Atari 1500XL laptop mod: the best of 80's tech in a convenient modern form factor

Sure, we've got quite a few laptops kicking around the Engadget HQ, but we'd chuck them all in a heartbeat for a shot at this Atari 1500XL custom-built laptop from German modder Beetle. No expense was spared to give this thing an authentic look and feel, including the guts of three Ataris, a 1050 disk drive, 1027 printer, 1010 cassette player and a PC keyboard. Ben Heck might've done it first, but he's got some catch up to do on the aesthetics. Once Beetle gets an EV-DO card modded in there, our liveblogging experience will never be the same. There's video after the break.

[Via technabob]

[James @ Dec 24th 2007 11:37PM]

Can someone please explain to me what they mean by "after the break" Do they mean "when I click on the post?"

[evo @ Dec 25th 2007 2:48AM]

Yes.

[Rob Pribish @ Dec 24th 2007 11:45PM]

No it's when you click the link "Continue reading __________"

[Andrew @ Dec 25th 2007 12:37AM]

The "break" refers to when you click on to read the full story. It's a called a "break" in many online blogging applications.

[Will H. @ Dec 25th 2007 12:37AM]

I don't understand the appeal of pseduo-retro gear... I'm a fan of BenHeck and Steampunk, as I think they're often great bits of hacking/engineering/style, but items such as this don't push my buttons. They seem a bit mundane to me, and perhaps that's why some people enjoy them.

If/Why do you enjoy this type of modding people?

[mrpaco @ Dec 25th 2007 11:36AM]

Because they can.

[mushrooshi @ Dec 25th 2007 12:37AM]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sorry, I had to!

[Josh @ Dec 25th 2007 1:14AM]

I was thinking about saying commenting on that as i clicked this post, good to see someone else spreading the holiday cheer!

Merry Christmas!

[Miles @ Dec 25th 2007 12:39AM]

pfft

[tbirdman @ Dec 25th 2007 1:14AM]

you can take a perfectly good laptop and run emulation to play atari games, but what else can this laptop do?????????

[Deoki @ Dec 25th 2007 2:34AM]

YOUR POWER SUPLY STINKS!

[alex @ Dec 25th 2007 5:29AM]

this is great!
there is something to these older machines, they operate at frequencies much closer to human biorhythms, and it's much easier to form an emotional bond to them!

[RickP @ Dec 25th 2007 7:29AM]

But will it play DOOM?

[docca @ Dec 25th 2007 11:34AM]

You really haven't got a clue we're almost in 2008, do you?

Let me hit you with the "clue bat" and start making "all your base are belong to us" jokes now.

[Mindfield @ Dec 25th 2007 10:22AM]

Damn, that thing is SWEET. Huge, but still, that's a full-blown 800XL in there. Really good job modding a new case. If that was available in NTSC I'd be all over it...

[omf @ Dec 25th 2007 10:33AM]

I dreamt of having something like this when I was a kid. Good stuff!

[ace_spades @ Dec 25th 2007 11:58AM]

can you get drivers/whatever for the EVDO card? even if so, would it even be possible to render any website with a picture?

[Tiffany @ Dec 25th 2007 2:13PM]

An EVDO card would be pretty useless for this guy, since he's in Germany and they don't use EVDO over there.

[UloPe @ Dec 25th 2007 2:13PM]

Well... nice... kindof ;)
But there wont be any EV-DO for you if he's from Germany since we have 3G/UMTS here ;)

[Small Business Marketing @ Dec 25th 2007 2:57PM]

What the price ticket for this piece of memorabilia?????:

[Vinn @ Dec 25th 2007 7:23PM]

Haha sweet, talk about an update. That music is catchy!

[Magallanes @ Dec 26th 2007 6:59AM]

Atari 1500XL ?. I own a 800xl and i known about 600xl and 1200xl but 1500xl?

[sixth @ Dec 26th 2007 12:56PM]

1600XL

[Mindfield @ Dec 26th 2007 3:34PM]

1500XL is just this guy's designation for his mod. The only official Atari models that came close (and were actually never released) were the 1400XLS and 1450XLD.