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Atari ST Book - The 1991 laptop with 10 hour battery life
68000 CPU (like the Mac and Amiga) and 4 MB of RAM. All powered by AA batteries. (Seriously.)
February 16, 2024
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During the 1980s and 1990s, I was never an “Atari Guy” (at least as far as computers go). At home, I had a 286 PC… and, at school, my days were filled with Apple II clones and 68k Macintoshes.

But, as years have gone on, I have found myself increasingly drawn to the Atari line of computers. Both the early 8-bit Atari systems… and, even more so, the Atari ST’s. I find those GEM powered beauties oddly fascinating and compelling.

Lately, I’ve been enamored with the Atari ST Book — a 1991 laptop that boasted 10 hour battery life, running on a set of AA batteries.

The front cover of the Atari ST Book brochure.

A beauty, right?

Sure, the screen is monochrome (with a resolution of 640×400) and passive (which means there’s a little bit of ghosting when things are moving around on screen) — which is certainly less than ideal from today’s standards. But it has so much else going for it.

Besides the whole “10 Hour battery life in a 1991 laptop” thing — which is awesome — the specs are, overall, pretty fantastic for the time:

  • 68000 CPU at 8MHz

  • Up to 4 MB of RAM

  • Full size keyboard

  • 16 bit Blitter Coprocessor

  • An internal hard drive (stock up to 120 MB)

  • And ports for connecting all the peripherals you can dream of

There’s no built-in floppy drive. Which means you’ll need some extra accessories to get data and software on and off of the ST Book. This is one of the concessions the team at Atari made in order to get the size and weight down.

The 1991 Atari ST Book brochure makes me so happy.

There’s also no external video port. Which is somewhat of a bummer (as it would be cool to plug in a nice monitor to get color and faster refresh rates when not on the go).

Despite the drawbacks, this machine really calls to me.

The keyboard, the battery life, the overall aesthetic. All are something special. But, perhaps what intrigues me most of all… is that this represents the path not taken in the computer industry.

Despite the relative success of the Atari ST line, this would be the last laptop computer from Atari. Likewise, the desktop Atari ST line would end with the 1993 discontinuation of the Atari Falcon (another fantastic machine).

What would these computers have evolved into had they survived past 1993? We’ll never know, for sure. But we can still go back and enjoy them for what they were: Unique, powerful, and fun computers of the late 80s and early 90s… with a heck of a lot going for them.

Now if only I could find one in good condition that didn’t cost an arm and a leg…

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New Lunduke Journal Sub Perks, Lifetime Price Increase Next Week

A quick update: There are some new perks for Lunduke Journal subscribers, and an upcoming price increase for new Lifetime Subscriptions (if you want one of those at the lower price, you have a couple days).

All the details below.

Lifetime Subscription Price Increase

This coming Friday (September 19th), the price of a new Lifetime Subscription to The Lunduke Journal will be increasing from $200 to $300. I wanted to give all of you a few days notice so you could grab one at the lower rate.

If you want to pick up a Lifetime Subscription for the lower price, simply grab one (via Locals, Substack, or Bitcoin) by Thursday night (Sep 18th).

The prices for new Yearly and Monthly subscriptions will remain the same. No changes.

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New Perks for Lunduke Journal Subscribers

I am working on adding a few new perks for Lunduke Journal subscribers — a way of saying “Thank You” for making this work possible (while still keeping all of the articles and shows free for the world).

Here are the perks as of today.

Perks for all Subscribers (Monthly, Yearly, and Lifetime):

Note: The eBooks & Games are currently only available on Locals & Substack (due to platform features). Those perks will also become available to subscribers on X, YouTube, & Patreon next week. Stay tuned for access details.

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From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your support. The Lunduke Journal is only possible thanks to each and every one of you.

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