My memory on the Sinclairs is their keyboards too, horrible, that was the reason I didn't take them serious as a kid (they felt like a Fisher toy), used a ViC20 in a department store to learn coding and then bought an Amstrad CPC - mostly because of the 80 character screen vs. the C64.

> used a ViC20 in a department store to learn coding

How long did you spend in that department store? How did you charm the personnel into letting you keep at it?

The personnel didn't bother with us, they didn't know why the computers where there. Sometimes we even made a joke, coding a 5 minute delay, then some loud sound, turning sound up, blocking RUNSTOP/RESTORE and then waited behind some clothes until the computers started very loud sounds and the personnel didn't know how to turn them off.

Another department store squatter here along with my brother. It was crazy to think this is how we learned to program, but it made sense at the time. We went for the ZX Spectrum and eventually wrote our first commercial game for it [1] with the rubber keyboard, it never bothered me.

[1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgi6gndpTTs

Love it!

> The keyboards instantly remind how both are horrible to use and that is the overwhelming memory.

The keyboard was cost effective. We need to remember that constraints exist.

And also an upgrade on the ZX81 which was far more basic. Long time ago but if memory serves it was some sort of membrane to indicate key positions which you had to press fairly hard to get to work.

The infamous thump-sensitive keyboard

I had ZX Spectrum+ which I think had a much better keyboard. I never used the original ZX Spectrum with rubber keys, so I can't really compare.