Are there any significant differences between an Atari Mexico 65XE and a US/Canada 65XE???

[BIGHMW]

I was just wondering this, as I own a NOS Atari Mexico/South America-market 65XE I bought through B & C (eBay user myatari), it seems like on some games on her, especially Asteroids and Missile Command, the picture seems a bit darker than it does on my pre-owned XEGS I picked up on eBay out of greater Vancouver BC, and I use my RF-to-HDMI demodulator on the same settings for both (50/100 neutral on color intensity, 0, neutral on tint, 70/100 on brightness, 70/100 on contrast) for both, yet when I hooked up my XEGS to a composite-to-HDMI I bought off Amazon, it too, looked darker as well, it makes it tougher to see where my ship is pointed towards (on Asteroids) and also its location, now I haven't tried a 8-pin AV composite cord on my 65XE quite yet (they are only available through Best) but would I get those same results or would it be different??? It also seems like the units do have a little color bleed going on on both the graphics and some of the alpha/numeric font (mainly on some green, blue, and red in some cases on certain games) as well as being hard to make out.

 

And, also, would it be different on a US/Canada-market 65XE as opposed to my NOS Atari Mexico unit???

[goya]

Not sure. Can you post photos of the screens?

 

Also, did you try S-Video? S-Video should give you a better cleaner sharper image. 

 

Finally, are you completely happy with your purchase? Is it truely a NEW Atari 65XE? Or is it some old refurbished Atari 65XE?

 

The reason that I ask is that I'm considering getting one of those Atari 65XE Mexico from  B & C (eBay user myatari).

 

He now wants $251.16 ($225.00 + $26.16 shipping), I a bit much for me.

Atari 65XE COMPUTER 64K RAM NEW NTSC US COMPATIBLE from Atari MEXICO | eBay

Edited April 15, 2021 by goya

[bbking67]

I thought the Mexico units had a weird batch of Antic chips... I seem to recall some people having the faulty Antics changed out.

[goya]

From what I Googled some of the Atari 65XE/800XE made in China that were sold in Eastern Europe had buggy GTIA chips.

Edited April 15, 2021 by goya

[bbking67]

5 hours ago, goya said:

From what I Googled some of the Atari 65XE/800XE made in China that were sold in Eastern Europe had buggy GTIA chips.

My memory must have been that.  I must have Micron MT memory chips in my brain.

[+mytek]

On 4/14/2021 at 5:29 PM, goya said:

He now wants $251.16 ($225.00 + $26.16 shipping), I a bit much for me.

Wow I bought one of those about 4 years ago from Bruce and only paid $125 for it. A $100 price increase, or about $25 per year. At least Brad from Best Electronics keeps his products reasonable, with only modest price increases. He still sells a Pokey chip for $20, and that's been the same for at least 5 years now.

[mimo]

40 minutes ago, mytek said:

Wow I bought one of those about 4 years ago from Bruce and only paid $125 for it. A $100 price increase, or about $25 per year. At least Brad from Best Electronics keeps his products reasonable, with only modest price increases. He still sells a Pokey chip for $20, and that's been the same for at least 5 years now.

I bought one about 12 years ago for $30 

[svenski]

I'm guessing that the Mexico produced units would have been toward the end of the line, so any corner that could be cut would have been cut by then. Might be wrong.

 

Apart from that, B&C has always been pretty good with me. I wouldn't pay $200+ for a NOS 65XE though.

[goya]

Yes it is a bit much, but right now on Ebay used Atari 600/800XL & Atari 65/130XE are regularly selling for that and more.

Edited April 18, 2021 by goya

[+mytek]

BTW, here's what Best Electronics has listed for the 65XE on their website.

 

Page LINK

 

Although it says reconditioned, I bet it looks every bit as good as what B&C is selling - its probably just missing the original box.