The Atari 800XL cocks a snook at the competition
Written on February 19th, 2026 by Tech Ads
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FEATURES
4 “SOUND” VOICES +
MAX 256 COLOURS +
ON SCREEN AT ONE TIME
DIAGNOSTIC “SELF TEST” +
CASSETTE "SOUND TRACK” Es
CAPABILITIES
64K RAM + | +
PROGRAMMABLE i %
JOY STICK PORTS |
| =
|
SPRITES re +
CARTRIDGE SLOT + #
MONITOR SOCKET + + +
BUILT-IN “BASIC” 4 + x
COMMUNICATIONS 4 i & i
CAPABILITIES
REAL KEYBOARD + + + +
SINCLAIR ACORN COMMODORE | ATARI
SPECTRUM PLUS| ELECTRON 64 800XL
AT £169, LOOK
HOW THE ATARI
800XL COCKS A
SNOOK AT THE
COMPETITION.
AT LAST, SERIOUS HOME COMPUTERS ARE UP AGAINST SERIOUS COMPETITION. THE ATARI 800XL
OFFERS EVERYTHING COMPETITORS IN OUR PRICE RANGE OFFER. AND AS YOU CAN SEE ON THE
LEFT, A GREAT DEAL MORE. PLUS SOFTWARE PRICES THAT START AT LESS THAN £10
ae A. ATARI 800XL |
FOR FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT YOUR NEAREST A
RUMBELOW:
LITTLEWOODS, MAKRO.
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‘The Atari 800XL cocks a snook at the competition’
The Atari 800XL was a 1983 home microcomputer based around a MOS Technology 6502 CPU running at either 1.79Mhz (NTSC) or 1.77MHz (Pal), 64KB of RAM and a custom graphics chip capable of displaying a range of resolutions, colours and text sizes. Video out could either be displayed on a dedicated monitor or via a standard consumer TV. Data storage was via either tape, 5 1/4 inch floppy drive or, later, external hard drives.
Initially selling at around 299USD or 249GBP, the Atari 800XL was well received with March 1985’s Byte Magazine describing it as a “bargain”.
A Retro Collective deep dive into the Atari 800XL can be viewed below:
Taken from: Personal Computer World - Volume 8, Issue 1 (January 1985)
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