Acorn Archimedes - Significance and Impact

Significance and Impact

The Archimedes was one of the most powerful home computers available during the late 1980s and early 1990s; its main CPU was faster than the 68000 microprocessors found in the more popular Commodore Amiga and Atari ST machines. An 8 MHz 68000 had an average performance of roughly 1 MIPS for 16-bit workloads and 0.5 MIPS for 32-bit workloads, with peak performance of 2 MIPS for simpler 16-bit instructions. The 8 MHz ARM2 yielded 4.5 - 4.8 MIPS for 32-bit workloads in repeatable benchmark tests. (The Archimedes did not have the custom graphics chips that the Amiga did, however, such as the "Fat Agnus" chip with its powerful bit blitter that made the Amiga very fast at bitmap manipulation; the Archimedes outperformed the Amiga easily for 3D applications but the Amiga retained an edge in 2D.) The computer was exhibited at the 1987 Personal Computer World Show, along with Amigas, Atari STs and video game consoles. Commenting on the show, Crash magazine reported that "despite whiz-bang demos of Acorn’s Archimedes" the 8-bit machines were not dead.

The Archimedes won significant market share in the education markets of the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand; the success of the Archimedes in British schools was due partly to its predecessor the BBC Micro and later to the Computers for Schools scheme organised by the Tesco supermarket chain in association with Acorn, and most students and pupils in these countries in the early 90s were exposed to an Archimedes or A-series computer. The Archimedes range was available in the US and Canada via Olivetti Canada. Despite a technical edge, the Archimedes only ever met a moderate success beyond the education sector, becoming a 'minority' platform outside of certain niche markets. These niche markets included professional work such as radio, medical and railway station management and music publishing.

By the early 1990s, the UK educational market began to turn away from the Archimedes. Apple Macintosh computers or IBM compatible PCs eclipsed the Archimedes in their multimedia capabilities, which led to an erosion of the Archimedes market share. The Tesco Computers for Schools scheme later changed partnership from Acorn to RM plc and many other computer-related suppliers, which also led to the decrease of the Archimedes' educational market share.