Atari Mega ST 1

The Atari Mega ST 1 brought the professional Mega desktop case and detached keyboard to a lower price with 1MB of RAM. Released after the original 2MB and 4MB versions, it kept the BLiTTER accelerator, internal floppy drive, battery-backed clock and Mega expansion connection.

Although less spacious than the earlier Mega models, the Mega ST 1 offered the same core ST compatibility and professional styling. Users could expand its memory, making it an accessible route into Atari desktop publishing, MIDI and business systems.

Notable Features

• 1MB entry model in the professional Mega ST enclosure.
• Retained the detached keyboard, BLiTTER, real-time clock and Mega expansion bus.

Historical Significance

• Introduced after the Mega ST 2 and 4 to reduce the entry price of Atari’s desktop range.
• Could be expanded for more demanding publishing, graphics and music work.

Collector’s Notes

• The Mega ST 1 is less common than the better-known 2MB and 4MB models.
• Verify the case badge and motherboard configuration because upgraded systems can resemble higher-memory variants.

Specifications

Technical Information
Name	Atari Mega ST 1
Manufacturer	Atari
Launched	Sunday, January 1, 1989
Discontinued	1990
Launch Price	About US$995
Country	United States
CPU	Motorola MC68000 at 8 MHz
Units Sold
I/O	MIDI In/Out, RS-232 serial, Centronics parallel, ACSI, cartridge, monitor and joystick/mouse ports
Expansion	Mega expansion bus and detached keyboard
Storage	Internal double-sided 3.5-inch 720KB floppy; ACSI hard-disk support
Sound	Yamaha YM2149 three-channel programmable sound generator
Graphics	Atari Shifter with BLiTTER graphics accelerator
Colour Palette	512 colours
Display	320x200 in 16 colours, 640x200 in 4 colours, or 640x400 monochrome
ROM	TOS in ROM
RAM	1MB, expandable
CPU Speed	8 MHz