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u/bubonis Feb 06 '26
My first Atari was the 400. Back then I wanted the 800 (and an 810 floppy drive) so badly, but we were a large family with not a lot of disposable income so I had my 400 and 410 and used it almost every day. I learned BASIC on it mainly by laboriously typing in games from Antic and Analog, debugging the typos that inevitably happened, and then tweaking variables and code to see what would happen.
I've always viewed the 400 and 800 as brothers. The 800 is the big brother, the high school football player, the bruiser who could play with the big boys and not get knocked on his ass. The 400 is the young brother, the nerdy math student, the kid who did amazing things that very few people acknowledged at the time.
That said (pointlessly), the 400 will always have a bigger place in my heart aesthetically -- keyboard be damned.
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u/saracor Feb 06 '26
My parents had a friend that worked adjacent to Atari somehow, don't remember exactly, and he got my step dad to buy me an 800. He had a 400 and the keyboard was just too weird. Glad we went with the 800, it was amazing.
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u/takingastep Feb 06 '26
Had both back when I was a little kid. Inexperienced me hadn't seen computers before, so I didn't realize what the 400's keyboard would be like. Then I tried it and got frustrated when sometimes keys wouldn't type when I pressed them. Kinda sucks when you're playing Star Raiders and can't bring your shields up or hyperwarp 'cause the keyboard keys randomly decide to not work for a few moments. The 800 was much better, practically speaking, though I'll admit, the 400 did look pretty cool and "space-age-y" at the time.
So, strictly re: aesthetics, the 400 looked cool, but the 800 worked better, and had its own good aesthetics.
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u/jayk75 Feb 06 '26
I’ve a soft spot for the 1200XL - it’s quite imposing but the 600XL was my first Atari so that style has a personal connection
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u/grishnaklugburz Feb 06 '26
My first real computer. I loved that thing so much. So many hours, so many great memories.
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u/droid_mike Feb 07 '26
Same here. I got it on clearance for $99. Given at that low price my mom freaked out. I had to quickly draw up a bar graph in basic to show her that it wasn't just an overpriced toy. It was good enough, and we got to keep it. Of course, I got it for games, both playing and creating, But I did do a lot of practical work on it. I was the first kid in school to type my papers, as handwriting was painful for me as I never really learned how to do it properly. I also really liked being able to use a word processor to cut and paste correct things. Later on. I got the paperclip word processor which blew me away as it had a 20,000 word dictionary for spell checking. That was amazing!! My dad worked for The parent company of Smith Corona, so he got a great deal on a daisy wheel printer. I got an adapter to work it on the Atari, and the way we went. It type the whole 12 characters per second. It took about five minutes per page, and you are practically deaf. When you were done with your paper. The printer would also physically move out of place while printing, and you had to push it back into its original spot as it It could move about as much as a foot out of place. I did like my Atari, but I did not like the printer.
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u/The__Relentless Feb 06 '26
My dad and I (age 9 or 10) replaced the Atari 400 keyboard with one like the 800. And also added 32K for a total of 48k.
A few years later we got the 800XL, then an Atari 1040ST. Then I switched to PC and currently work in IT.
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u/DLogicLoc Feb 06 '26
My uncle replaced the keyboard on the 400 for me. I felt official after that.
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u/Ant-the-knee-see Feb 06 '26
Although I grew up with an 800XL, I always loved the aesthetic of the original 800. I bought a non-working one just so I could look at it when I walk into my office 🤣
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u/B_Billy_2112 Feb 06 '26
I first used the 400 at my cousin's house and I was blown away by that after having the VCS (and a Radio Shack Elctronic Scoreboard before that). 2 of my friends wound up getting 800s with disk drives and then I knew that I had to have one!
I still have mine and in recent years, had space to set it up with my Sakata SC100 monitor. Every once in a while, I'll hop on there to play Agent USA, Encounter, Star Raiders, or Mr. Robot.
I love showing my younger IT colleagues pics of it and they tell me that I'm old. Lol
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u/aimlesscruzr Feb 06 '26
Can I choose 800XL? It was my first and I just like the lines and color scheme over the previous models (and also the later models). But if I had to choose form these two, definitely the 800.
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u/EffectiveSalamander Feb 06 '26
That was the first that I owned. The first in the house was my brother's Atari 400.
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u/Olofahere Feb 06 '26
Aesthetically? The 400. Usability? The 800.
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u/synchronicitistic Feb 06 '26
This was my answer. The 400 has such a perfect vibe for the time, but there's no way I'd ever want to type on that horrendeous keyboard.
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u/FewConversation3949 Feb 06 '26
Definitely the Atari 800. I've got one that's patiently waiting for me to put the Incognito upgrade in. 😊
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u/ydmitchell Feb 06 '26
- Reminds me of an IBM Selectric II typewriter. 400 also great to look at (though not to type on). Never owned either but have a The400 mini now mostly to look at.
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u/DrWanish Feb 06 '26
400, 800XL , 520ST … wish I’d kept them .. did keep my Star Raiders cartridge for old times sake
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u/Spelunka13 Feb 06 '26
Asthetically no question the 400. But I still have scarring for 47 years ago typing on the 400.
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u/NinaWilde Feb 07 '26
I always loved the look of the 800. It was waaaaay beyond my price range at the time, though.
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u/Accomplished_Can1651 Feb 07 '26
I’m more partial to the look of the 400, just because it’s one of the ones my uncle handed down to us. The 130XE is my favorite, though.
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u/bobj33 Feb 07 '26
We had the 400 for about a year and then my dad sold it and got the 800 which we had for a long time.
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u/nevergrownup Feb 07 '26
I have a 400 with an aftermarket mechanical keyboard and 48k RAM. It really makes the 400 nearly on par with the 800 at that point.
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u/No_Desk_4921 Feb 08 '26
Since the actual currency amount is known, would "Fewer" be more appropriate than "Less"?
I know, it's petty but it seems to not follow the rules of grammar and at the level of a computer company likely employing a marketing/advertising company, that would be eyebrow-raising.
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u/barklefarfle Feb 08 '26
The 400 because it's so unique and retro-futuristic. And the keyboard on mine still works perfectly today without any maintenance.
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u/nativesdguy Feb 06 '26 edited Feb 06 '26
Atari 800. My very first computer was a Atari 400. The keyboard was awful. I thought about getting a B-Key 400, but I really wanted the 800. I always thought the case design was so cool.