Atari Home Computers

Atari Home Computers covers the 8-bit and 16-bit personal computer lines Atari built for the home market from 1979 into the late 1980s. Atari's first home computers, the Atari 400 and Atari 800, launched in 1979 with custom graphics and sound chips derived from Atari's arcade and console hardware, establishing what became known as the Atari 8-bit family of machines that were later refreshed as the XL and XE series through the mid 1980s. After Atari Corporation took over the consumer computer business in 1984, the company released its update to the 8-bit computer line, the Atari XE series, as well as the 16-bit Atari ST line the following year, a Motorola 68000 based machine aimed at the same graphics, sound and music production niche the 8-bit machines had served, with a built in MIDI interface that made it popular with musicians. The 8-bit and ST families shared Atari's branding and its practice of pairing custom chipsets with aggressive pricing to compete against Commodore, giving Atari a continuous, if shifting, presence in the home computer market across two very different hardware generations under the same corporate lineage.