Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

david.partridge · 19th Dec 2014, 3:58 pm

My father has one of these, and wants to sell.

What is a sensible price to set on these? Or are they now so ancient that no-one is likely to want them?

Thanks
Dave

Herald1360 · 19th Dec 2014, 11:55 pm

Maybe £10....

I don't think they're collectable yet, if ever.

paulsherwin · 20th Dec 2014, 2:39 am

Agreed, no great value. They were sold in large numbers and any collector who wants one has probably got one.

mole42uk · 20th Dec 2014, 7:31 am

Last one of these I saw for disposal was out on the front wall of someone's garden - Free, Please Take Away!

arjoll · 20th Dec 2014, 8:22 am

I think your best market is probably outside the UK - they weren't that common here, for example, but looking online it seems they sold very well there.

The same seems to go for other UK brands - my wishlist is down to a BBC B (they always seem to come up in the UK but even though they were popular in schools, it's hard to find a realistically priced good example here) and a Spectrum 48k (common enough, but now worth silly money here).

OscarFoxtrot · 20th Dec 2014, 9:38 pm

You might be lucky - looking at 'completed auctions' on ebay shows a PCW unit sold for £10 and the daisywheel printer £16 (separate auctions/sellers). For large/fragile or collection-only auctions, location is everything.

paulsherwin · 20th Dec 2014, 10:09 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by arjoll

I think your best market is probably outside the UK - they weren't that common here, for example, but looking online it seems they sold very well there.

They were marketed as word processors rather than computers and were popular with people moving on from typewriters. They were much cheaper than the dedicated office word processors of the time. Lots of authors were still using them at the end of the 1990s.

dave walsh · 21st Dec 2014, 1:21 am

I had one and they seemed amazing then,a bare bones set up though. No internal memory and you had to save to floppy disc every time or lose your work. If you started up without the printer connected the chip failed as I found out when an "expert" said he could fix things! They were very popular though with a loyal following and a chap near here [in Hastings] had a business carrying machines and parts for years. Prior to this machine and it's predecessor appearing on the market you had to spend a great deal with IBM-[£5k] impossible for ordinary folks!
Dave W

arjoll · 21st Dec 2014, 8:03 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulsherwin

They were marketed as word processors rather than computers and were popular with people moving on from typewriters. They were much cheaper than the dedicated office word processors of the time. Lots of authors were still using them at the end of the 1990s.

They looked like they had quite a good market penetration, and a recognised brand. I can't say I have ever seen one in the flesh in NZ - either at the time or in the vintage computer scene, although I may have just missed them. The CPC range were around, but not as common as the likes of the C64, or Amiga later on.

I'd guess that this kind of unit, in working condition with screen and printer would sell for around NZ$75-150 on Trademe if you hit the right buyers at the right time, but it would probably cost at least that much to get it here!

Mike. Watterson · 21st Dec 2014, 8:36 pm

They caused a resurgence in CP/M as alternate to the dedicated Locoscript. For general use the 8256 / 8512 was slightly more useful having dotmatrix rather than Daisywheel. There is no printer port unless you bought a third party module for expansion bus.

Cheap 3" drives originally. I put a 2nd 3.5" drive on my 8256 (upgraded to 512K cheaper than IBM-PC without the HDD and monitor and printer) and the 3" drive on a cable to plug into PC controller. Free DOS SW lets you read the CP/M disks (Supercalc, Wordstar or clones), but not the Locoscript.

My PCW is still in attic.

Almost no games which dramatically reduces retro market. Powered from built in video monitor.

Non-standard keyboard.

emeritus · 21st Dec 2014, 10:00 pm

I still have my 8256 (progressively upgraded to 512k memory, and addition of second 3" drive and external 3 1/4" drive). The word processor was brilliant for simple text documents, and when I later got a PC, I continued to use its LocoScript in preference to WORD for the ad hoc translations I sometimes used to do for work. Locoscript's feature of being able to store 26 short phrases under the Alpha keys, and 10 longer text passages under the number keys, all retrievable by respective single key presses, is still unmatched for speed and simplicity by any other word processor programs I have used, and used to save me a lot of typing.

The IT department at work used to let me import the RTF format documents created on it at home into my work PC without having to have them check the disks for viruses first, as they knew that no viruses could be present. The switch mode power supply could apparently cope with a remarkable range of voltages. A letter from a Royal Naval Officer in one of the computer mags, reported on how he had found that his PCW, used on board ship, still worked fine after his power outlet voltage had been switched from 240V to 110V, and on experimenting with a Variac, was found to operate right down to about 50V. This made the monitor go black, but it was found to have continued working Ok when the voltage was increased. No need surge-protected power supplies!

Mine still sits in a bookcase in the corner of the dining room, but hasn't been powered up for some time. When I last used it, I found that the 3" "A" drive seemed to have got misaligned, as it would only read from, and write to, disks that it had recently formatted, and I had to boot from the start-up disks I had made for use with the external 3 1/4" drive.

As to value, I was under the impression that the substantial cache of 3" (and 3 1/4" 720k disks) that I still have would probably be more valuable that the PCW itself.

