Amstrad PCW 8256 and 8512 (Schneider Joyce)

Summary

In September 1985, Amstrad released the PCW 8256, a computer primarily for writing. For £399 plus VAT, buyers received the computer, a 12-inch green-screen monitor, keyboard, printer and software: a complete package described by a 1986 review as the “bargain of the decade”. The electronics sit inside the monitor case; a 4 MHz Z80 works with 256 KB RAM, and the screen displays 90 × 32 characters. The PCW 8512 followed a few months later with 512 KB and a second drive.

The package includes LocoScript word processing, CP/M Plus, Mallard BASIC and Dr. Logo. Many buyers used it to replace a typewriter. More than 700,000 machines sold in the first two years, with around 8 million across the entire series. In Germany, Schneider marketed them as Joyce and Joyce Plus; “Joyce” was also the internal project name.