My parents went down the home computer route, and I ended up with an 800 XE.
It was beautiful. The detachable keyboard, the IBM-grey sleek housing, the pastel console buttons, and satisfying “chi-chuunnnggg” of the spring loaded power button.
I felt like I had the future under the palms of my hand.
It was, but as Atari was known for, was just a fancy new shell on eight year old hardware not too dissimilar to the 2600 or VCS or whatever your region calls it.
![[OC] Atari’s Black Beauty](https://lemmy.autism.place/pictrs/image/4daeb239-6bc8-4832-bee4-c26c83f75632.jpeg){kind=link}
My parents went down the home computer route, and I ended up with an 800 XE.
It was beautiful. The detachable keyboard, the IBM-grey sleek housing, the pastel console buttons, and satisfying “chi-chuunnnggg” of the spring loaded power button.
I felt like I had the future under the palms of my hand.
That’s much later though
It was, but as Atari was known for, was just a fancy new shell on eight year old hardware not too dissimilar to the 2600 or VCS or whatever your region calls it.
the 800xe was roughly equivalent to a commodore 64.