Acorn Archimedes A3000

Summary

Acorn released the A3000 in May 1989, bringing Archimedes technology into a compact keyboard case reminiscent of the BBC Micro. The keyboard and floppy drive share the same enclosure. Its processor is an 8 MHz ARM2, an Acorn-developed RISC processor from which today’s ubiquitous ARM architecture emerged. The standard computer has 1 MB RAM, officially expandable to 2 MB, and RISC OS 2 in ROM.

British schools were the main target market, so the A3000 also carries the “British Broadcasting Corporation Computer System” logo. It cost £649 plus VAT, or £529 for schools. Its successor, the A3010, appeared in 1992.