800XL: Hong Kong vs. Taiwan

[+wood_jl]

Back in the heyday, I used to know which of these was the better machines, as well as what the differences are.

 

Someone chime in here who knows.

 

It seems to me that the Hong Kong version had a "better" keyboard, and that lots of chips were socketed.

 

I know that the "Tramiel era" counted heavily on Taiwan manufacturing, so I'm assuming then, that the Taiwan 800XL (I believe he continued to manufacture 800XLs prior to XEs) were the less-desirable product.

 

Is that the case?

 

James Wood

Edited December 9, 2007 by wood_jl

[+Larry]

Back in the heyday, I used to know which of these was the better machines, as well as what the differences are.

 

Someone chime in here who knows.

 

It seems to me that the Hong Kong version had a "better" keyboard, and that lots of chips were socketed.

 

I know that the "Tramiel era" counted heavily on Taiwan manufacturing, so I'm assuming then, that the Taiwan 800XL (I believe he continued to manufacture 800XLs prior to XEs) were the less-desirable product.

 

Is that the case?

 

James Wood

 

For the following read "mostly" into the answers, since I'm sure there were exceptions. I'm not aware of significant keyboard differences, but perhaps there were?

 

Hong Kong:

All Socketed Chips

Really poor video

Rev. B Basic

 

Taiwan:

Fewer socketed chips

Much improved video

Rev. C Basic

 

IMO, the winner: "Taiwan"

 

-Larry

[opcode]

And was there any difference in the retail boxes? I mean, I have seen 800XLs using two different boxes (see pictures). Does anyone knows if I can identify an especific 800XL version just looking in the box? How about the 800XL Freddie version?

 

Eduardo

[vitaflo]

Freddie version used the box on the left, if I recall correctly. Not sure if that box was used for non-freedie versions though as well.

 

As for keyboards, most people consider the best keyboard to be the one with Control in a white box (black text) and the "O" to be elongated (not circular).

Edited December 11, 2007 by vitaflo

[+RSA]

On 12/9/2007 at 7:00 AM, Larry said:

 

For the following read "mostly" into the answers, since I'm sure there were exceptions. I'm not aware of significant keyboard differences, but perhaps there were?

 

Hong Kong:

All Socketed Chips

Really poor video

Rev. B Basic

 

Taiwan:

Fewer socketed chips

Much improved video

Rev. C Basic

 

IMO, the winner: "Taiwan"

 

-Larry

@Larry or anyone: Can you elaborate on the video quality differences? Are the differences in RF signal or composite signal or both? I imagine that the chips are the same in all cases and any differences would be due to other components or layout in the MoBo.

 

Raul

[+kheller2]

AFAIK, the video quality differences are not significant.  I would think the Freddie boards to be slightly better but that’s just a guess. I think they had the chroma line wired to the video jack.  However, The video circuitry didn’t change through the board revisions.  
 

As for sockets, the closer to 1983 you get the better. 1985? Probably only a few.  

[+Larry]

It's been too long to remember much about them, but I know that I bought four 800XL mobos from BEST quite a few years ago, and they were all late model Taiwan boards, and they had composite video comparable to an XE.  The older 800XLs had washed out, blurry composite.  There are many, many articles here at AA on improving the video.  The best magazine articles for the 800XL (IMO) were by Ben Poehland.  The first was Super Video and an updated one later in Atari Classics magazine called Super Video 2.1 in the December 1993 issue.  But I always thought that the Super Video mods were overkill.  It turns out that most of the benefits can be realized by just a few changes.  Here is an excellent thread:

 

 

But the best, fairly inexpensive video mod is the UAV (Ultimate Atari Video) available at The Brewing Academy. 

[Booterror1973]

On 12/9/2007 at 1:00 PM, Larry said:

 

For the following read "mostly" into the answers, since I'm sure there were exceptions. I'm not aware of significant keyboard differences, but perhaps there were?

 

Hong Kong:

All Socketed Chips

Really poor video

Rev. B Basic

 

Taiwan:

Fewer socketed chips

Much improved video

Rev. C Basic

 

IMO, the winner: "Taiwan"

 

-Larry

I know for sure that my original 800XL (C061851 REV C HONGKONG 1983; what i still have) was in the silver box, all socketed. I also have a 600XL with Taiwan chips also all socketed.