Posted By
MMS
on 2024-03-11
13:46:54
 |  Re: Commodore 16 price at 1986
Yepp, Plus/4 sold cheaper than the Tramiel based redesigned Atari 800XE.
Unfortunately that machine was not backwards compatibvle with 800XL, and in case on Plus/4 it also proved fatal (C64 compatibility). Despite newer look, it was basically a 800XL, and 130 XE had 128KB RAM.
Just between us: is you check the specs the Atari 800XE (and especially the 130 XE) were pretty good machines and accoridng to the specification, they are on par with Plus/4 or even better. 128 colors, 4 POKEY sound channels, 1.79MHz speed, good BASIC, OKish resolution (though looks a little more limited colors in gfx mode without tricks than on +4, but every gfx fit into 8192 bytes... they could have add few new, more colorful modes to the XE models). Still it still did not have 80 or 64 column text mode, made it irrelevant for Word Processing (though I think it is possible via a "normal" quality video output on a monitor even on 320 pixel resolution, as proved by few programs on Plus/4 too.
Was it readible on as CRT TV or monitor? I doubt, but still a nice achievement.
BTW BBC Micro could provide 640 pixels on a composite output, though I have no evidence it was sharp and readible
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