Editing Atari 8-bit computers (section)

=== 400 and 800 release ===
[[File:Atari-400-Comp.jpg|thumb|Atari 400 (1979) has a [[membrane keyboard]] and a door covering the single cartridge slot.]]
[[File:Atari-800-Computer-FL-No-Cover-Expansions.jpg|thumb|Atari 800 with the cover removed, showing expansion cards and two cartridge slots. The slots are molded into the cast aluminum RF shield.]]
[[File:Atari-800-Expansion-Board-16K-RAM.jpg|thumb|The Atari 800 has expansion cards for the RAM, ROM, and processor. It eventually shipped with three of these 16KB RAM cards, for a total of 48KB.]]

After Atari announced its intent to enter the home computer market in December 1978,<ref>{{cite news|last=Schuyten | first=Peter J.|title=Technology; The Computer Entering Home|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|department=Business & Finance|date=December 6, 1978|page=D4|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> the Atari 400 and Atari 800 were presented at the Winter [[Consumer Electronics Show|CES]] in January 1979<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Craig, John|date=April 1979|title=Winter Consumer Electronics Show|url=https://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1979-04|access-date=May 25, 2014| magazine=[[Creative Computing]]|volume=5|issue=4|page=16}}</ref> and shipped in November 1979.<ref name=fc2019 /><ref name=atari50 />

The names originally referred to the amount of memory: 4&nbsp;KB RAM in the 400 and 8&nbsp;KB in the 800. By the time they were released, RAM prices had started to fall, so the machines were both released with 8&nbsp;KB, using 4kx1 DRAMs. The user-installable RAM modules in the 800 initially had plastic casings but this caused overheating issues, so the casings were removed. Later, the expansion cover was held down with screws instead of the easier-to-open plastic latches.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Atari 800| last=Vendel | first=Curt|website=Atari Museum|url=http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8bits/400800/atari800/a800.html|access-date=October 20, 2016|archive-date=December 8, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121208194608/http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/400800/ATARI800/A800.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The computers eventually shipped with maxed-out RAM: 16k and 48k, respectively, using 16kx1 DRAMs.

Both models have four joystick ports, permitting four simultaneous players, but only a few games (such as ''[[M.U.L.E.]]'') use them all. Paddle controllers are wired in pairs, and ''[[Super Breakout]]'' supports eight players.{{r|edwards}} The Atari 400, with a [[membrane keyboard]] and single internal ROM slot, outsold the Atari 800 by a 2-to-1 margin.<ref name="reimer"/> Only one cartridge for the 800's right slot was produced by March 1983, and later machines in the series have only one slot.<ref name="halfhill198303">{{cite news|url=http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue34/025_1_ATARIS_NEW_TOP-LINE_HOME_COMPUTER.php|title=Atari's New Top-Line Home Computer|work=Compute!|date=March 1983|access-date=June 30, 2014|last=Halfhill |first=Tom R.|page=66}}</ref><ref name=edwards>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/181421/inside_atari_800.html|title=Inside the Atari 800|work=PC World|date=November 4, 2009|access-date=July 19, 2014|last=Edwards |first=Benj}}</ref>

''[[Creative Computing (magazine)|Creative Computing]]'' mentioned the Atari machines in an April 1979 overview of the CES show. Calling Atari "the videogame people", it stated they came with "some fantastic educational, entertainment and home applications software".<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Creative Computing|date=April 1979|url=https://archive.org/stream/CreativeComputingbetterScan197904#page/n17|page=16|title=Winter Consumer Electronics Show|last=Craig | first=John}}</ref> In an August 1979 interview Atari's Peter Rosenthal suggested that demand might be low until the 1980–81 time frame, when he predicted about one million home computers being sold.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Creative Computing|date=August 1979|url=https://archive.org/stream/CreativeComputingbetterScan197908#page/n59|pages=58–59 |title=Atari Speaks Out| last=Ahl | first=David}}</ref> The April 1980 issue compared the machines with the [[Commodore PET]], focused mostly on the BASIC dialects.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Creative Computing|date=April 1980 |url=https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198004/page/n23/mode/1up|pages=22–30|title=Atari in Perspective|last=Lindsay | first=Len}}</ref> [[Ted Nelson]] reviewed the computer in the magazine in June 1980, calling it "an extraordinary graphics box". Describing his and a friend's "shouting and cheering and clapping" during a demo of ''[[Star Raiders]]'', Nelson wrote that he was so impressed that "I've been in computer graphics for twenty years, and I lay awake night after night trying to understand how the Atari machine did what it did". He described the machine as "something else" but criticized the company for a lack of developer documentation. He concluded by stating "The Atari is like the human body – a terrific machine, but (a) they won't give you access to the documentation, and (b) I'd sure like to meet the guy that designed it".<ref name=nelson198006>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/CreativeComputingbetterScan198006/page/n35|pages=34–35, 37|title=The Atari Machine|magazine=Creative Computing|date=June 1980|last=Nelson |first=Ted}}</ref> ''[[Kilobaud Microcomputing]]'' wrote in September 1980 that the Atari 800 "looks deceptively like a video game machine, [but had] the strongest and tightest chassis I have seen since [[Raquel Welch]]. It weighs about ten pounds ... The large amount of engineering and design in the physical part of the system is evident". The reviewer praised the documentation as "show[ing] the way manuals should be done", and the "excellent 'feel{{'"}} of the keyboard.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/stream/kilobaudmagazine-1980-09/Kilobaud_Microcomputing_1980_September#page/n97/mode/2up|title=Moonshine, Dixie and the Atari 800|magazine=Kilobaud |date=September 1980|access-date=June 23, 2014|last=Derfler |first=Frank J. Jr.|pages=100–103}}</ref> ''[[InfoWorld]]'' favorably reviewed the 800's performance, graphics, and ROM cartridges, but disliked the documentation and cautioned that the unusual right Shift key location might make the computer "unsuitable for serious word processing". There is an "Atari key" between the {{key|/}} and shift, whereas a typical keyboard would extend the shift key into this area. Noting that the amount of software and hardware available for the computer "is no match for that of the Apple II or the TRS-80", the magazine concluded that the 800 "is an impressive machine that has not yet reached its full computing potential".<ref name="hogan19810511">{{cite magazine|title=The Atari 800 Personal Computer|magazine=InfoWorld|date=May 11, 1981| last=Hogan | first=Thom|pages=34–35}}</ref>