While Joe was busy checking out the “mechanics” of the Spectrum Plus, I was looking it over in other ways.
First, the Spectrum Plus comes with an excellent manual printed in full color. Only 80 pages counting the index, the User Guide does not cover as much as the 2068 manual does (no sound synthesizer to talk about or hi-res graphics) but is packed with info in a smaller print done double column with color screen shots and boxes containing additional information. I found it much more interesting and enjoyable than the 2068 manual but cannot evaluate how a computer novice might receive it. Many short but colorful graphics programming examples are included which should quickly build confidence in a new user and impress him that the purchase of this particular computer was a good one. Two additional books are advertised inside the back cover, entitled “Step By Step Programming” Parts I & II. They are done by the same company that produced the User Manual for Sinclair and follow the same style and format.
Also accompanying the Spectrum Plus is a cassette tape containing a ZX Spectrum Plus Keyboard Tutor on Side A and a useful user-defined graphics generator and a game (which is actually very good and uses udg’s) on the back side.