Atari had talked for years about having a portable Atari ST computer system, but it did not arrive until very late in 1989 - on Dec 9, 1989 the Stacy finally received FCC approval.

Originally designed to operate on 12 standard C cell flashlight batteries, this proved insuffient to operate the Stacy for an extended period of time. With 4Megs of RAM and a hard drive, 15 minutes of use was about all the life the batteries could give you. Additionally, the 15 pound / 7 kg Stacy with external power-pack is somewhat inconvenient to lug around.

Apple was also working on a portable version of their best computer, the Macintosh. Their Mac Portable was released in 1989, with many similarities to the Stacy, except that the Macintosh Portable cost 3-times as much. A solution - run the Macintosh emulator Spectre on your Stacy for a cheaper (and faster!) portable macintosh computer.