Atari 5200 Redesigns: More than the number of controller ports

[EpikalPuppy]

Today, I got a second Atari 5200 that was marked as untested on ebay, in the hopes that the door that covers the controller storage area would be intact to replace the one on my system. When I got the 5200, I immediately noticed that it was different from mine, even though they were both two port systems. I realized that the areas where the plastic is polished and shiny on mu system(around the cartridge slot, under the metallic badge, and inside of the controller compartment) were actually a matte, rough plastic on the new 5200, where those areas are the same type of plastic that is found on the rest of the shell. I’ve never heard of this before, and while my 5200 has a date code on the board, this new one I got does not. Has anybody ever encountered this before? I have included pictures of my Atari with the shiny plastic and the new one with the matte plastic.

[atari-dna]

Interesting. I have t seen one quite like this before. What’s your serial number sticker look like? Please post.

[EpikalPuppy]

Sure! Here you go.

[atari-dna]

Sure! Here you go.

Atari Taiwan, 43rd week of 1983–very near the end of production. Interesting, I haven’t seen a texture I’m in that strip in any unit I’ve come across. Thanks for posting!

[EpikalPuppy]

No problem! I’m really into researching minor redesigns in consoles, and I was surprised that this hadn’t been documented before. I wish it was in better condition, but the front of it got smashed in the post.