The Atari 1200XL

The Atari 1200XL first appeared at the Winter CES in January 1983. Representing a major leap forward from Atari's original 400 and 800 computer lines, the 1200XL was 64K and featured the new stylish XL series design that would be carried across Atari's XL range of computers and peripherals.

The 1200XL came with a revised OS (operating system) and several enhancements, however its closed box design (as opposed to the Atari 800) proved unpopular with existing Atari 8-bit owners however the machine did sell quite well considering the very short period it was on sale for.

With Atari hemorrhaging money, then CEO James Morgan was on a mission to drive down costs. After being on sale for just a few months, the 1200XL was quietly dropped in favour of the new 16K Atari 600XL and the new 64K Atari 800XL.

Today the Atari 1200XL is considered one of the most collectable machines from the Atari 8-bit line, it was the last model to be produced before Atari began looking at cutting costs at every corner. In issue 9 of Atari User Magazine we took a detailed look at this stylish beauty - a fantastic machine that never got the chance to shine.

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