Atari 1200XL Pricing

[reliant73]

Hi Guy,

 

I have searched the forum for an idea on this but can't seem to find anything (might be this flu bug I have at the moment making my brain fuzzy!) . Anyway I am thinking of getting hold of an Atari 1200XL for my collection. I was wondering what you guys think is a reasonable price for one that is boxed and one that isn't?

 

I have located one that is boxed but it is untested and missing the power supply but it does look in good condition. They what $180 USD for it and I am unsure if that is steep? I know that 1200XL aren't that common anymore and are totaly non existent in New Zealand

 

Cheers

 

Rel

[flashjazzcat]

I've seen them for sale in the US for $50 but exorbitant shipping and additional import charges are discouraging. At the other end of the spectrum, someone in Hungary has had one for sale for 200GBP plus on and off for a couple of years, no takers. As usual: it's worth what someone's willing to pay. If the $180 one is all that's available in NZ and someone there can afford to buy it, someone'll buy it. You could probably get cheaper, though, known working and with a PSU, if you play the waiting game.

[Rybags]

Depends where you are. In North America they'll be reasonable as that's about the only market they were sold in originally.

 

Elsewhere it comes down to shipping price. When Bob gave a bunch of them away a few years ago for cost of package+shipping only, I grabbed one and it came to something like 60 bucks to get it over here.

Some of that cost was packaging but overall it was a bargain.

 

On the rare occasions 1200XL does show up on eBay here they're usually in the $80-$150 range - for NZ you could probably safely assume even more than that.

 

Really, you're paying for a collector's piece more than the functional value which is matched for the most part by an 800XL or an XE. Other thing to note is all the factory 1200XLs were NTSC, the only PAL ones are where people have gone to the trouble to perform the conversion.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Rybags

[reliant73]

Thanks I might ask the guy some questions and see what shipping costs to New Zealand are. I'm not to worry about it missing the power supply as I wouldn't be able to use it here without a step down and I probably have a spare power supply here I can use from a busted 1050. But yeah not really going to pay $180 if it doesn't work

Maybe I will wait

 

Cheers

 

Rel

[Synthpopalooza]

There are other power supplies which will work. I was able to power my 1200XL from the same adapter as my Alesis MMT-8 MIDI sequencer. You will need to keep in mind, as was mentioned above, the machine is NTSC only (there were no non-USA models made) and you will need a power converter to run it in NZ. I would also advise getting ahold of an Atari monitor cable and running the video output into either a VCR or a TV with video inputs ... or a Commodore monitor if you have one of those. Not sure what results you'd get on an analog TV.

 

I got mine from bob1200xl on here back in 2009 and I'm quite happy with it. It has a few differences from other Ataris, including no built-in BASIC (it boots to a rainbow Atari logo) and the presence of function keys. In TurboBASIC these serve functions like putting your cursor to corners of the screen or to the end of beginning of a line. There are also programmable LED's too. Kinda wish they'd kept those on later models.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Synthpopalooza

[mattlacey]

I'm not to worry about it missing the power supply as I wouldn't be able to use it here without a step down and I probably have a spare power supply here I can use from a busted 1050.

 

I built a power cable from a USB lead recently... if the 1200XL has the same requirements as the 800XL it'll just be straight 5V on a few of the pins... super easy to replace! I'd love a 1200XL too, but have the same issues (Melbourne based).

 

Scratch that, sounds like you're on the right lines with the 1050 supply!

Edited July 15, 2014 by mattlacey

[reliant73]

There are other power supplies which will work. I was able to power my 1200XL from the same adapter as my Alesis MMT-8 MIDI sequencer. You will need to keep in mind, as was mentioned above, the machine is NTSC only (there were no non-USA models made) and you will need a power converter to run it in NZ. I would also advise getting ahold of an Atari monitor cable and running the video output into either a VCR or a TV with video inputs ... or a Commodore monitor if you have one of those. Not sure what results you'd get on an analog TV.

 

I got mine from bob1200xl on here back in 2009 and I'm quite happy with it. It has a few differences from other Ataris, including no built-in BASIC (it boots to a rainbow Atari logo) and the presence of function keys. In TurboBASIC these serve functions like putting your cursor to corners of the screen or to the end of beginning of a line. There are also programmable LED's too. Kinda wish they'd kept those on later models.

Thanks for the reply I have two Commodore monitors (a 1701 and a 1702) can't beat em really. The 1702 is my original one that went with my 130XE my parents bought my Brother, Sister and I and it is still going strong so I should be good to go on that front. I have read that the old 1050 power supply's work on them as well and I have an old 1050 240v one here I can use.

 

I wish I known about bob1200xl's ones when they were around, from what I have heard they are great I did notice that Classics has one listed on his page that is modded so maybe I should go for one of those as I am not super confident at modding yet (I have a old cruddy 800XL I'm mucking around with to get my skill level up). I'm just keen on having the box for completeness, but to be honest I would probably use it as my main machine if it was modded

 

Cheers

 

Rel

[Paul Westphal]

400/800/810/1050 power supplies all work on the 1200xl