Machine B is a ZX80 from Tony's description. Machine A seems to be a Perq 2T2, but I may be wrong. There is significance and significance, unfortunately. Tony seems to be concerned about the distortion of history, and I strongly sympathise. Let me digress by telling you a story. A week or two ago I had a rep call from the bank to advise me about investments (refreshingly candid - "%Bank has a lot of cash at the moment, so you won't get a good rate by putting your money as cash in the bank"). When we sat down at the one free corner of table, he noticed my mechanical calculator (Facit) and asked me what it was. I demonstrated, and he was amazed - he had no idea that any such devices had existed before the electronic pocket calculator. This is the distortion of history. People, used to modern computers with impressive specs and mediocre performance under W*****s, have no idea how much could be done by the technology of even 10 years ago, let alone 19 years ago (the date of those two machines). If they see the ZX80 as typical computers of 1980, they will continue to think that PCs with Windows were the first serious personal computers (by some definition - someone on this list posted a URL the other day that claims personal computer == home computer). If they see Perqs as typical computers of 1980, they will think no wonder nobody had a computer at home 20 years ago! To present a balanced view, we need to preserve both ends of the market. Both are significant, the Perq from a technology point of view and the ZX80 from a market point of view, so from the point of view of significance, one ought to see both attract the same price. The Perq is rarer, so perhaps rarity value would push the Perq up a bit. But what we observe is that people preserve ZX80s because of their market significance - the first sub-100-pound computer (not that it was, of course), the first home computer for non-enthusiasts (hardly that, for that matter) or whatever. And ignore other machines, simply because they are insufficiently educated. Result, ZX80s fetch premium prices, and Perqs go for a song, thus reinforcing the perceived significance of the former relative to the latter. Result: history is distorted, because people see the ZX80 as a typical machine, not as the bottom end of a highly varied market. Sorry, Tony, I must agree with Glen here. Sinclair did not go to the trouble that Apple and Microsoft have since expended to separate the user from the nitty-gritty of how the machine works. The Sinclair is a far better machine to learn on than a PC clone, say. (Hey, it even has a programming language as standard...) Cheap and nasty, perhaps, but a real computer nonetheless. (Not that I particularly want one...) Well, you have my opinion - equal on significance, Perq higher priced through rarity value. I will now stand back and let others have their say. Yes, those ZX81 cases make excellent door wedges, don't they ;-) Philip.