Do you consider the Atari XE to be a game console or a computer?

[DocktaCake]

I collect game consoles, but not computers. I am curious, do y'all consider the XE to be a console or a computer? I am not sure if I should get it for this reason.

[hizzy]

Game console!

[MrFish]

It can be either or both. If all you want to do is play a somewhat limited group of carts on it. Then it can be every bit a console -- and a quite nice one at that -- no keyboard needed. If you want to go beyond that, the lines start to become blurred.

Edited April 8, 2016 by MrFish

[snicklin]

I suspect that you're talking about the XEGS rather than the 65XE or 130XE.

 

I see it as a games system, unless you plug a keyboard in.

[Rybags]

Computer. It's got the full Operating System onboard. Having to plug a keyboard in makes little difference IMO. Plenty of other computers have seperate keyboards as well, only difference is the XEGS has different behaviour on startup which is affected by presence of a keyboard.

[+phoenixdownita]

I fell for the "console" side of the XEGS, as I decided to limit my addiction hobby to consoles only.

In the end I ended up buying a MyIDE ][ then a U1MB + SIDE2 then an SIO2SD .... recently I caught myself looking at the Rapidus but for now I resist .... ouch.

 

Of all of the computer->console conversions the XEGS is the one that shows the most ties to its computer origins, to use U1MB you need the HELP key on the keyboard .... enough said.

oh and you would want a U1MB for those games that need more than 64K, and then SIDE2 to actually load them fast, and SIO2SD to flash the damn U1MB safely

[Bryan]

It's a similar (but better executed) idea to the C64GS and probably the closest thing the 5200 has to a successor.

 

It was a way to try to extend the mass market appeal of the aging 8-bit line.

 

In the end, I'd say it's a computer in the same way a Coleco ADAM is even though they have game console elements.

[Keatah]

Computer.

[krslam]

Computer. It's basically a 65XE with a detachable keyboard, capable of using nearly every peripheral and running almost every program for the Atari 8-bits, including word processors, spreadsheets, terminal programs, and all the other stuff game consoles don't do.

 

It can, however, be used as a game console, in much the same way a C64 or TI99. This is why I never really differentiated between computers and consoles in my collecting.

[Kyle22]

Computer. It's basically a 65XE with a detachable keyboard, capable of using nearly every peripheral and running almost every program for the Atari 8-bits, including word processors, spreadsheets, terminal programs, and all the other stuff game consoles don't do.

 

It can, however, be used as a game console, in much the same way a C64 or TI99. This is why I never really differentiated between computers and consoles in my collecting.

A (please excuse me for typing the evil letter and numbers) C64 (yuck) and a TI99 both have built-in keyboards, so they are (almost) computers. ANY computer can be used as a game playing machine...