"New add-ons turn
VIDEO GAMES INTO COMPUTERS"

by Myron Berger

VECTREX

Model name: Keyboard
Price: $200
RAM: 16k
RAM maximum: 64k
Data storage: Wafer-tape
Modem connection: serial
Built in programs: BASIC
[And, from another source:
Display Size: 2000-4000 vector drawn characters]

Vectrex is a game system that integrates a black-and-white video monitor using X-Y or vector-scan technology. (lines are drawn between two plotted points for greater speed over conventional raster scanning, which must create dots one scan unit at a time.)

Vectrex showed a prototype of its proposed computer add-on at a recent trade show [CES]. Hope Neiman, a company official, said the device would probably be available by 1984.

The add-on will use a standard keyboard with programmable keys--their function depends on the software you're using. It will also have a HELP key: Press it, and you get information about specific programs and procedures. Price? Between $100 and $200, says Neiman.

External storage will be available on an optional wafer-tape drive for saving up to 128k bytes of data.

...If you like suspence, wait for the Vectrex; in 1984, we'll see exactly what the system is like.
 

"Computer Benchmarks"

by David H. Ahl

[The article uses a simple 6-line BASIC program to benchmark the speed, mathematical accuracy, and true random number generation abilities of 22 then-popular computers. In all three catagories, the lower the figure, the better. The article states that the results are from a prototype Vectrex BASIC cart, but doesn't say that they actually had one.]