I had Elite running on a BBC Micro model A with seperate tape unit! I don't think the BBC micro got beyond UK shores but it was essentially built by Acorn and was a BBC initiative to bring computers to a wider audience. The alternatives at the time (for a 15 year old with not so much pocket money) were the Commodore 64, Acorn Atom or the VERY expensive Apple II.
Elite was brilliant and I manage to 'waste' many happy hours / days / weeks on it. The wire-frame graphics were exceptional at the time and I have to say that the docking autopilot was dead handy when under pressure - a little bit of smuggling was always great at boosting the coffers but not smiled on by the law!!
History here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game)
Happy Days
~S~