January, 1984 Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
Compute! Magazine, Issue 47, dated April 1984
(published early February, 1984)
The Shakeout Begins: A Watershed Winter CES
Tom R. Halfhill, Features Editor
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BULLETIN:
Commodore's New Computers In Doubt
After this CES report was written, Commodore's top management underwent a radical shake-up which casts doubt on the new products announced at CES. In a surprise move, Commodore founder Jack Tramiel resigned as president and chief executive officer. Two weeks later, four more top executives resigned. Commodore is now reorganizing its entire management structure.
As a result, the new Commodore 264 computer is being delayed indefinitely. General Manager Sol Davidson told The Wall Street Journal that Commodore is reexamining the computer and will introduce it "when there's a need for it… [the 264] could come before the end of 1984, we'll just have to watch carefully." Davidson also was quoted as saying, "I think our zeal [in announcing the computer] was greater than our determination in [bringing it to] the marketplace."[1]
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(FULL TEXT BEGINS)
Computer Wars Among The Wares
Most noticeable was the glaring lack of new home computers introduced. This was a significant change from the Summer CES, where no less than 17 new computers were on display (see “The Fall Computer Collection At The Summer Consumer Electronics Show,” COMPUTE!, August 1983). In fact, a few companies which introduced new machines at the Summer CES were empty-handed at the Winter CES, having decided to cut their losses early and abandon the market. Other companies were absent altogether. This doesn't mean that home computing is fizzling out. Sales are still healthy and growing. Instead, it's a sure sign that the market is tightening and the long-predicted “shakeout” has begun.
The big news at the latest CES was Commodore, which attracted the most attention by far with its new 264/364 series. The large Commodore exhibit was crowded all four days of the show. But aside from Commodore, almost nobody else was displaying new home computers. Atari was there with its XLP series announced last year, along with new peripherals. Apple was at CES for the first time in about three years—minus its new computer, the Macintosh, which Apple preferred to introduce at its stockholders meeting later in January. IBM—which created a stir when it exhibited at the Summer CES for the first time in history—didn't show up at this CES at all amidst reports that the PCjr has been cancelled.[2]
They fared better than Texas Instruments and Coleco, both of which reserved large exhibits at CES well in advance. Not a single TI-99/4A or 99/8 was in evidence, and the TI booth looked forlornly deserted since it just happened to be directly across the aisle from the busy Atari exhibit. Coleco’s large exhibit was equally sparse, with just a few ColecoVisions on display. (Two months before CES, Coleco cancelled its “Adam” computer/expansion add-on for the ColecoVision.)[3]
Outside of the Big Four of Commodore, Atari, Apple, and IBM, two other manufacturers showed off new computers. Spectra Video has been at the last couple of CES shows with its heavily advertised but unavailable SV-318 and SV-328 computers. At this CES, Spectra Video said the SV-318 has been dropped in favor of an upgraded SV-328 Mark II and the non-working mock-up of a new model, the SVI-728 MSX. Ever since we tested the SpectraVideo 318 and 328, we have felt that the company offers the consumer a great deal of performance for the price. Unfortunately, Microsoft was late in delivering Basic chips to SpectraVideo, and the company missed having product on the shelf during the crucial Christmas 1983 season. Meanwhile, Enterprise, a British company, announced the Enterprise 128, a Z-80A-based home computer with 128K of RAM and a built-in joystick .[4]
The uniquely-styled Enterprise 128
Commodore
Commodore stunned CES attendees by announcing a completely new series of personal computers that are incompatible with Commodore’s existing VIC-20 and C-64 machines. To set the record straight, Commodore flatly denied rumors that it plans to drop the VIC-20 and Commodore 64 to make room for the new products.
Three new computers head up Commodore's latest product line: the Commodore 116, 264 and V364. No prices were announced, but Commodore says the 264 will retail for under $500 and the 364V for slightly more. Commodore says the 116 and 264 will be available by April 1 and the 364V a few months later, but based on past experience, these target dates may well be optimistic. We were told privately that most likely the 264 and V364 will hit the stores in quantity this summer (see box).[5]
The Commodore V364; visually, it looks like a scaled-down version of the Atari 800XLP.
The new computers' main features over current machines include built-in application software, more usable memory, and a more powerful BASIC. The 264 and V364 are almost identical except the V364 has a numeric keypad and built-in speech synthesizer. The 116 is a scaled-down 16K version of the 264 with a “Chiclet”-style keyboard (similar to the IBM PCjr) that Commodore says it will deliver for $99.99. That would make the 116 the only sub-$100 computer in the marketplace (other than the small 2K Timex/Sinclair 1000).[6]
The most significant new feature is probably the built-in software. Commodore says it will work like this: When you buy a 116, 264 or V364, you get to choose from a selection of application software on ROM chips. If you want a computer with a built-in word processor, for example, the dealer either sells you one with that option already installed or plugs in the proper chip himself. The chips are internal and not designed to be installed by average users. It's like ordering a car with various options.[7]
The new 116/264/V364 line of Commodore computers are not compatible with the popular C-64, but Commodore says its most popular software programs will be converted to the 264/V364 as soon as possible. Intermediate home programmers probably could convert many BASIC programs. Programs with extensive machine language probably will require the talents of advanced programmers.
