Atari 400

The Atari 400 was the friendly, affordable face of Atari's first home-computer range, launched in 1979. Aimed squarely at families and younger users, it was built like a tank and wrapped its keyboard in a flat, spill-proof membrane that shrugged off jam, juice and toddlers but won few friends among anyone who actually wanted to type.

Look past the keyboard, though, and the 400 punched well above its price. Atari had packed in custom hardware for graphics and sound that left most rivals looking flat and static, with smooth movement and colour that made it a genuinely brilliant games machine. For a lot of households it was the gateway drug: cheap enough to risk, capable enough to keep you hooked.

It always lived in the shadow of its bigger sibling, the 800, and the membrane keyboard dated it quickly. But as an introduction to home computing on a budget, the little 400 did its job admirably, and it helped establish a family of machines that their fans still champion fiercely.