JohnW Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 I was just curious as to how much some of you paid for bleeding edge technology for the Atari 8 bit system. My Atari 800 with 16K was $720 (extra memory boards was extra later on) and my 810 drive was $530. But hey it was so cool to have back then. I managed to make enough money off of games I wrote to pay for them which kept the wife happy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Spaced Cowboy Posted March 13, 2018 Share Posted March 13, 2018 My 800XL was £99 in Dixons, complete with 1050, when they were selling off stock. That was my Xmas and Birthday present combined in 1985... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunstar Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 (edited) I had to wait 5-6 years until I was old enough for a paper route, and the prices had dropped to my paper route income level. For me that meant a $149 130XE with a $25 after-market tape drive, until a year later when I also got a 1050 for $150. Of course it was hardly bleeding edge by then. Still no bleeding edge ST or Amiga for me, they were at the prices like you paid JohnW. In fact, I always stuck with the "last generation" with computers all my life, never paying more than a few hundred for any one. I still buy reconditioned and just upgrade as I go. I did pay bleeding edge prices for several game consoles, but luckily they were always only $200-300 anyway. Edited March 14, 2018 by Gunstar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thetick1 Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Look at the old Atari magazine for the typical prices: http://www.atarimania.com/list-atari-magazines.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 (edited) $600 in 1980 for a 400, 410, and two carts. Thought it was a good deal but soon spent $150 for 32K and bought an 800 and 810 two years later anyway. Edited March 14, 2018 by ClausB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnW Posted March 14, 2018 Author Share Posted March 14, 2018 Ah yes the Amiga (Actually the Atari 800's big brother). I purchased a Amiga 1000 and floppy drive very early and then moved up to a Amiga 2000HD (my first hard drive at a whopping 20MB size). I actually started with an OSI C4P computer (8K of RAM and built in 8K Basic). My First couple games were published on the OSI. Later I purchased an Atari 400 with a tape drive (and Star Raiders cartridge!!) but soon sold it off and got my 2000. Those were some exciting times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Do you remember what years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 We got ripoff prices here, my first 400 was I think about $600 for the computer alone and the 1010 was a criminal $160 extra in mid-1983. Under a year later I got a 600XL with intention to get the 1064 but it ended up cheaper to just buy an 800XL, I think it was around $600 as well in late 1984. Got my 1050 probably mid 1985, I think that was about $450. 1988 I got a new ST. The 520ST I got blew it's PS so I took it back and decided to pay extra for a 1040ST/FM. From memory including the monochrome monitor it came in just under $2,000. At the time the Amiga still cost somewhat more and software was a bit thinner on the ground. 1993 I got a used Amiga 500 with 1 Meg RAM, I think I paid about $450 including a 1084 (non-stereo) monitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnW Posted March 14, 2018 Author Share Posted March 14, 2018 As far as I recall. The Ohio Scientific Challenger 4P was 1979, the Atari 400 was 1980, the Atari 800 was late 1980 and the Amiga 1000 was 1986 and the Amiga 2000HD was 1988 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+slx Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Hard to convert given historical exchange rates, etc. but I‘d say my father spent the equivalent of a nice used VW Golf/Rabbit on an 800/810 Combo + a color monitor in late 81/early 82 (the latter so I‘d return the portable kitchen TV to my mother). Around 40.000ATS in late 81 would have been around 2500 USD, I had an allowance of around 20USD a month, so it was >3 months for Star Raiders and one month for 3 SD floppies, couldn‘t afford a Ten-Pack after Star Raiders and who‘d need more than 240K of storage anyway? A cone of ice cream (packaged) was about 10 ATS or .67 USD. Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 (edited) But the VW would be long gone by now and the 800 would probably still run! I had a 1980 Rabbit convertible, sold off in 1997. Still have my 1979 Atari 400. Also still have my 1992 Miata. Both run great! Edited March 14, 2018 by ClausB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLund1 Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 Got my first 800 in late '79, $1000 USD, 16K,CTIA. The 410(square version) was free, as was Basic. Got another 8K for $100, and Star Raiders $50(back ordered, had to wait a very long month before I got it) Got an 810 in early '81 for about $600, 850 for $200, an an Epson MX-80 for about $400, Atari Word Processor for about $150 Total $2500 in 80-81 USD's or $7,554 today!!! Then a 1040ST just after it was released for a $1000 with a color screen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 I think I paid $199 for my first 800XL and $220 for the 1050. It was $650 for the 1200baud modem when it came out, and later I remember paying $650 for the 47MB drive attached to the mio, which was kind of a deal at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+bf2k+ Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 1981 - Atari 800 w/48k - $999 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwilove Posted March 15, 2018 Share Posted March 15, 2018 It was in Dec 82' that I purchased an Atari 800 with 48K - for around 600 Pounds+, Star Raiders, PacMan, 410, Shamus. I would have waited for around a year - looking through computer magazines of that time. Decided not to buy it while in New Zealand - as the importer Ozisoft - seemed to have them marked up a lot (probably due to them having to import them at retail? prices - and adding their markup to it?). Timing is everything - if you paid a high price - you'll likely to have it sooner than everybody else and enjoy being a visionary - whereas if you bought it on sale at a cheap price - it's at it's decline that comes with it's own advantages/disadvantages. If you had the choice of - an Atari 400 vs Vic-20 - which would you have chose and been happy with? At least with a 400 you could later sell it and moved onto an 800 or whatever - and probably could keep/run whatever carts/etc you purchased for it. Sure - if you had the patience - you could wait a further 2 years and then buy what is the market leader / best buy - and avoid buying a turkey? Wait too long - then you'll be in the 16-bit era, in which the 8-bit would look seriously dated. Harvey 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanr256 Posted March 19, 2018 Share Posted March 19, 2018 Late '82 or early '83, $325 for an 800XL and $375 for a 1050 drive from the Base Exchange (BX) at Mtn. Home AFB in Idaho. -Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Witchboard Posted March 20, 2018 Share Posted March 20, 2018 I still have the price guide that came with my 400 when my father bought it. I don't know the year, but looks like he got it for $269 + 99.95 for the 16K memory upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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