Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Rooster on July 23, 2006, 08:46:14 AM
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So I'm happy and content with my A500 and A2k. (well minus the issues at hand!).
What I'm wondering / curious about, is other than starting an entire collection (which I wouldn't mind doing someday) what newer era Ami should I set my buying sights on? back in the day, I never "progressed" past my Ami500, which I still have. Missed out on many generations (ok, a few anyway!) of awesome Ami times.
Should I look for A600? A1200? A4000? Other??
Tell me your thoughts / comments / suggestions. (Also looking for locations other than ebay for purchase, if ya wanna drop some places/people!) Concerns would be:
1-All current software is A500/2000 based. So I'll have NOTHING to put on this newer era system (other than what it comes with - but no OS, no applications, no games!)
2-Hardware upgrades - Which of these are the easiest to find stuff for? Which are the hardest, or are they all about equal?
I realize this might be a kind of vague question, but I appreciate any input. I can read specs all day long, but that doesn't tell me what I'm ACTUALLY going to be able to find - What pieces/upgrades/software for what system. That's why I'm asking the experts out there ;) Thanks again as always,
Rooster
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Depends a little on what you want to be doing with your system
The A600 won't bring much more then what you already have.
Apart from PCMCIA harddisk and perhaps some acceleration the machine is pretty limited.
The A1200 is probably the best. Accelerators are easy to find. You could start off slow with just a ram expansion. The machine allows anything the A600 does with a little extra kick. You can even go beyond sanity by building a tower and adding a busboard and all kinds of wicked expansions like voodoo card, sound card ....I dont really know much about this level of expansion. I prefer original cases.
Putting software on either A600 or 1200 is no problem because you can add compact flash and exchange files with your PC.
The A4000 can be turned into a monster aswell. However accelerators are harder and more expensive to find.
So it's your choice, do you want the easyier path that is seemingly limited only by your money? Go A1200. Do you want the harder path that needs more money and patience? Go A4000.
Best of luck
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Sounds like sound advice to me !
Good luck and let us know what you go for! :-)
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go for a amiga 1200, thats the best...
________
Sexy lesbians (http://www.fucktube.com/video/9094/hot-and-sexy-lesbians-in-hardcore-orgy-session)
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Well the A1200 probably makes the most sense so I say go for the 600!
Look at all the cool new hardware coming out for this small but perfectly formed beauty!
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i'd say an fully souped up 1200...
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try amiga 1200 get os 3.9 and a acc board will give you a new amiga experience cd rom etc. you will find a new amiga experience that gives you alot of more possiblilties with your amiga..
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my two cents:
if aga isnt that huge a deal for you, go with a 3000 or 3000t. they are much more common and less expensive than a 4000 or 4000t. you dont have to put them into a tower to do any serious upgradeing like a 1200 and mediator.
they can take almost all of the upgrades the 4000's can including mediators for pci if you want to go that route and the vga out is nearly perfenct.
aga is good but unless you have a scan doubler flicker fixer it is a pain for connecting to a monitor. i had a nec3d monitor and there were still problems.
one thing though i must say for the 1200: the composite out with a nice big tv is beautiful, even though i have a 21 inch monitor for my 3000 the 1200 was great for games.
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Well being in the US be prepared to pay a pretty penny for A1200/600's... Even A4000's are costly. I have one of each.
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Well being in the US be prepared to pay a pretty penny for A1200/600's... Even A4000's are costly. I have one of each.
Indeed. I always get jealous when I see European users posting about the 4 A1200s they got for 5 euros each. :-)
I paid almost $80 (incl. shipping) for an A600 from the UK, which is still a little cheaper than what they tend to go for locally in the US.
EDIT: Er, ahem, on topic, an A3000 or A4000 will probably offer you the most expandability "out of the box". A1200s probably have more potential, but they'll need to be re-housed to get the most out of them, which will set you back another couple hundred dollars for a dedicated tower solution.
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imho, the 4k is the way to go. I find the zorro slots to be useful even in a full-blown mutant miggy. There are a lot of high-quality zorro cards out there that you would have trouble making work in a 1200. Prelude, AD516, X-surf, A4091 SCSI, Toaster/flyer, etc... The downside to with the 4000 is, as someone already mentioned, price. An A1200 "monster box" is gonna set you back too. Whereas the A1200 with all the goodies is merely "outrageously high priced", the A4k more like "clinical insanity." Its a little like having a child, but more expensive. :) The upshot is that the Amiga will provide you with hours upon hours of Windows-Free/Macintosh-Free bliss. And, unlike PCs and Macs, the Amiga will retain if not appreciate in value. Either way, good luck!
