It was so special because it was much more powerful than other computers of the time, except for very expensive specialist computers, like Sun workstations used by Lucasfilm, or the Gould 9080 computer used for the opening titles of the series "Amazing Stories". The first in the Sun range was the Sun-1 which you can read about on
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-1 , but I can't find any information about the specs of the Gould 9080. I could only find the US prices, but the Sun-1 cost US$8,900 when it was first released in 1982, and the Gould 9080 cost $385,000 at launch "in the mid 1980s". The original Amiga cost about US$1,295 in 1985 at an extra US$300 for a monitor, but the later A500 model was released at US$699 in 1987.
I was interested in creating artwork, doing word processing, and programming, not just in playing games. I’d heard a bit about UNIX as a way to unleash real power. I sometimes found Amiga ports of UNIX programs on Public Domain disks, so this really impressed me. At one point I thought I could even run UNIX on my A500, but later on, I read that only special Amiga models ending with the letters UX could do this.
I bought an Amiga with a 1084S monitor and got the 4,096 colour HAM mode graphics package Photon Paint, as well as ten games. I was creating artwork in HAM mode for some time before getting a copy of Deluxe Paint which only used the non HAM modes.
The Amiga was also a professional quality computer, which was more powerful than PCs or the early MacIntoshes. I was able to run MS-DOS on it, although I didn’t do much with MS-DOS on the Amiga. I’ve never run the MacIntosh System Software OS or UNIX on any Amigas I’ve owned.
