Retro Classic Video Games Atari 800 computer

Atari 600XL & 800XL Computers

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Atari 600XL & 800XL computers

Intro to The Atari 600XL & 800XL Computers

As a kid I had an Atari 2600 but never had a computer until after high school. This was partly due to the technical progress at the time and that my family wasn't really computer oriented in those days. I didn't have a Comodore or an Atari computer - I was a gamer. When I became more familliar with the 800 and XL series, the gamer in me wanted to put carts into those slots and see the results. Hearing that this series was quite similar (game-wise) the the Atari 5200, I had to have one... or more!

Atari XL Computers - Technical Specifications

Atari was involved in what would soon develop into a full-blown price war when Jack Tramiel of Commodore International was attempting to undercut his old enemy Texas Instruments. TI had undercut Commodore's calculator business only a few years earlier, almost driving him from the market, but this time Tramiel's supply was stronger than TI's, and he could turn the tables.

Although Atari had never been a deliberate target of Tramiel's wrath, they, along with the rest of the market, were dragged into "his" price war in order to maintain market share. The timing was particularly bad for Atari; the 1200XL was a flop, and the earlier machines were too expensive to produce to be able to compete at the rapidly falling price points. The solution was to replace the 1200XL with a machine that users would again trust, while at the same time lowering the production costs to the point where they could compete with Commodore.

Images of The Atari 600XL Computer

Atari 600XL Computer
Atari 600XL computer
Atari 600XL game carts
Atari 600XL game carts

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Images of The Atari 800XL Computer

Atari 800XL Computer
Atari 800XL computer
Atari 800XL game carts
Atari 800XL game carts

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