Soon you will be able to upgrade your ZX80 to competitive high level computing power. Sinclair Research, Ltd., has developed a new 8K BASIC ROM. You simply pull out your present 4K ROM chip and drop in the new 8K chip. When it becomes available, it will cost $40 and come with a keyboard template showing the 37 additional functions and a supplemental operating manual. See the comparison chart, center pages, for a list of features.
Additionally, the new ROM provides graph plotting capability, animated displays, and named programs on cassette.
Although Sinclair announced the new ROM in England in September, no chips have been manufactured. Backlogged orders in England for the ZX80 have caused delays in production of the 8K ROM, according to Katie Manchester of Sinclair. When the units are available, they will be sold exclusively at first to ZX80 owners by mail from Sinclair. However, US owners may have to wait longer than UK customers.
We are also expecting a new 16K dynamic RAM memory expansion to plug into the wide connector on the ZX80. Although you already have 1K inside the ZX80, the 16K RAM disables the 1K, giving you 16K effective memory. Again, production is delayed, this time by the FCC, but new RAMs should be available first quarter, 1981. They will run under $100.