19th Dec 2014, 3:58 pm	#1
david.partridge Tetrode Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kenilworth, Warwickshire, UK. Posts: 57	Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? My father has one of these, and wants to sell. What is a sensible price to set on these? Or are they now so ancient that no-one is likely to want them? Thanks Dave __________________ Dave P.

19th Dec 2014, 11:55 pm	#2
Herald1360 Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Leominster, Herefordshire, UK. Posts: 16,535	Re: Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? Maybe £10.... I don't think they're collectable yet, if ever. __________________ ....__________ ....\|____\|\|__\|__\_____ .=.\| _---\__\|__\|_---_\|. .........O..Chris....O

20th Dec 2014, 2:39 am	#3
paulsherwin Moderator Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oxford, UK Posts: 27,947	Re: Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? Agreed, no great value. They were sold in large numbers and any collector who wants one has probably got one.

20th Dec 2014, 7:31 am	#4
mole42uk Nonode Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Resolven, Wales; and Bristol, England Posts: 2,608	Re: Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? Last one of these I saw for disposal was out on the front wall of someone's garden - Free, Please Take Away! __________________ Richard Index: recursive loop: see recursive loop

20th Dec 2014, 8:22 am	#5
arjoll Dekatron Join Date: May 2006 Location: Invercargill, New Zealand Posts: 3,457	Re: Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? I think your best market is probably outside the UK - they weren't that common here, for example, but looking online it seems they sold very well there. The same seems to go for other UK brands - my wishlist is down to a BBC B (they always seem to come up in the UK but even though they were popular in schools, it's hard to find a realistically priced good example here) and a Spectrum 48k (common enough, but now worth silly money here).

20th Dec 2014, 9:38 pm	#6
OscarFoxtrot Heptode Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Edinburgh, UK. Posts: 805	Re: Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? You might be lucky - looking at 'completed auctions' on ebay shows a PCW unit sold for £10 and the daisywheel printer £16 (separate auctions/sellers). For large/fragile or collection-only auctions, location is everything.

21st Dec 2014, 1:21 am	#8
dave walsh Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex. Posts: 5,817	Re: Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? I had one and they seemed amazing then,a bare bones set up though. No internal memory and you had to save to floppy disc every time or lose your work. If you started up without the printer connected the chip failed as I found out when an "expert" said he could fix things! They were very popular though with a loyal following and a chap near here [in Hastings] had a business carrying machines and parts for years. Prior to this machine and it's predecessor appearing on the market you had to spend a great deal with IBM-[£5k] impossible for ordinary folks! Dave W

21st Dec 2014, 8:36 pm	#10
Mike. Watterson Heptode Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Limerick, Ireland. Posts: 901	Re: Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? They caused a resurgence in CP/M as alternate to the dedicated Locoscript. For general use the 8256 / 8512 was slightly more useful having dotmatrix rather than Daisywheel. There is no printer port unless you bought a third party module for expansion bus. Cheap 3" drives originally. I put a 2nd 3.5" drive on my 8256 (upgraded to 512K cheaper than IBM-PC without the HDD and monitor and printer) and the 3" drive on a cable to plug into PC controller. Free DOS SW lets you read the CP/M disks (Supercalc, Wordstar or clones), but not the Locoscript. My PCW is still in attic. Almost no games which dramatically reduces retro market. Powered from built in video monitor. Non-standard keyboard.

21st Dec 2014, 10:00 pm	#11
emeritus Dekatron Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Brentwood, Essex, UK. Posts: 5,339	Re: Amstrad PCW9512 c/w printer etc. Value? I still have my 8256 (progressively upgraded to 512k memory, and addition of second 3" drive and external 3 1/4" drive). The word processor was brilliant for simple text documents, and when I later got a PC, I continued to use its LocoScript in preference to WORD for the ad hoc translations I sometimes used to do for work. Locoscript's feature of being able to store 26 short phrases under the Alpha keys, and 10 longer text passages under the number keys, all retrievable by respective single key presses, is still unmatched for speed and simplicity by any other word processor programs I have used, and used to save me a lot of typing. The IT department at work used to let me import the RTF format documents created on it at home into my work PC without having to have them check the disks for viruses first, as they knew that no viruses could be present. The switch mode power supply could apparently cope with a remarkable range of voltages. A letter from a Royal Naval Officer in one of the computer mags, reported on how he had found that his PCW, used on board ship, still worked fine after his power outlet voltage had been switched from 240V to 110V, and on experimenting with a Variac, was found to operate right down to about 50V. This made the monitor go black, but it was found to have continued working Ok when the voltage was increased. No need surge-protected power supplies! Mine still sits in a bookcase in the corner of the dining room, but hasn't been powered up for some time. When I last used it, I found that the 3" "A" drive seemed to have got misaligned, as it would only read from, and write to, disks that it had recently formatted, and I had to boot from the start-up disks I had made for use with the external 3 1/4" drive. As to value, I was under the impression that the substantial cache of 3" (and 3 1/4" 720k disks) that I still have would probably be more valuable that the PCW itself.