The Atari Falcon 040
THE FALCON 040
THE FALCON 040 by Slimer of the D.B.A.
Over the last view weeks i been reading/hearing some new things about the big " brother " of the Falcon 030.
The Falcon 040 has even more graphics, speed and sound then the 030 machine.
It even has a PC lookalike case which is really is the weakest point of the 030, the old STF case gives it that " cheap game machine look " that most of the ST users want to get rid off.
I believe that a lot of ST/STE users will try to obtain a Falcon, so it's a pitty that they wind up with the same case as there old computer.
The 040 machine will run atleast at 32 Mhz and there are rumours that it even could increase to 44 Mhz.
But lets face it, 44 Mhz ?, we tought that the 030 would run 32 Mhz but what do we get stuck with, a lousy 16 Mhz !
So lets keep the speed of the new 040 at 32 Mhz this way we don't get disappointed.
The thingy will be compatible with all of the software of his little brother.
Atari claimed that both the Falcon 030 and 040 would be 100 % compatible with the old ST/STE software.
Well the story is changed, the Falcon will not be compatible with most of the ST software( maybe it's better this way, otherwise we get stuck with programs that run on the ST and Falcon ).
The Yamaha soundchip is the main reason for the compatibility problems of the Falcon computers, so it seems !
One question remains, with most of the software houses upgrading their games with digisound, what the hell needs the Falcon the old Yamaha soundchip for ??
Get it out and when your at it, remove that 8 bit soundchip too and save us all some money.
Other story's go about a portable Falcon and a CD Falcon,
When the portable thingy gets released is unknown, but it will happen when " regular " Falcon 030 gets to be a success.
The CD-Falcon will be put in VCR kind of case and will probably be compatible with the CD-I systems.
The CD-Falcon will probably have either a remote control unit or a reduced keyboard ( without the keypad and even the function keys ).
Rumours go that the Falcon 040 will get released at the end of 1993 together with the CD model.
The price is set around 1000 pounds.
SOME LAST NEWS ON THE 030
It is possible that the price of the Falcon 030 (cheapest model) will drop to 399 ponds to compete with the consoles.
One last thing all the 030 machines have NO second diskdrive connection, this is because the internal drive is actually used to copy software to the harddisk.
A Falcon without a harddisk is a bird without it's wings !
