Editing Atari 8-bit computers (section)

=== 600XL and 800XL ===
[[File:Atari-800XL.jpg|thumb|The 800XL is the best-selling model.]]
[[File:Atari-600XL-PC.jpg|thumb|The 600XL has a slightly shallower case than the 800XL.]]

In May 1981, the Atari 800's price was {{US$|long=no|1050|1981|round=-2}},{{r|hogan19810511}} but by mid-1983, because of price wars in the industry, it was {{US$|long=no|165|1983|round=-1}}<ref name="bisson198605">{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/stream/1986-05-anticmagazine/Antic_Vol_5-01_1986-05_Fourth_Anniversary_Issue#page/n15/mode/2up|title=Antic Then & Now|magazine=Antic|date=May 1986|access-date=January 28, 2015|author=Bisson, Gigi|pages=16–23}}</ref> and the 400 was under {{US$|long=no|150|1983|round=-1}},{{r|lock198306}} down from under {{US$|long=no|300|1982|round=-1}} in 1982.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://time.com/archive/6883869/price-war-in-small-computers/ |title=Price Wars in Small Computers |author=John Greenwald |date=1982-09-20 |publisher=Time }}</ref> The 1200XL was a flop, and the earlier machines were too expensive to produce to be able to compete at the rapidly falling price points.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Knight |first=John |date=April 2007 |title=<i>Handbook of Computer Game Studies</i> edited by Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Goldstein. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, U.S.A., 2005. 496 pp., hardcover. ISBN: 0-262-18240-8 |url=https://doi.org/10.1162/leon.2007.40.2.207 |journal=Leonardo |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=207–208 |doi=10.1162/leon.2007.40.2.207 |issn=0024-094X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

A new lineup was announced at the 1983 Summer [[Consumer Electronics Show]], closely following the original Sweet concepts. The 600XL is essentially the Liz NY model and the spiritual successor of the 400, and the 800XL would replace both the 800 and 1200XL. The machines follow the styling of the 1200XL but are smaller from back to front, and the 600XL is more so.

[[File:Inside Atari 800XL.JPG|thumb|800XL main circuit board]]

Atari had difficulty in transitioning manufacturing to Asia after closing its US factory in 1983.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1984/02/06/colecos-adam-gets-gentlemans-c-for-performance/c231169a-0e52-4192-b54f-b2b9f5bfd84d/|title=Coleco's 'Adam' Gets Gentleman's 'C' for Performance|author=Reid, T. R.|date=February 6, 1984|newspaper=The Washington Post|author-link=T. R. Reid}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/08/business/chief-is-replaced-at-troubled-atari.html |title=Chief Is Replaced at Troubled Atari |author=Andrew Pollack |date=1983-07-08 |work=[[New York Times]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-06-04-fi-8716-story.html |title=Ex-Workers Win Back Pay for Layoffs Without Notice : Atari Settles Landmark Lawsuit |author=Henry Weinstein |date=1986-06-04 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] }}</ref> Originally intended to replace the 1200XL in mid-1983, the new models did not arrive until late that year. Although the 600XL/800XL were well positioned in terms of price and features, during the critical Christmas season they were available only in small numbers while the [[Commodore 64]] was widely available.<ref name="reimer"/> [[Brian Moriarty]] stated in ''[[ANALOG Computing]]'' that Atari "fail[ed] to keep up with Christmas orders for the 600 and 800XLs", reporting that as of late November 1983 the 800XL had not appeared in Massachusetts stores while 600XL "quantities are so limited that it's almost impossible to obtain".<ref name="analog198401">{{cite magazine|author=Moriarty, Brian|author-link=Brian Moriarty|author2=Nowell, Robin E.|author3=Franklin, Austin|date=January 1984|title=Inside the Atari 600XL|url=https://archive.org/stream/analog-computing-magazine-15/Analog_Computing_15_1984-01_Inside_the_600XL#page/n33/mode/2up|magazine=ANALOG Computing|page=32}}</ref>

After losing {{US$|long=no|563 million}} in the first nine months of the year, Atari that month announced that prices would rise in January, stating that it "has no intention of participating in these suicidal price wars."<ref>{{cite news|title=Atari, Coleco to Raise Prices of Home Computers on January 1|author=Wessel, David|date=November 10, 1983|work=The Boston Globe}}</ref> The 600XL and 800XL's prices in early 1984 were $50 higher than for the VIC-20 and Commodore 64.<ref>{{cite news|title=Can Atari Bounce Back?|work=InfoWorld|date=February 27, 1984|last=Mace | first=Scott|pages=100}}</ref>

''ANALOG Computing'', writing about the 600XL in January 1984, stated that "the Commodore 64 and [[TRS-80 Color Computer|Tandy CoCo]] look like toys by comparison." The magazine approved of its not using the 1200XL's keyboard layout, and predicted that the XL's parallel bus "actually makes the 600 ''more'' expandable than a 400 or 800." While disapproving of the use of an operating system closer to the 1200XL's than the 400 and 800's, and the "inadequate and frankly disappointing" documentation, ''ANALOG'' concluded that "our first impression ... is mixed but mostly optimistic." The magazine warned, however, that because of "Atari's sluggish marketing", unless existing customers persuaded others to buy the XL models, "we'll all end up marching to the beat of a drummer whose initials are IBM."{{r|analog198401}} By March 1984, all of Atari's computer models were produced in Hong Kong by the Atari-Wong joint venture.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/v2n12/atariinternational.html |title=Inside Atari: Atari International |author=Robert DeWitt |date=1984-03-01 |publisher=ANTIC }}</ref>