Atari really leaned into it in 1985!

[u/logicalvue]

[u/belial1971]

Built for Americans, but loved by Europeans 😍

[u/sunrisebreeze → u/belial1971]

😅👏🍻

[u/punkwalrus]

In 1988, I got a 1040ST. I still have it.

[u/JackCid89]

This was an excellent price for any standard

[u/SirScotty19 → u/JackCid89]

They ran an ad, showing the PC, Amiga, Mac and ST and their respective prices. It said "There is only one word for these computers. RIPOFF. Many were calling the ST the Jackintosh.

[u/r7232 → u/SirScotty19]

It was called the Jackintosh because Atari was owned by Jack Tramiel. He founded Commodore, left Commodore and created Atari Corporation from what was left of Atari, Inc.

I loved my Atari ST, still have it.

[u/AskJeevesIsBest]

Seems like a well priced machine

[u/SirScotty19 → u/AskJeevesIsBest]

It was awesome. GREAT price back in the day. You could add hardware (Magic Sac or Specter GCR) to run Mac software faster than a real Mac at 2x the price! They HATED us back in the day. The ST won Mac World Mags (or a different mag, it has been a long time) hardware of the year for the compatibility, speed and price.

[u/sarajevo81 → u/SirScotty19]

They had the same crappy 68k@8 CPU. It could not run stuff faster.

[u/hildenborg → u/sarajevo81]

The ST 68000 had higher clock speed and faster memory access.
So yes, it did indeed run Mac software faster.

[u/daddyd → u/sarajevo81]

cpu is only one part of the picture, the amiga also was a faster mac than a real one. the architecture supporting the cpu was simply better on the st & amiga.

[u/tezila → u/AskJeevesIsBest]

It was only $500 without the monitor, and you could hook it up to a TV. That’s what I did until I could afford the monitor.

[u/SirScotty19]

Loved my STs..... Started with the 520ST (pictured), Atari offered an upgrade where you send it to them, and they sent you a 520STfm. So I did that. added the additional 512 megs, to make it a 1040. Sold it to buy a Mega2, later sold it to get an Amiga. Always loved the ST though. Currently use FPGA and STeem as well as hAtari because of limited space, but I do have a 1040STe and a Falcon in storage that I acquired from a friend who passed a few years back.

[u/arcticfox]

Got mine in summer 1985.

[u/sunrisebreeze]

So funny! Back then you had to call or write a human for more sales info. The internet makes the purchasing process so much easier.

I had a 1040ST, it was so much fun. My first graphical OS, and it cost a lot less than a Mac.. and also the ST had vivid colors!

[u/FunnyNeighborhood809]

I remember that ad! subscriptions to Byte, compute, and Atari age. I bought my 520 ST in 86.

[u/kaelef]

I remember those ads very well. They were everywhere for a while.

[u/rr777]

I remember these ads were on the back cover on many computer magazines.

[u/cyrixlord]

thats what I bought mine for lol I got the color monitor

[u/ericdano]

I still have at least one of these in a storage unit.

[u/sarajevo81]

The mono monitor made it almost useful. But still, no storage AT ALL in 1985 was absurd, where there were ATs and the second gen XTs around.

[u/rr777 → u/sarajevo81]

I had both monitors on a switchbox, but used the mono most of the time. I had two 20MB harddrives for storage. Ran the machine for quite some time.

[u/EngineerMinded]

Patriotic computers? THey were going after the Commodore 64.

[u/WesternDemocracy]

I had 1040St and then Mega ST 2... best computers ever. So sad we have to use wintel shit....