ZX Spectrum crowned king of computer classics

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum has been crowned the most popular first home computer, beating off competition from other classics such as the Amiga and BBC Micro.

Almost a third (31 per cent) of the more than 900 respondents in the silicon.com poll said the Spectrum - an eight-bit computer launched in the UK in 1982 - was the computer they cut their teeth on at home.

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In comparison the Spectrum's big rivals of the day, the BBC Micro and Commodore 64, could only muster 15 per cent and 14 per cent of the vote respectively.

Another classic, the IBM PC got 10 per cent of the vote, and was joined by the Amstrad CPC 464 (eight per cent) and Apple II (seven per cent) in the popularity stakes.

Bringing up the rear were the Dragon 32 (five per cent) and Acorn Electron with just three per cent of the vote.

In the battle of early 1990s gaming machines the Atari ST won out with four per cent of the vote compared to the Commodore Amiga's two per cent.