deck in the first box with a monitor and power supply in the other. A monitor is a kind of television that can only be used with a computer, give a better picture, and cannot pick up broadcast signals.

There are two monitor options: a full colour RGB type, and a green screen. The full colour monitor is like a small television - in fact the tube is a standard TV tube and doesn't give the definition of a dedicated RGB monitor. It can just about resolve 80 columns, but not very well. The 80 column mode of the Amstrad can get quite tiring on the eyes with the colour monitor.

The green screen monitor is quite good - having a custom monitor tube similar to those used for long periods by programmers and word processor operators who don't need colour. The 80 column mode on this screen is perfectly readable and it might be worth getting this version of the Amstrad as it's 100 cheaper and getting the TV modulator box later for playing games.

The TV modulator box has its own power supply and will drive a television set just like a normal computer. This means that the green screen version of the computer can be bought at the cheaper price and you can use a TV to play games on.

Also inbuilt into the package is a cassette recorder. This is a standard audio cassette recorder with a few modifications for using computer tapes. One thing that Amstrad missed was having a computer controlled digital cassette deck. The Commodore deck is, and has a lot of computer control over it, it's 100% reliable, and can be pushed to 8000 baud. The Amstrad device needs to be told by the user when the play button is down, it has two speeds: 1000 baud and 2000 baud, the 1000 baud rate is quite reliable but the 2000 is a bit dodgy. By comparison a BBC uses 300 or 1200 baud, a Spectrum uses 1500, and an Oric uses 300 or 2400.

The cassette deck is on the side of the keyboard. This is good for easy access but does mean that it is difficult to put the unit on your lap for easy typing. Even if you could the two leads to the monitor are only about eight inches long, which makes things difficult.

The actual keyboard itself is very good. The feel is almost up to the excellent quality of a Commodore keyboard and is as good as a BBC. There are three clusters of keys. The main keyboard which is very well laid out with a quad sized enter key and a full space bar. All the control keys are around the edge and are colour coded.

The 12 key numeric key pad, which isn't really a numeric keypad at all. The number keys are along the top as usual and the extra keys are actually function keys, the keys come pre-defined as number keys which is an excellent idea.

The last cluster is the cursor keys which are formed in a square with the copy key in the middle. This is a nice touch and makes editing easier - which it needs as the editor on the Amstrad is awful.

An editor is a way of changing a program that you have typed in. A good editor is very important for somebody that is new to computing. The best editors are found on the Atari, Adams, Einsteins, and Commodores, these are called screen editors and are very easy to use. The worst types are called line editors and are found on Spectrums and Dragons. These are very difficult to use. The BBC micro has a cross between the two called a twin cursor editor or a copy editor, the Oric has something similar although more primitive.

The Amstrad has a similar version of the BBC editor which is very difficult to use. The Commodore/Atari screen editor is very good to use and was specifically designed for computers. Line editors are a throwback from teletype editors where you could only work on one line at a time. I wish that computer manufacturers had more sense, an editor is the interface between a computer and the user - it must be good, the Amstrad one just doesn't come up to scratch.

The graphics are quite good - three modes with up to 16 colours. The first mode is 640 by 200 in two colours, the second mode is 320 by 200 in four colours, and the last mode is 160 by 200 in 16 colours. All colours are selected from a palette of 27 plus any two colours flashing. Due to good memory paging the hi-res screen is hidden under the Basic ROM in a similar manner to Commodore 64 hi-res screens. Further paging is carried out on the RAM for basic programs. This leaves up to 42K of RAM for the user whatever hi-res mode he is in.

This memory paging idea is very good as it allows a good 32K long Basic interpreter to co-reside with a 16K video screen and 48K of Basic RAM. This gets past the worst features of some of the most popular competing computers such as the BBC with a good Basic but little RAM and the Spectrum with a lot of RAM but a very poor Basic.

The graphics are on a par with the BBC but with a greater choice of colours (16 on the screen at once from a choice of 27 instead of 16 from 8) though the Commodore 64 still has the edge with its different graphics modes, sprites, and multiple screens. These graphics knock the Spectrum for six - we can expect some really great games for this computer soon.

The sound generator is a more basic, but similar, one to that used in the Taitung, Oric, and other popular machines. The sound is produced through a tinny little speaker in the keyboard unit. There is, however, a good volume control on the side of the cassette deck and a headphone socket on the back of the machine. We found that the voltage level through this socket wasn't enough to drive a set of Walkman headphones without an amplifier. A very nice feature is that the socket is wired for stereo; this is because, like most sound chips, the Amstrad has three sound channels. This means that it can play up to three note chords. On the Amstrad the first channel is designated as the left channel, the second as the right channel and the third comes through on both. This is an idea that was first used about five years ago on a computer called the DAI but it didn't catch on. I hope that software houses use this great feature as it has a lot of potential.

The Basic is very good, it is very BBC-like, having procedures and other structures. There are some extra features as well which improve considerably on Acorn's original. Interrupt handling is supported from Basic as standard. At this point I should explain about interrupt handling. An interrupt is a way of stopping a program in mid-flow. Doing something else. And then returning again to where you stopped off. There are various interrupt options, three timers that operate every 50th of a second, and the sound queues. The sound queues allow music and sound effects to be played whilst a program is running. When the music has run out an interrupt will happen telling the computer to 'top up' the sound chip for more music.

One thing that is very bad, and inexperienced users will find it a great problem, is spaces between words in a program are compulsory. Spaces in a program use up memory, and if you are getting heavily into a programming session at 2am and you are wondering why your latest masterpiece will not work, it is very annoying to find that the culprit is the omission of a mere space.

The Amstrad's connections with the outside world are not as impressive as the BBC or Commodore 64 but they are there. There is a parallel printer port, a disk drive expansion port, monitor socket, power, headphones, and joysticks.

The printer port will drive most popular printers. The disk expansion port is the one that all extra add-ons will have to hang on. There is the promise of disks to put on this port and this is where the 'up to 240' sideways ROMs will have to be put. There is little need to put 240 ROMs on but some people will want to put in quite a lot as is demonstrated by some BBCs that I have seen.

The joystick port is the connection that will be of greatest interest for the games player. It is a single 9 pin D connector similar to those used by Atari and Commodore, but with one important difference. There is only one socket but it is possible to plug in two joysticks as long as you use the Amstrad ones, this is because the Amstrad joysticks have the usual stick, fire button, suction cups, and long lead. However, on the base of the stick is a socket where another joystick can be plugged in, thus allowing two joysticks to be used!

Overall the Amstrad is a very interesting machine. Its excellent graphics ability and very good (and stereo) sound make it a promising games machine. A lot of software companies are producing software for the Amstrad, so watch out for Jet Set Willy, Fred, and Booga Boo the Flea.

The one thing that may put it out of most people's bracket is the price: £229 with green screen and £329 with colour. For games you really need a colour screen and if you are going to get a TV modulator to use with a colour TV then why bother with a monitor that adds £70 to the price anyway? The same could be said for the cassette recorder although I always have preferred a dedicated unit without all the connecting leads and mains wires, and a dedicated unit wouldn't add a lot to the price (especially as they are made by Amstrad themselves).

To sum up I think that the Amstrad could have wiped the whole computer market clean if they had dropped the monitor and cassette recorder and released the computer for around £150. As it stands, it will still emulate the success of the BBC micro, especially as it is following in the Beeb's footsteps with a similar spec machine (although without the support and options available with the Beeb).