The Atari 520ST was released in the US in July 1985, but because Atari did not provide magazines with pre-production models (like Commodore did with the Amiga), it took a while before magazine reviews appeared.
There were lead times for magazines that were two to three months. So if the 520ST came out in July that meant the August issue was already out. If a magazine bought a 520ST in July and was able to quickly review it after a week or so of use, then the best case was an October publication date.
Which fits here as Creative Computing published their review of the 520ST in the October 1985 issue, which was also the same issue that Compute!’s review appeared in.
The 520ST review was written by John J. Anderson and it had an absolutely wonderful story at the beginning, which I am quoting here in its entirety because it is so amazing and perhaps still relevant today.
Atari owners are a special breed of computer enthusiasts. They have always found it an uphill battle to defend their choice, despite the fact that the hardware is demonstrably superior. Like the sound of seagulls at the beach, the cry "not just a game machine!" tends to fill the air in any room full of Atarians. Tiresome, perhaps, but oh so true. I am proud to consider myself a member of the small but outspoken group of Atari loyalists. It might not have happened but for my tenacity in purchasing an Atari 800. It was a habit of mine back in the spring of 1980: during my lunch hour, I used to walk over to a computer store on Lexington Avenue to play with the Apple II computer on display there. I was saving for an Apple and, in fact, had managed to cull $800 from my meager salary toward buying it. I was nearly halfway to the purchase price, and beginning to get really excited. One fateful afternoon, however, my sentiments changed. For after a few rounds of monochrome Lunar Lander on the Apple, I noticed a new machine lying neglected in the corner of the store. I will try to reconstruct the nature of the conversation as best I can. Power Without the Price "What's that you've got over there?" I asked the salesperson innocently. "Oh that's nothing. Its just the new machine from Atari. You know, the people who make Pong." "Huh. Got anything to run on it?" "Not really. Just this space game." He tossed me a ROM cartridge. I had never seen such a thing before. It took me a few minutes to hook the computer up and discover how to plug in the cartridge. No help was proffered. The salesperson obviously hadn't spent a solitary moment with the machine. I was immediately impressed with how simple the thing was to use. No cryptic commands, no ribbon cables hanging out the back, no disk directories to call up. I shut the cartridge door, and in a split second the title screen came up. Star Raiders was the name of the game. I picked up the joystick and began my love affair with the Atari computer. "How much is this?" "You don't want one of those. They won't last through the year, and then you'll be high and dry." "How much is it?" "It's $800, but I'm not going to sell one to you. You want an Apple II, and I'm going to save you from yourself. The Atari is just a game machine . . ." Well, you get the idea. I literally had to force the guy to sell me an Atari 800, and he "tsked" at me on sight for the next two years. But I had bought the most advanced personal computer available at the time. And it was not just a game machine.
To be fair, the ST was an amazing computer in 1985 and amazingly advanced for its low price of $800 to $1000, all-in (about $2300 to $2900 in 2024). That $800 (about $3050 in 2024) for the Atari 800 in 1980 would have gotten you just the computer (with probably 16K of RAM) and no disk drive or display!
The 520ST had a transitory computer design. It was styled like the earlier 8-bit computers with the computer and keyboard in a single case and separate boxes for the disk drives. It took up a lot of space on your desk!
Computers such as the Macintosh and IBM PC had designs with the computer itself separate from the keyboard. The Amiga would also debut with a design like that, but the ST computers did not get that type of design until 1987 with the Mega series.
In 1986, the 1040ST was released an it combined the drive and power supply into the case and this design soon also replaced that initial 520ST design with its sprawling peripherals and cables. Even the Amiga 500 in 1987 had a similar design to the 1040ST!
Back to the original 520St, for that low price of $800 you got a computer with 512K of RAM, a monochrome monitor and a single-sided disk drive that stored 360K. For another $200 you could get a color monitor instead. Compared to the Mac, which had very similar specs, the ST was 1/3 of the price!
These early reviews would often focus on the price and features and then cover GEM itself. At the time there was not much else to write about. There was practically no software available at launch, so there was not much the computer could actually do. The ST got good reviews everywhere and software started appearing pretty quickly and by early 1986 Atari and the ST were really on a roll, especially with the newly announced 1040ST.
Thanks for reading! If you’d like more Atari ST content, Premium members can get access to nearly 250 articles, including many about the ST: List of ST-related articles.
Plus, if you liked this article about Creative Computing, Premium members can access this article which has much more information about that great magazine: