How PCs Became Cheaper 40 Years Ago - This Week In Retro 285

It's the big four-oh for the Amstrad PC1512, an aggressively cost-reduced PC clone for the UK market. There's also a fascinating time capsule of Atari user group newsletters from August 1987, and Nelumbo, a new engine for classic Lotus racing action, plus Tron references, Kickstarter updates for Spectrum Next and Vectrex Mini, a unique phone booth memorial, and more! Visit https://www.addict.media/ for your copy of Pixel Addict magazine. 00:00 - Show Opening 04:00 - Cheap PCs, Cheaper PCs and Even Cheaper PCs Story Link: https://x.com/Lord_Sugar/status/2095098703992250874 18:38 - Exploring A 1987 Time Capsule Story Link: https://blog.archive.org/2026/08/27/a-computer-history-time-capsule/ Newsletters: https://archive.org/details/antc_Atari_newsletter_time_capsule_1987-08 38:20 - Housekeeping - News links found below 45:15 - Lotus Is Back Story Link: https://almost-there-games.itch.io/nelumbo  Launch Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYZk2k6AOA8 55:32 - Community Question of the Week 🏆Your monthly support helps us keep the retro news flowing! https://www.patreon.com/thisweekinretro 🕸 TWiR Sub Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/thisweekinretro/ Follow your hosts! Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/davevelociraptor.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/jasoncompton.bsky.social Youtube: Chris - https://www.youtube.com/@005AGIMA Jason - https://www.youtube.com/@TheRetroAdventurers Audio Podcast: https://retroadventurers.podbean.com/ Subscribe to the audio version of the show! 📻 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-retro/id1526487568?uo=4 📻 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2OPQ3cADaB92E9SpRdTe5y 📻 Podbean: https://twir.podbean.com 📻 Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/show/5734337 📻 RSS: https://feed.podbean.com/TWIR/feed.xml 📻 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinRetro This Week in Retro is a weekly roundup of the hottest stories from the world of retro gaming and computing, voted on by you, the listener! Hosted by Chris from 005 AGIMA, Jason from The Retro Adventurers and Dave. Edited by Duncan Styles. News In Brief Links CEX Retro Shop: https://metro.co.uk/2026/08/31/cex-confirms-existence-first-retro-store-birmingham-29501398/ Vectrex Update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1852390947/vectrex-mini/posts/4787697 Bletchley Park Redundancies: https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/bletchley-park-in-milton-keynes-announces-redundancies-due-to-dwindling-visitor-numbers-8958108 Space Paranoids: https://landonjsmith.com/projects/spaceparanoids/ Defrag Simulator: https://defrag98.com/ PlayStation 2 Emulator: https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/08/pcsx2-has-just-been-updated-bringing-serious-performance-gains-and-more-to-the-ps2-emulator Nick Weerts Memorial Phone Booth: http://nickweertsmemorial.com Mario On The Master System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRrioabZZwM