Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: jiminy on February 13, 2008, 11:57:13 PM
-
Seriously, $4000 for a 4000T? $2500 for a flaky Amigaone? $800+ for a 3000D? $1000+ for PPC accelerators? Oh how I envy you guys who got in when everything was dirt cheap. What other classic platform is commanding prices like this? What's driving it? And, with all this money flying around, can we get together and attract a mobo manufacturer?
-
Well...you could always snag a mini-mig, they run like $250 or thereabouts and are basically a 14mhz A500 with a meg and a half of RAM. 'course you'd need workbench disk images on an MMC to load into it but once you were there...
-
Really it's not a bad time at all. There has been a lot of desirable things being sold the last couple of months. Some of the things you mentioned went for high amounts, but there have been bargains. A1200's are going for decent prices. Same with A2000's. A4000D's are going for about what they always have. Once in awhile some things get nuts (like the plain jane A4000D motherboard that sold last night for over $360). You normally get the entire A4000D with some extra's and a mouse and keyboard for that amount.
I don't know if there ever was a "cheap" time to get into the hobby. You mentioned the A3000 for over $800. When that was a new computer and with the extra's that system has it sold for easily over $4000 when the dollar was worth twice what it is now.
Dan
-
I'm as suprised as you, and I've been around for a while. It seems to be a simple supply and demand problem, but I'm a little suprised at the demand for such old and potentially unreliable hardware. AmigaForever or UAE would seem to be a more logical choice for those with retro fever.
If you look around a bit with some patients, there are better deals to be found. I saw a 4000T with monitor and extras go for about $650 last week. AmigaOnes have never been very cheap though. The best US price I recall when I was looking to buy was $850 and it's just gone up from there in the past several years.
I'm afraid there won't be another mobo maker as long as Amiga Inc refuses to license any more OS4 capable systems. If demand remains while the prices on old equipment rises, I couldn't be suprised if a mobo showed up that wasn't licensed, or even OS4 compatible. (At least before hacking)
Plaz
-
Heh, Dan, I see that you are the buyer of that 3000! Congrats, I hope you use and enjoy it...
I have only been watching for a couple of months, but it seems that in that short time, prices have really escalated. e.g. I 've bid on a few Picasso IV's; the first couple went for $250-300, now they go for $400+. The PPC accelerators were going for $500-600 when I first looked, now it's over $1000. Maybe it's just the ebb and tide of the market, and I don't really have enough of a sample size to make a judgment, but it sure seems like things are taking off.
The thing about the A3000 originally going for $4000...the contemporaries of the A3000's day that cost as much then don't go for nearly as much now. What has spawned all this interest in the Amiga?
-
Plaz, I have to think that since Amiga Inc is not interested in the Amiga, and is only using the name for recognition, they will sell it as soon as it is in their monetary interest to do so. So, I'm one who's not given up hope yet in a modern Amiga. Never say never...
-
All I can say is nostalgia and that the Commodore line of computers always had an active user community.
I moan and groan about some of the prices items are getting and then I just throw gasoline on the fire with what I pay for some things.
I honestly thought the A3000D would go for around $400. Using my math system of what I thought it was worth to me I came up with $600 or just over. Well you know what happened, I spent over $800. I had been bidding all week and I wasn't gonna let the snipers beat me on this one! I guess it's a sickness. I won't even tell you what my high winning bid could have been.
I had bought several other items from this seller and he has good stuff and seems like a really good egg. He has collected for years and is now buying a new house and that has changed some of his priorities. Been there done that!
Dan
-
I think that the only way Amiga Inc looses is grip on the IP is when they decide it's costing them more to keep it. As long as it has income or they even think it may generate income in the futue, they'll keep it.
I wish there was a way to get Acer, (the new owner of Gateway, Gateway the original purchaser and licenser of Amiga IP) to yank a knot in Amiga Inc's tail. As far as we know, Amiga Inc (and all it's moderen coporate forms) only own a license to Amiga IP. Gateway/Acer may actually own it.
I don't know what the deal with Amiga Inc is. Maybe it's a case of.... "If I can't make millions with it, nobody else will either....nah nah na nah"
Plaz
-
I believe that the 25th anniversary of the Commodore 64 in December and all the positive press coverage that resulted from it has stoked the pent-up nostalgic affection that many former Amiga owners like myself felt for our favorite computer.
I loved the C64, but I always knew it was a kludgy toy. But when I bought my A1000 in October, 1985, I felt like I had just purchased a supercomputer! And I evangelized relentlessly for the Amiga for the next nine years until Commodore closed its doors.
In the last couple of weeks, I've caught a touch of eBay fever and bought an A4000D, a 1960 monitor, a Video Toaster, and just yesterday I bought an A4000T with a Toaster!
Will I do anything useful with any of this stuff? Probably not. In fact, I'll probably put the A4000D back up for sale in a few weeks (and I'll probably upgrade it a little bit for the next owner).
Crazy? Absolutely. But the pleasure of returning to this community and experiencing all the irrational passion and commitment that has defined the Amiga user base for 23 years has been awesome and worth every penny!
-
>Once in awhile some things get nuts (like the plain jane >A4000D motherboard that sold last night for over $360). You >normally get the entire A4000D with some extra's and a mouse >and keyboard for that amount.
