Timex Sinclair 1000 (1982)

Timex Sinclair 1000 🥇First Computer Under $100 The Timex Sinclair 1000, launched in July 1982, was a masterclass in aggressive "bottom-line" engineering, becoming the first fully assembled computer in the U.S. to break the $100 price barrier. A slightly Americanized version of the British Sinclair ZX81, it featured a Z80A processor and a meager 2KB of RAM (double its predecessor, yet still barely enough to hold a few paragraphs of text). To keep costs low, Timex utilized a notoriously finicky membrane keyboard that offered zero tactile feedback, requiring users to rely on a "one-touch" keyword system where a single keypress generated entire commands like PRINT or GOTO. It lacked color, sound, and a dedicated monitor, instead hijacking the family television via an RF modulator that produced a famously "jittery" black-and-white display. Despite these limitations—and the infamous "RAM pack wobble" that could crash the system if the 16KB expansion module was even slightly nudged—the TS1000