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Description
The early 1980s Texas Instruments TI-99/4a computer, in all its glory. The TI, the first computer available to consumers with a 16-bit CPU (TI's own TMS9900), struggled gamely against the Commodore and Atari lines for a while, mostly on the strength of its audiovisual capabilities (which made it especially attractive as an "edutainment" computer) and the TI name itself. Unfortunately, some curious design decisions -- including a rather crazy-quilt internal architecture and a somewhat lacking keyboard -- would soon consign it to also-ran status. And when TI was forced to reduce its cost to the point where it was more expensive to manufacture than to sell, the plug was pulled. A planned upgrade (the TI-99/8) was killed despite several fully-functional prototypes being made, and TI's entire home computer division was shuttered.

This is one of the later-release TIs, with the beige case and grey keys. Earlier models featured a silver case with black keys that frankly looked much more stylish, but this is the one I could lay my hands on. Picked up at the CORGS (Central Ohio Retro Gaming Society) convention, 17 November 2012.

Description
The early 1980s Texas Instruments TI-99/4a computer, in all its glory. The TI, the first computer available to consumers with a 16-bit CPU (TI's own TMS9900), struggled gamely against the Commodore and Atari lines for a while, mostly on the strength of its audiovisual capabilities (which made it especially attractive as an "edutainment" computer) and the TI name itself. Unfortunately, some curious design decisions -- including a rather crazy-quilt internal architecture and a somewhat lacking keyboard -- would soon consign it to also-ran status. And when TI was forced to reduce its cost to the point where it was more expensive to manufacture than to sell, the plug was pulled. A planned upgrade (the TI-99/8) was killed despite several fully-functional prototypes being made, and TI's entire home computer division was shuttered.

This is one of the later-release TIs, with the beige case and grey keys. Earlier models featured a silver case with black keys that frankly looked much more stylish, but this is the one I could lay my hands on. Picked up at the CORGS (Central Ohio Retro Gaming Society) convention, 17 November 2012.