The entire 6500 CPU family was originally conceived as a line of very low-cost microprocessors for small-scale embedded systems.

[9][10] In the 2600, the system is further limited by the design of the ROM cartridge slot, which only allows for 4 KB of the external memory to be addressed.

[11] Most other machines, notably home computers based on the 650x architecture, use either the standard 6502 or extended versions of it, in order to allow for more memory.

By the time the 6502 line was becoming widely used around 1980, ROM and RAM semiconductor memory prices had fallen to the point where the 6507 was no longer a worthwhile simplification.

[13] In response to a specific address access, the TIA will assert RDY to halt the CPU until the end of the current video scan line.