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Amstrad PPC 640

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ozarkmac

New Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2020
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9
Location
Missouri Ozarks
Can someone tell me which forum I should be on to discuss this laptop? I'm new to the forum and in typical fashion, trying to determine a value on this? Is it collectible or just an old computer that is not of value to anyone?

Some details: The manual says it's a 1988 or thereabout, it does work, it has the power source, the car lighter source, the mouse, the manual, 3 discs, and the carry bag. Two pics attached.

Some background information: In 1992 while a company operations sergeant in the Army, a co-worker saw how I was struggling to maintain everything without a computer (nobody in our battalion had them). We had maybe two electric typewriters in the unit. He asked me if I wanted to use this. He showed me how and I did for about two years. It was nice to be able to save documents and edit them. That sounds so archaic but that's how it was. When I came in the Army it was manual typewriters with carbon paper and whiteout.

Anyway, if you can help me out, thanks!
https://imgur.com/8Snx6Ha
https://imgur.com/s1jFplG
 
If eBay sold items are any guide you might be able to get a couple hundred bucks out of it. That seems to be the going eBay price these days for a working "antique" PC. (The Amstrad PPC640 probably isn't anybody's idea of a "classic" or in any way rare or historical, but it looks fairly nicely preserved and I'm sure someone would take it off your hands.)
 
Eudimorphodon said:
If eBay sold items are any guide you might be able to get a couple hundred bucks out of it. That seems to be the going eBay price these days for a working "antique" PC. (The Amstrad PPC640 probably isn't anybody's idea of a "classic" or in any way rare or historical, but it looks fairly nicely preserved and I'm sure someone would take it off your hands.)
Click to expand...

I think its a classic. It was the right price in the UK. You didn't need a monitor. It folded away nicely and didn't take up any space. You could get it with a builtin modem. I had one with a 20Mb hard drive.
My kids learnt computing on one connected to my old Phillips CM8833 (perhaps 8832) which was an Analogue monitor I bought for my Atari ST but which did CGA as well playing CGA games.
If you google some one has added back lighting to the LCD display making it usable.

Two have passed through my hands recently but I gave them both to a Museum so I can't comment on value. It also depends on where you are. I would think that in the UK there would be more demand because there were many sold there, so more nostalgia. Its always worth popping a country and state in your profile so we can see where you are, because often local solutions work well..
 
I plugged it in today and the volume works, screen contrast works, you can hear the drives working with a disc in each drive but other than the contrast, I can't get anything to show up on the screen.The last time I used it, 1994ish, it worked just fine. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

Initially I started it with the discs in each drive (this is where they were when I took the computer out of the closet). Then I read the manual and it stated to do the initial start with no disc, so I tried that with no avail.

Do LCD screens go out with no use?

Any advice?
 
g4ugm said:
I think its a classic. It was the right price in the UK. You didn't need a monitor. It folded away nicely and didn't take up any space. You could get it with a builtin modem. I had one with a 20Mb hard drive...
(snip)
It also depends on where you are. I would think that in the UK there would be more demand because there were many sold there, so more nostalgia.
Click to expand...

They did sell them in the US, but as I recall their initial price wasn't particularly attractive compared to smaller and more portable machines like the Toshiba T1000, and I think a substantial number of them ended up being liquidated by one of those big mail-order surplus outlets after an initial poor retail showing. They were common enough that I've seen a couple in the flesh, which were probably ordered at the closeout prices.

(Amstrad definitely did *try* to make it in the US, as I recall several department stores tried carrying both the PC1512/1640 lines and the PC200 desktops for a year or two, but later models are much rarer.)
 
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