Although Commodore's new computers were generally well-received at CES, there were some questions raised about software compatibility and how the 116/264/V364 will fit into Commodore's existing product line. Compared to the Commodore 64, they offer intriguing new features, but they're also missing a few. If, as expected, the V364 retails in the $600 range, more than one observer noted that it may be advantageous to buy a 64 and upgrade it instead.[8]
Atari
On the heels of its successful 1983, Atari divided its exhibit into two booths: “Atari Video Games” and “Atari Professional Computers.” In the video game booth, Atari unveiled 18 new video game cartridges for its 7800 ProSystem. But the buzz surrounding Atari at CES was squarely focused on the right-hand booth, where Atari released a string of new peripherals and expansion boards to support its 800XLP Professional Computer. Atari also announced that it was discontinuing the 64K model and that all 800XLPs would ship with a full 128K of RAM at the existing price ($499).
Atari’s new data storage peripherals include the SmartDrive 2, SmartDrive Micro, and the SmartDrive Mega 15. The SmartDrive 2 ($199) is a double-sided, double-density upgrade to the existing Atari SmartDrive; it can store 360K of data on a single 5.25” floppy disk and can read all existing Atari floppy disks. The SmartDrive Micro ($249) uses new format 3.5” floppy (stiffy?) disks like the Apple Macintosh that can store up to 800K of information per disk. For business users, Atari’s new SmartDrive Mega 12 ($599) offers a whopping
twelve megabytes of storage on a fixed hard disk drive, similar to IBM’s “Winchester” fixed drives.[9] All three peripherals can connect to the Atari 800XLP directly via serial cable or can be plugged in to the rackmount-style “Smart Box” expansion system announced last year.
Atari announced that it ramped up production of its 1080 80-column expansion board after selling out in 1983. Additionally, Atari announced two new expansion boards for the 800XLP’s three expansion slot: the 1081 math co-processor board, which utilizes the CCS 7811B processor to perform floating-point arithmetic, freeing the main 6502 processor for other tasks[10], and the 1083 smart I/O controller card, which contains 32K of proprietary ROM and 64K of static RAM to vastly speed up printing, disk access, and other I/O operations.[11] Atari also announced partnerships with six manufacturers who promised forthcoming expansion boards for the 800XLP in 1984. (See inset below.) No word as to whether Atari will continue to ship the 1082 CP/M board that allows the XLP to run Digital Research’s CP/M and its library of thousands of programs.
More Atari Software
Atari’s professional software library continues to grow with Synapse Software’s
SynFile,
SynCalc, and
SynTrend, three integrated programs for home management. Not only are they compatible with each other, but they also work in concert with
AtariWriter. For example, spreadsheets created with
SynCalc and mailing lists compiled on
SynFile can be combined with documents on
AtariWriter.
SynTrend is a two-part graphics and statistics package. All were developed for Atari by Synapse Corp. They are available on disk for $49.95 each and require 64K.[12]
The Atari Light Pen and Touch Tablet
For fun, a perfected version of the long-awaited Atari Light Pen and Touch Tablet was shown, along with its new
AtariGraphics software. At CES, an artist was using the pen to draw very nice impromptu portraits of showgoers. The
AtariGraphics software was obviously influenced by the philosophy exemplified by the Apple Macintosh. Along the left side of the screen are four tiny white tabs; pressing the light pen to any of them causes a menu to slide over your drawing. The four menus allow you to choose drawing modes, colors, patterns, and storage options. When you point to the tab again, the menu slides back off the screen, leaving your drawing intact. You can even make the tabs themselves disappear by pressing the TAB key on the keyboard. It requires only 64K and retails for $99.95, including hardware and software.[13]
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NOTES:
[1] As OTL.
[2] IBM skipped the Winter ’84 CES IOTL as well. IOTL, the PCjr was unveiled at Comdex and cancelled in early ’85 after a misguided effort to retool its (famously awful “chiclet”) keyboard. Here, the slightly worse home computer market leads IBM to cut bait a bit earlier.
[3] IOTL, Coleco
continued to try and sell the Adam through 1985; like pretty much every home computer in the 1980s, it was a victim of the Commodore 64’s insane pricing scheme. For $700, you could upgrade your ColecoVision to a 64K Z80 computer… or you could buy a Commodore 64 and pocket the difference. The Adam also had a very strange “feature” in that the system power supply was built in to the daisy-wheel
printer that shipped with the expansion box.
[4] As OTL. The
Enterprise 128’s stats are pretty good for OTL’s 1984 – and not bad in this one’s – but it suffered from poor marketing. Perhaps it will have a slightly different future ITTL.
[5] All as OTL. IOTL, the 264 was re-badged into the “Plus/4” and made it to market and the V364 never made it past the prototype stage. Just as with the Adam (discussed above at note 3), all three of Commodore's new machines were essentially killed by Commodore’s own 64, which is now selling for $199.
[6] You can read all about the C-116
here; in any timeline, it will have no success in the U.S. market.
[7] This works about as terribly as you'd imagine both ITTL and IOTL. ITTL, it cements Commodore as the "low-end" computer that simply cannot compete with higher-end offerings from Apple, Atari, and IBM.
[8] This is taken basically word-for-word from the original COMPUTE! article; those folks were pretty prescient!
[9] This is essentially a repackaged
Control Data CDC 9760-series SMD from 1976 (!) in the smallest possible size.
[10] This is a
rebadged FPU board made by California Computer Systems for the Apple II IOTL.
[11] This draws from the
Applix 1616’s disk controller card, which is definitely doable with 1984 technology.
[12] As OTL. Seriously! The more I look at it, the more plausible it seems that Atari – with proper funding and support – could have easily pivoted to the high-end computer market.
[13] Also as OTL. Atari isn’t
all business ITTL, you know.
