I received the two computers as a gift from Enrico S. in 2011. The inspiration for this article came from a message I received from the contact form:

Hi, I don’t see the various Amstrad CPC464, 664 and 6128. I only found a reference in a Sinclair post. Am I wrong?

So I pulled the two CPCs off the shelf, cleaned them, took them apart and photographed them. I left the computer switched on while I was preparing the pictures for the article, and my son, attracted to anything with a screen like most children of his age, learnt to use a couple of BASIC instructions: CLS to clear the screen, and PRINT to do some mathematical operations (he just studied the 2 times table).

In Germany, the CPC 464 was exclusively distributed by Schneider, a company that at the time manufactured and sold low-cost audio equipment, and that opened a “Computer Division” just to sell Amstrad products. Apart from the keyboard and the silk-screen printing on the case, the Schneider version is technically identical to the Amstrad one.

The keys on the Schneider have a different colouring and a higher profile than on the Amstrad.

What is interesting about the CPCs in my possession is that they have two different revisions of the motherboard: the Schneider has a 1984 board, one of the earliest, while the Amstrad has the latest revision, the cost reduced one from 1988.

The reduced size of the 1988 board results in a different positioning of the joystick port and audio jack, which are placed on the side rather than on the back of the computer. The Schneider therefore has all the ports on the back:

while the Amstrad has two ports on the left side:

Both models have the power switch and internal speaker volume on the right side.

The motherboard of the Schneider is the second version: part number Z70200, revision MC0008A.

The Amstrad, on the other hand, has the fourth and final version: part number Z80329, revision MC0099A. This board was designed for either two 41464 RAM chips (as in the photo) or eight 4164 RAM chips.

I didn’t disassemble the recorder for the exploded view… too many screws, springs and joints, and the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” came to my mind – in this case “don’t disassemble it”. The plastics are cracked and a bit fragile, and I didn’t want to risk breaking some supports just to take a picture.

Here is a photo of the Amstrad recorder. This part has not changed over the years: the two recorders look identical.

Germany probably had stricter interference regulations, because the Schneider’s motherboard has a plastic and aluminium foil bottom layer and a metal top cover.

For more information, I recommend the CPCWiki site.