Was it common for high school kids to have their own computer in 1983?
Topic
shareI had one, and so did my brother, as well as most of my friends.
share
MovieChat Forums > WarGames (1983) Discussion > Was it common for high school kids to ha...
Well it wasn't cheap to own one but yes by 1983 personal computers were getting popular.
shareI had a TRS-80 in junior high school in 1984 with an external floppy drive and external modem. I used to dial into bbs boards and play games. I wouldn't say that it was common though.
sharethe retail price for the commodore 64 in 1982 was $600. that was expensive back then, but not out of reach. when most families just had 1 TV in their home, if they had a computer then it was for family use as well.
shareRight. People were just starting to get computers, they weren't cheap, and it was normally placed in a shared, family spot in the house. At some friends houses we had to ask permission to use it, especially when it was an Apple, and a lot of times we had to play games with siblings because they wanted to use it too. Matthew Broderick's setup in War Games was far-fetched but it inspired a generation of people. Can't imagine what kids now would think watching it but back then we were like "Wow! I want all that!"
shareNot nearly as commonplace as today, but yes a few people did have computers in 1983. Some differences:
- Most computers had to be hooked up to a TV, and didn't have their own monitor.
- While floppy disks were shown in this movie, much of the data storage was on a cassette tapes. Commodore 64 also used individual data cartridges that plugged into the back of the computer, one cartridge per program, and they were not erasable.
- Even fewer had computers that "talked".
- Commodore 64 was the computer for the best graphics. IBM compatible computers were strictly text-based, with few graphics.
- Even fewer had modems with their computers. That became more common in the mid to late 80s, and all were dial-up modems.
What was more common for most homes were video game systems like Atari. Only the very rich had both video game systems and a computer.
I can only speak of the UK. It was common in '83 for them to have a computer but, according to my experience, they would have a basic 64kB machine for gaming like the Commodore 64.
There was the occasional nerd, like David Lightman, who had all kinds of equipment that only he knew how to use.
"I don't reckon I got no reason to kill nobody."
Common? No. But I had one in 1980, an Atari 800, with money that I had saved up from my paper route. I had a few friends who had one, too. So they were out there.
Note Jennifer's reaction to it all - she was pretty impressed by the whole thought of making reservations, playing very, very, very low-resolution graphic games.
I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
The director talks about it on the commentary. It wasn't common, but not unheard of either. He says that David's system is deliberately stuff that was a few years old, rather than brand new 1984 stuff. The idea being that David got the stuff second hand.
shareSure gee even I had a Sega 3000
share