If you can’t use this new computer in five minutes, you’ll get your money back – Amstrad Plc yesterday announced the arrival of its A4-size NC100 Notepad computer which it claims is the world’s easiest to use computer. It is the first in a line of products reflecting Amstrad’s new back to basics strategy aimed at the non-technically minded consumer rather than the computer boffin, a strategy that proved so successful with the company’s PCW line of word processors. The same ease of use concepts pioneered in the NC100 are to be applied in future Amstrad video cassette recorders and facsimile machines. Weighing in at a diminutive 2 lbs 3 oz, the Notepad has been designed for the 80% of the population that neither owns or uses a computer, and needs user-friendliness rather than sophistication. It combines a word processor with 48,000 word spell-checker, calendar and diary, address book, world clock with alarms, calculator and BBC Basic. It is fitted with parallel and serial interfaces for connection to printers or to MS-DOS machines for file transfer – make up your own cable following the instructions in the manual! – can on run four AA batteries (for up to 40 hours) or from the mains and uses a 6MHz Z80 CPU and 64Kb battery-backed static onboard user memory. A standard PCMCIA card slot is also fitted for users requiring up to 1Mb extra memory, but Amstrad winces at the price of the memory cards: Fujitsu Ltd was involved in development of the storage subsystem. The screen is an 80 character by eight line Supertwist LCD and, for simplicity, the 64-key keyboard has four colour hot keys, use of which is prompted on screen. It is made in Japan by an unidentified manufacturer and will be available from most major UK retail outlets this month costing UKP200, and it will also be sold in the rest of Europe and the US: Amstrad forecasts sales of around 200,000 to 300,000 units in the first year.