Buying an 8bit Atari

[acrin1]

Hi,

 

I'm considering buying an 8bit Atari but before I really start looking seriously I thought I would ask for some general guidance.

 

From what I've read it sounds like the Atari 800XL would be a good bet for me (though I realise a good one might be hard to come by).

 

I'm interested mainly in playing games so game compatibility is important to me and I'd like to be able to play all the disk based games including Alternate Reality: The City and The Dungeon (a PC version of which I've been working on for many years).

 

I'd also like to try my hand at some game programming though I would see myself using some of the PC based tools for most of the development.

 

I would probably see myself using something like an SIO2SD type card reader.

 

Does the 800XL sound like a sensible choice or are there other (possibly better) options that I should consider?

 

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[acrin1]

Sorry overlooked the "Topic for newbies" thread. I'll take a look there.

[bbking67]

The unmodified 130XE has better video output and more memory... if you plan on getting into hardware enhancements, you'd probably be better off with an 800XL, but as for a stock machine the 130XE is better.

 

The 800 is nice too, but 48K is rather limiting.

 

My vote is definitely 130XE... I'd staty clear of the 400, 1200XL, 600XL and XEGS as they are more constrained. All of them have their merits though.

 

/bbking67