Atari Mega ST: A High-End Flop?
2025-06-01
Atari's Mega ST, announced at CES 1987, aimed to be a professional workstation, upgrading their ST line. Featuring a low-profile design, integrated floppy drive, and a detachable keyboard with Cherry MX switches, it had some appealing aspects. However, the Mega ST fell short. Its compact case hampered expandability, and the 8MHz processor offered no speed advantage over cheaper predecessors. High pricing, coupled with a lack of significant performance improvements beyond increased RAM (2MB or 4MB) and a graphics blitter, hindered its success. Despite a nice keyboard and some technical advancements, the Mega ST ultimately failed to capture the market.
Hardware
workstation