It's a shame when people bid on stuff they don't want just
to drive the price up just because they want others to also
pay more then they should. eBay should have rules against
this kind of thing.
-
Crazy? Absolutely. But the pleasure of returning to this community and experiencing all the irrational passion and commitment that has defined the Amiga user base for 23 years has been awesome and worth every penny!
After a few of years of less inspiring Ami news and events, man that was fun to read, thanks. :-)
Personally my perspective has moved from "waiting for the next great OS" to enjoying the retro. Feels better. Now if I can just get the rest of the parts for my MiniMig...
Plaz
-
@Plaz
AmigaForever or UAE would seem to be a more logical choice for those with retro fever.
I've tried, honestly, I have, and several times. UAE crashes, Windows pops up without warning, the computer goes into standby when you're working, the internet connection turns itself off, double clicking quits working due to some weird timing issue (you can watch Clock go at 50x it's normal rate).
Plus, UAE can't run OS4 yet :) And, OS4 was WELL worth the wait (and the insane expenses).
-
The Amiga world is a collectors domain. If you aren't a collector then yes it's the wrong time.
-
jiminy wrote:
Seriously, $4000 for a 4000T? $2500 for a flaky Amigaone? $800+ for a 3000D? $1000+ for PPC accelerators? Oh how I envy you guys who got in when everything was dirt cheap. What other classic platform is commanding prices like this? What's driving it? And, with all this money flying around, can we get together and attract a mobo manufacturer?
Most people don't pay those sort of prices. be patient and you can find deals.
-
It could be much worse, at least the stuff is still available, even if the prices are high.
You really have to keep your lids peeled though. There are still people who don't know any better giving away hardware. Check craigslist.
-
while i agree completly that the prices seem to be totally INSANE if you keep your eyes peeled and search diligantly you can turn up some deals like i did. amiga 1200 1gb hdd DKB cobra 28mhz w/32mb ram supergen SX and squirrel scsi for 80$! a setup like this would probably reach into the hundreds on ebay, future plans involvo 3.1 roms os3.5 or 3.9 a FPU and overclocking to 40-45mhz, already have it rockin 128mb ram!
-
My theory is, Amiga userbase is aging, they get senior jobs and more money to spend at their disposal. Therefore they don't hesitate spending these sums for this 'hobby'.
AMC258 wrote:
Plus, UAE can't run OS4 yet :)
UAE will never run OS4.
-
Triton199 wrote:
while i agree completly that the prices seem to be totally INSANE if you keep your eyes peeled and search diligantly you can turn up some deals like i did. amiga 1200 1gb hdd DKB cobra 28mhz w/32mb ram supergen SX and squirrel scsi for 80$! a setup like this would probably reach into the hundreds on ebay, future plans involvo 3.1 roms os3.5 or 3.9 a FPU and overclocking to 40-45mhz, already have it rockin 128mb ram!
Being patient does help. I picked up a spare A1200, boxed with an '030 card and SCSI for something like $80, BIN... cosmetically near perfect, too. I just happened to be searching at the right time. The seller indicated that there was an intermittent stability problem, which turned out to be a loose SCSI add-on (IIRC).
It might take a year of periodic searching, but the deals are there.
On the flip side... $800 for a cherry A3000??? It might sound insane, but as a cool retro-toy I really don't think it's a bad price if you have an interest and the cash to burn. (Might help that I'm "kind of" in the market for a nice A3000 ATM, LOL.) While the deals are there, you're still unlikely to find something both cosmetically new AND fully loaded for $50... so I can understand the desire for avoiding the hassle of searching for rare, specific bits and pieces forever until it's finally where you want it.
-
Yep. A bit sick. My A4000T/060@50mhz basically cost me about $1500 but I just built a cheap E6600@2.4ghz / 2gigsDDR2 / 320gSATA2HD for about $550. Hmmm....
Of course my first A2000 in 1989 ( 1meg ram, 1 floppy, xt bridgeboard, 1084s, kickstart 1.3 ) cost me $3200.
My first 100 megabyte scsi hd cost me $600 in the early 90's. The controller (2091) was about $250. 2 megs ram on a 2088 memory card was about $600 if memory serves...
-
countzero wrote:
My theory is, Amiga userbase is aging, they get senior jobs and more money to spend at their disposal. Therefore they don't hesitate spending these sums for this 'hobby'.
AMC258 wrote:
Plus, UAE can't run OS4 yet :)
UAE will never run OS4.
"The PC will never be able to emulate an Amiga."
-
Yeah prices might seem high now,especially for certain things like PPC cards, but if you look at an Amiga World magizine from around 1993-1995, it will give you some perspective. My A2500 retailed for around $2000 with monitor in the early 90s. I could never afford the RTG, Flicker Fixer, and memory card that I've installed recently back in the day.
You can get a fairly tricked out A2000 for around $200-300 with some smart ebay shopping. For $300-400, you can get a good stock A4000D if you look hard enough. Sniping ebay auctions and doing an rss feed of what you're interested in for buy it now bargains are ways of getting what you want. Being clear about what you want and a little patience are all you need.