Sinclair ZX81
Hacker ApprovedRanked 6 of 16 home computers by recommenders
A cheap 1k home computer that imposed no artificial limits and got many people started in programming. Critics find its keyboard hard to use and its tape loading unreliable.
A cheap 1k home computer that imposed no artificial limits and got many people started in programming. Critics find its keyboard hard to use and its tape loading unreliable.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 18
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 18 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Started people in computing
“Untold hours with it started me on my journey to solutions architect and senior engineer today”
Comment from 1 Nov 2025 in “Just a Toy? The Sinclair ZX80 Story [video]” “Although I sneer a bit at its capabilities, it kicked off an interest in computing”
Comment from 2 May 2026 in “Why are there both TMP and TEMP environment variables, and which one is right?” “that I learned to code on”
Comment from 10 Jan 2026 in “Sinclair C5” Cheap and free of limits
“The 1k Sinclair can't do much, but doesn't impose any artificial limits or proscriptions either.”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “Apple Music 404 Not Found” “a marvel of cost-benefit at the time”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “How the ZX80 Works” “let's go back to the ZX80 (or 81) because we can all afford 1kb RAM”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “How the ZX80 Works” Clever programs despite tiny memory
“The ZX81's 1k chess - actually 672 bytes - was, and still is, legendary.”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “The Zilog Z80 has turned 50” “you could make this thing do.. well.. anything!”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Jokes for the ZX81” “people did crazy things on it”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Load ZX Spectrum – first Museum dedicated to our first personal computer” Fondly remembered classic machine
“I had fun times around 1985 with zx81, ZX spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amiga 500.”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Childhood Computing” “Zx81 still is one of my favourite machines!”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Jokes for the ZX81” “he said he loved the architecture of it.”
Comment from 2 May 2026 in “Why are there both TMP and TEMP environment variables, and which one is right?” - Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Jokes for the ZX81”
- Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Keyboard hard to use
“The keyboard itself, er, takes some getting used to. But they are a little cheaper.”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “Apple-1 Computer Prototype Board #0 sold for $2.75M” “the most unusable keyboard on earth”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “UNIX99, a UNIX-like OS for the TI-99/4A”
Other home computers people recommend
The four most recommended other home computers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commodore 64 | 121 | 18 | 87% | 12 | 41 yrs18 owners | Approved |
| Commodore Amiga | 60 | 14 | 81% | 11 | — | Approved |
| ZX Spectrum | 31 | 8 | 79% | 10 | — | Approved |
| TI-99/4A | 26 | 8 | 76% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Sinclair ZX81This page | 18 | 4 | 82% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
21 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It was amazing to see it in the flesh.”
“you could make this thing do.. well.. anything!”
“Zx81 still is one of my favourite machines!”
“The 1k Sinclair can't do much, but doesn't impose any artificial limits or proscriptions either.”
“which was great in its own way”
“The ZX81's 1k chess - actually 672 bytes - was, and still is, legendary.”
“let's go back to the ZX80 (or 81) because we can all afford 1kb RAM”
“the early ZX computers (ZX80 and ZX81) were a marvel of cost-benefit at the time”
“a marvel of cost-benefit at the time”
“I had fun times around 1985 with zx81, ZX spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amiga 500.”
“he said he loved the architecture of it.”
“Although I sneer a bit at its capabilities, it kicked off an interest in computing”
“the most unusable keyboard on earth”
“The keyboard itself, er, takes some getting used to. But they are a little cheaper.”
“that I learned to code on”
“could never get the damn tape drive to save anything that would then reload”
“the most annoying thing of the ZX81 was the lack of autorepeat”
“people did crazy things on it”
“The ZX81 and the ZX Spectrum were interesting machines at the time”
“For the ZX81 there was almost none programs!”
“Untold hours with it started me on my journey to solutions architect and senior engineer today”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.