How big is the 800?

[ApolloBoy]

I might be getting an 800 fairly soon, and I want to get an idea of how big it is so I know where to put it in my setup. Judging by the pics I've seen, it looks about as big as a 5200. Am I right?

[Corby]

I might be getting an 800 fairly soon, and I want to get an idea of how big it is so I know where to put it in my setup. Judging by the pics I've seen, it looks about as big as a 5200. Am I right?

 

 

Oh hell no!

 

just look at the keyboard your typing on right now, its about the same size. thicker about 3 or 4 inches, I wish i had mine out so that i can give you specs, but just to give you an idea.

 

And no its not even close to being the size of the of the 5200

[ApolloBoy]

just look at the keyboard your typing on right now, its about the same size. thicker about 3 or 4 inches, I wish i had mine out so that i can give you specs, but just to give you an idea.

 

Well that's kind of hard to say, since I use a MacBook, and I can't imagine an 800 being as small as a MacBook.

[monzamess]

Googled "atari 800 dimensions." Second link says: 406x317x114mm, or, 16x12.5x3.5 inches.

[ApolloBoy]

Googled "atari 800 dimensions." Second link says: 406x317x114mm, or, 16x12.5x3.5 inches.

 

So in that case it's about as big as a 5200 (which is 13x15x4.25 inches). Looks like I'm gonna have to make quite a bit of room for it.

Edited October 25, 2008 by ApolloBoy

[Albert]

The 800 is quite large and about the same size as a 5200. I'd have to guess it's quite a bit heavier as well, as the 800 is built like a TANK with a fair amount of thick, solid metal. Wish I had one here (as opposed to packed up in a box) so I could take some pictures side-by-side with the 5200 I do have setup..

 

..Al

[Corby]

I might be getting an 800 fairly soon, and I want to get an idea of how big it is so I know where to put it in my setup. Judging by the pics I've seen, it looks about as big as a 5200. Am I right?

 

 

Oh hell no!

 

just look at the keyboard your typing on right now, its about the same size. thicker about 3 or 4 inches, I wish i had mine out so that i can give you specs, but just to give you an idea.

 

And no its not even close to being the size of the of the 5200

 

Once again I need sleep, enough moving need to buy a house??? I was thinking of the 800xl!!

 

sorry for the miss information

[Chris Strong]

The 800 is quite large and about the same size as a 5200. I'd have to guess it's quite a bit heavier as well, as the 800 is built like a TANK with a fair amount of thick, solid metal. Wish I had one here (as opposed to packed up in a box) so I could take some pictures side-by-side with the 5200 I do have setup..

 

The official specs say:

 

16" x 12.25" x 4.5", 9 3/4 lbs.

 

That would be

 

40.6cm x 31.12cm x 11.43cm, 4.4kg

 

Source: C015516 Rev 1, Atari Inc, 1980

 

I started to say "it's not as big as a 5200", but then I went and got one of each and stacked them on top of each other.

 

The 5200 seems huge by comparison, but they are about the same size.

 

I think the reason it seems bigger is the square lines on the 5200, plus the fact that the 5200 is mainly wasted space, while the 800 is fairly full. Totally full on the developer model.

Edited October 25, 2008 by Chris Strong

[Chris Strong]

The 800 is quite large and about the same size as a 5200. I'd have to guess it's quite a bit heavier as well, as the 800 is built like a TANK with a fair amount of thick, solid metal.

 

That is because when Atari made the 800, if you wanted to hook it to a TV, it had to meet FCC shielding standards for television broadcast equipment.

 

That is the whole reason the Atari 800 has no "real" card slots, and very expensive standalone peripherals that are each a computer in their own right. Atari wanted to use cheap "dump" drives like the Apple, but could not meet the stringent FCC regulations. This is the reason the original CX2600 and 400 also have heavy shielding.

 

Atari engineers BADLY wanted card slots and generic disk drives. But they knew they needed to have a machine that could plug into an ordinary television set. If you look at the 400/800 marketing, this was a MAJOR selling point. That saved the consumer $500 over a color monitor, or about i$1500 today.

 

Apple got around this by giving their computers just a composite output, and making people buy a $200-500 monitor to go with it. But every Apple store soon had RF modulator kits the consumer could install themselves, and the store would do it for a nominal fee.

 

The TI 99 and 99/4A cheated by making a computer that had composite out only, and then a "totally separate" RF modulator that just happened to plug in to the back of the computer, for an extra $65 or so. The computer met FCC specs for a computer, the modulator met the broadcast specs, and TI just happened to make a male plug on one that met the female jack of another. The FCC got after them for cheating, but it was too late.

 

A big scandal broke out, and a lot of Apple stores suddenly had their RF modulators seized. Radio Shack did a brisk business selling $40 ($120 in today's money) RF modulators to make the Apple's or TRS-80's use a TV.

 

A lot of smaller companies just cheated, broke the rules and figured the computer would be off of the market or the company out of business by the time the FCC caught up with them. Which was basically true for most of them.

 

But Apple and Atari were way too big. Warner Communications could not be taken down and claimed they did not know any better.

 

Just when things seemed darkest, the world suddenly changed, the FCC relaxed regulations for home computers and video games and suddenly computers like the 1200XL and Commodore 64 came out with tinfoil shielding and RF outputs.