Newbury NewBrain Prototype

The Newbury NewBrain prototype was the pre-production form of the compact computer later sold by Grundy Business Systems. Newbury Laboratories inherited the project from Sinclair Radionics, named it NewBrain and announced a proposed family including a battery-powered portable.

Development delays and difficulties with custom logic prevented Newbury from delivering a production machine in time for the BBC Computer Literacy Project. The design and its engineering team were transferred to Grundy, which finally launched revised Model A and AD computers in 1982.

Notable Features

• Planned as a compact Z80 computer with powerful BASIC and extensive expansion.
• Proposed range included mains and battery-powered configurations.
• Prototype work established the architecture later manufactured as the Grundy NewBrain.

Historical Significance

• The BBC’s early computer specification was closely associated with the promised NewBrain.
• Failure to reach production at Newbury opened the way for Acorn’s BBC Micro.

Collector’s Notes

• This entry represents the Newbury development prototypes, not a retail production model.
• Surviving prototype hardware and documentation can differ substantially from Grundy production systems.

Specifications

Technical Information
Name	Newbury NewBrain Prototype
Manufacturer	Newbury Laboratories
Launched	Tuesday, January 1, 1980
Country	United Kingdom
CPU	Zilog Z80A
Units Sold
Operating System	NewBrain BASIC under development
I/O	Serial, parallel, analogue and expansion interfaces proposed
Keyboard	Integrated alphanumeric keyboard
Storage	Cassette storage proposed; disk expansion planned
Sound	Prototype-dependent
Graphics	Prototype monochrome graphics
Display	Built-in or external display proposed depending on model
ROM	Prototype firmware
RAM	Prototype-dependent
CPU Speed	Prototype-dependent