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A1200. There is still a good supply of both refurbished and NOS (New Old Stock) out there. I believe AmiKit has them, and perhaps SoftwareHut.
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I'd buy a A4k desktop
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Well I would say get an A600 and an A1200 :D
A600s go for £20 on ebay uk and they always look good.
And then you can get an A1200 to upgrade.
Dunoo what prices are like in the USA though
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big box amiga for me, but if you just wanna play games a1200 is nifty, A4000(Desktop) nice machine. The A3000 (desktop of tower) is the best amiga ever made OBLY issue is the lack of AGA...... :(
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I've had an A1200 for around 12 years now but I think I would have to reccomend an A4000 desktop as it is basically a more spacious A1200 with extra room and connectors for things like a GFX card.
Towering an A1200 is a pain in the arse.
Get an A4000 with a Picasso-IV GFX card and Cyberstorm MK2 CPU accelerator... race you!
;-)
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Amiga Forever (http://www.amigaforever.com), the fastest most capable Amiga on the market. And, it's legal and will run on just about any hardware you throw at it.
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nothing wrong with amiga forever! I have amigaXL,(amigathlon) with knopix box, that is the fastest config I have ever seen. I don;t think they sell that anymore.... you also have to use on older style graphics card with it....
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No, no, no... don't reccommend an emulator. Rooster asked because he wants to build a collection... I assume this means appreciating physical design, peripherals, boxed games and learning about the Amiga's unique video capabilities.
:ranting:
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Emulators suck. They remind me of kit cars. You know.. the sleek looking "Ferrari" that is actually just a cheap fibreglass frame mounted on a Camaro chassis? Granted, it may look good and it might even be really fast, but it will never be the real thing - no matter how fast it is.
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Rooster:
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=23611
:-)
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I have some emulated artwork for sale if anyone's interested? :)
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stopthegop: Right on!
:pint:
No harm in having both I suppose, they never did make an Amiga laptop (PAWS excluded) so the emulators are worth experimenting with for fun.
Plugging a 'WinUAE' into a Hi-Fi/Home Cinema setup with your CD32 pads and genlock might be a little bit of a pain though.
:-)
I suppose having an emulated Amiga instead of a real one is a bit like people trading land in those online RPGs... it keeps their eyes happy but has no real world effect.
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Maybe if I bought one, I could pay with emulated money?
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I suppose that's what a credit card is... emulated money.
Amiga, like all computers though, will be far more enjoyable if you can interface with the real world.
If you enjoy writing or graphics maybe adding a printer to one of your Amigas would be a satisfying investment, as would a video digitiser, scanner or sampler for getting things into the machine.
A network adaptor like an ethernet card would help you share files between Amiga-Amiga or Amiga-PC.
Make sure at least one of your Amigas has a CD-ROM for gulping in masses of programs and media.
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@ Boogiegail - I'm out of town this weekend. I'm really interested in your thread, though. Have to talk to wife when I get back (You know - phone call about it not going to be real positive, lol)..
I have downloaded and gotten into WinUAE - Mainly because as I mentioned elsewhere, the fact that the "NEWEST" of my disks was 1991, I am very concerned that data loss is going to start occuring, rendering my original Ami disks useless. Figured since I was going through the effort of running disk2file and making tons of ADF's I might as well try em on the WinUAE application, lol.. And no, it's not the same, and many of the games I have don't run at all for some reason. (Batman and Faery Tale Adv. to be the two foremost on my mind). Suspect there are issues with copy protection, as I remember that becomming a problem, and special programs had to be used back in the day to copy them.. Gotta find those again, because one way or another, I need archives. But no, AF or WinUAE just not what I want - I want the box, be it full or A500'ish, not a software proggy. Thnx though for the suggestion.
Thanks to all who have posted, as well. Good to see that so many people want to support various machines. Enjoy reading about that, and the why's etc., behind your thoughts. Sure makes it tough though, lol.. I kind of thought everyone would be like, "get X, because it's the best". Though I knew that really wouldn't be the truth, lol.. Gonna talk to the wife, as I said, looks like the A4k deal is pretty good. Thanks to all :)
Rooster
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BOTH! I love em both. He can get am emulator, that leavs me more amigas..... ;-)