This is truth, my first computer was a TI99/4a. I woke up on Christmas 1983 to find a TI99 connected to the TV, which my dad had bought for the $59 sale at Sears. I still have it, and new hardware and software is still being released for it, for example F18a VGA upgrade https://codehackcreate.ecwid.com/F18A-V1-8-Video-Board-p1402... , FinalGROM SD card cartridge https://endlos99.github.io/finalgrom99/ and plenty of new games. Skyway is actually great. http://tigameshelf.net/asm.htm

I remember at that time that the discounted Atari 800 was something like $400, then only a year and half later the discounted Atari 800 XL was $99. I was very happy to be able to afford these computers at the time, I didn't understand that this was the death knell.

I was annoyed at having to use a C64 for one of my first for pay projects, when the 800 XL was so much better as a development machine (yes the sound and graphics were better on the C64, but slow disk and lack of good OS ruined it for everything else). But they correctly deduced that the C64 would have more longevity so they chose it.

I was 15 and joined a local TI-99er club in my hometown because so many people were buying them for $149 (CAD).