In May 1989 the 300 series was phased out in favour of the new Acorn A3000 (the 400 series was kept in production). The earlier models could be upgraded to RISC OS 2 by replacing the ROM chips containing the operating system. The A3000 was the last Acorn computer to be released as part of the BBC Computer Literacy Project, and as a result the last computer to bear the 'BBC Microcomputer System' logo.

The A3000 used an 8 MHz ARM2 and was supplied with 1 MB of RAM. It was fitted with a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. Unlike the previous models, the A3000 came in a single-part case similar to the Amiga 500 & Atari ST computers, with the keyboard integrated in the base unit. This kind of housing consumes a lot of desktop space, a problem that Acorn tried to overcome by offering a monitor stand that attached to the base unit. The new model only sported a single expansion slot, which was physically different to that of the earlier models, although electrically similar.

As original an A3000 as you could hope to find, running Risc OS 2.00 from October 1988, this example in our collection came from the Arts Educational School.

Manufacturer: Acorn Computers
Date: 1st May 1989

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH47671. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.