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The TI-99/4A looked like the future of home computing. Built by semiconductor giant Texas Instruments, it featured a powerful 16-bit processor, advanced graphics, and technology far ahead of many of its rivals.
But expensive hardware, limited software, strict control over developers, and a brutal price war with Commodore turned that early promise into one of the most costly failures in computer history. This is the rise and fall of the TI-99/4A—and how an advanced 16-bit machine lost the home-computer battle to the cheaper 8-bit Commodore 64.
But expensive hardware, limited software, strict control over developers, and a brutal price war with Commodore turned that early promise into one of the most costly failures in computer history. This is the rise and fall of the TI-99/4A—and how an advanced 16-bit machine lost the home-computer battle to the cheaper 8-bit Commodore 64.
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