Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: Digiman on January 30, 2012, 11:47:37 AM
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I thought people would like to see these iconic page scans of Guy Kewney's (RIP) review of the Amiga A1000 in the August 1985 issue of the UK publication Personal Computer World magazine.
I have scanned the cover and all pages of the actual hardware review, and it makes a nice read with a cup of coffee on a typically British overcast and rainy afternoon.
Photobucket Album link (http://s1179.photobucket.com/albums/x389/digiman1/PCW%20Magz/)
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Thanks for posting that, absolutely fascinating.
Strange to see the original (prototype?) A1000 didn't have any Amiga branding whatsoever? Even the A keys are both Commodore keys, and the engrave on the machine itself is Commodore which was changed to Amiga with painted on Commodore at the bottom on release.
Anyone got that, or a similar A1000 in the photo?
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Having read that, it's quite astonishing how Commodore balls'd it up so well. They seemingly had everything in the bag hardware and OS wise.
I wouldn't mind getting an A1000 for myself actually. Thanks for sharing.
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I read all of it, good review. Thanks for posting.
I always like to read first impressions, it gives you idea how people received the machine.
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I can't help feeling a little sad reading things like this. If only they'd managed to stay that far ahead of the curve.
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I can't help feeling a little sad reading things like this. If only they'd managed to stay that far ahead of the curve.
In some areas they did though. Even in 1993 CD32 was the first commercially sold computer that could boot from a CD (OS not just games) and I think the A4000 had 1280x576 in HAM8 when most PCs had only 1024x768 in 256 or 16 colours generally speaking etc.
I think that come the time of Windows 95 nobody could win, not even Apple, in the corporate market. As many Apple machines may sell to students and home users world wide unless the majority of large corporations dump all x86 machines and replace every worker's machine with a Mac they will never get close to denting the M$ monopoly.
In a way this was Commodore's problem, try explaining to the bean counters why they should spend millions in the 80s changing computer architectures in something as large as the London Stock Exchange or even Marsh McLenan etc they just wouldn't do that no matter how good the Amiga was.
Where you see Macs today you saw A1000s in 1986 as far as small/medium sized businesses are. Advertising agencies in particular took the bull by the horns and grabbed onto the A1000 and held tight for a commercial advantage.
I guess whatever happened the A1000 was a kick up the ass to EVERYONE, today you would never dream of buying a non multitasking colour restricted low quality sound computer, you can thank the Amiga team for that because they showed the world how a computer should be and what we should demand for our money. So in every PC there is the spirit of "you had to become like this because the Amiga 1000 forced you to evolve" :)