Home > Chiclet keyboard

Vendors unanimously liked the chiclet keyboard because it was cheap to produce, and many early home, portable and laptop computers were launched with it. However, consumers rejected it with almost equal unanimity. After 1985, chiclet keyboards were not often seen other than on some digital calculator watches, small handheld calculators, and cheap, nonexpandable PDAs.

1 List of home computers with variations of chiclet keyboards

• Cambridge Z88 (arguably a mix between a membrane and chiclet keyboard)
• Commodore PET 2001 (the original 1977 PET)
• Commodore 116 (version of the C16 sold only in Europe)
• IBM PCjr
• Jupiter ACE
• Mattel Aquarius
• Multitech Microprofessor I (MPF 1) and MPF 2 (the latter an early Apple II compatible)
• Sinclair ZX Spectrum 16/48K (later models had slightly improved keyboards)
• Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer IThe Radio Shack TRS-80 color computer (also called Tandy Color Computer or CoCo was a home computer based around the Motorola 6809 processor and part of the TRS-80 line. Origin and history The CoCo started life as a Motorola reference system, and was mean (later 'CoCo's had full-travel keyboards)
• Texas Instruments TI-99/4The Texas Instruments TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. For various reasons, its chiclet keyboard being but one of them, the TI-99/4 was no commercial success, and so was quickly replaced with a successor, the TI-99/4A (see the TI-99/4A article (predecessor of the TI-99/4A, which had a full-travel keyboard)
• Timex Sinclair 1500The TS1500 was a slightly-upgraded development of the Timex Sinclair TS1000. It replaced the earlier machine's ZX80-like case with a modified ZX Spectrum case and increased the onboard RAM to 16K, but was still unsuccessful. Home computers. (U.S. ZX81 derivation)
• Timex Sinclair 2068The Timex Sinclair 2068 (TS2068 released in November 1983, was Timex Sinclair's fourth and last home computer for the U. It derived from the 48K ZX Spectrum, and followed Timex's ZX81-based TS1000 and TS1500, and the Spectrum-based TS2048. The TS2048 was (U.S. ZX Spectrum derivation)
• VTech Laser 200The VTech Laser 200 was an early 8-bit home microcomputer from 1983, also sold as the Salora Fellow, the Texet TX8000 (in England) and the Dick Smith VZ 200 (in Australia). It was designed and built by Video Technology (VTech) in Hong Kong and derived fro

See also: membrane keyboardA membrane keyboard is a computer keyboard whose "keys" aren't separate, moving parts, as in most other types of keyboard, but rather just have their outlines and symbols printed on flat surface. Very little, if any, tactile feedback is felt when using su