I am now in the unenviable position of being caught twice by Uncle Clive's unannounced price cuts on the Spectrum.

My first Spectrum was bought for £175 - two weeks later it came down to £129. Recently I decided to but a Spectrum Plus and duly forked out £179.

I should have realised that it was the company's intention to replace the old Spectrum with the Plus, despite the strenuous denials. Of course, soon after buying it, the price dropped by £50 and in neither instance was I able to get a refund.

Now I am much wiser and can offer what must be a dead cert tip to anyone considering buying the current QL or the forthcoming enhanced and more expensive QL.

I have no doubt at all that again, despite the denials, a short while after launching the more expensive model (and persumably recovering the development costs) the price will come down to the current £399 and the current QL will no longer be available. You can fool some of the people some of the time... etc.

Colin Smith
Bournemouth