15 Electronics That Ruled The 80s

These gadgets were king in the 1980s!

By JacobLester

Published 10 years ago

These gadgets were king in the 1980s!

1
1980, Sony Walkman. The TPS-L2 model even had two headphone jacks for social listening.

2
1980, Casio C-80 Calculator Watch. Billed as "the watch that replaces everything." Kids lucky enough to have one of these could now cheat on all "no calculators allowed" math tests!

3
1982, Polaroid 660 Camera. Polaroid's instant development camera introduced a simpler way of sharing pictures.
4
1982, Commodore 64. Initially sold with 64kb of memory with sound and graphics performance superior to IBM computers of the time. Original price was 595 making it more affordable than previous personal computers.

5
1983, Microwave Oven. Although invented much earlier it wasn't until the mid-80s that they were available widely and cheaply enough for the common household to have. This GIF is for Toshiba's "EasyWaves," cooks raw chicken in seconds!
6
1982-1983, Compact Disc Player. Pictured top is the Sony CDP-101 from 1982, one of the earliest CD players affordable to consumers. Pictured bottom is the top loading Philips CD100 from 1983.
7
1983, VHS Player. The Video Home System made watching your favorite movies at home possible. This Commercial is for the JVC HR-7100 VCR.

8
1984, Epson ET-10 Pocket TV. The Epson "Elf" was the world's first handheld TV with a color liquid crystal display LCD. It came equipped with a huge 2-inch screen!
9
1984, Apple Macintosh 128k. Apple's 128k personal computer was met with much fanfare standing out as one of the early cost-efficient computers. It's introduction in 1984 set the foundation for all future Apple products.
10
1984, Motorola DynatTAC 8000X. The first ever cell phone provided 30 minutes of talk time, 8 hours of battery life, an LED display, stored no more than 30 contacts, and came with a 4,000 price tag!

11
1985, The Clapper. The sound-activated electronic switch triggered the lights on or off in our homes in two handclaps. If for nothing else, the commercials were classic!
12
1985, Nintendo Entertainment System. The 8-bit system launched with 18 available games at a price of 250. This is the first Nintendo commercial ever to air in North America.
13
1986, Sega Master System. Sega's first gaming console had the graphics, power and hardware to give Nintendo a run for it's money.

14
1987, Promax J-1 Super Jumbo. This Boom Box came equipped with three pairs of speakers, matted with 8-inch woofers, and ten-band EQ settings. It was featured as Radio Raheem's ghetto blaster in Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing."
15
1989, Nintendo Game Boy. This handheld gaming device destroyed it's competition of Tiger handheld games. It went on to have a dominant run in the 90s.