Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: Lando on December 27, 2013, 03:47:47 AM
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I wonder what other people's opinions are on the value of classic Amiga machines.
I haven't looked at Amiga stuff on eBay for years as I sold off all of my classic hardware years ago. I thought I'd have a look tonight to see what things were selling for these days and I was amazed.
I had 3 or 4 Blizzard PPC boards and at the time I sold them they went for about €180. I saw one sold recently for €1200?
I sold my Blizzard 1230 Mk IV for about €70. Now they seem to be going for €250.
I sold my BVision card for €90. One just sold there for €350.
Used A1200's used to sell for €30 to €40 now it's around €150.
My Phase 5 CSPPC+060 board I sold for €280-ish with 128MB RAM. I don't even know what that would be worth today, but a CSMKII with just the 060 sold for €600!
Are these prices more or less the norm these days? I was thinking of picking up some classic hardware again but at these prices it's difficult to justify when a middle-of-the-road classic system would end up costing me the price of a new retina MacBook Pro.
How much higher can Amiga prices go? This is 20 year old hardware and as beautiful as the machines are, they will eventually fail. Is it wise to be investing 4 figures on this stuff?
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I wonder what other people's opinions are on the value of classic Amiga machines.
I haven't looked at Amiga stuff on eBay for years as I sold off all of my classic hardware years ago. I thought I'd have a look tonight to see what things were selling for these days and I was amazed.
I had 3 or 4 Blizzard PPC boards and at the time I sold them they went for about €180. I saw one sold recently for €1200?
I sold my Blizzard 1230 Mk IV for about €70. Now they seem to be going for €250.
I sold my BVision card for €90. One just sold there for €350.
Used A1200's used to sell for €30 to €40 now it's around €150.
My Phase 5 CSPPC+060 board I sold for €280-ish with 128MB RAM. I don't even know what that would be worth today, but a CSMKII with just the 060 sold for €600!
Are these prices more or less the norm these days? I was thinking of picking up some classic hardware again but at these prices it's difficult to justify when a middle-of-the-road classic system would end up costing me the price of a new retina MacBook Pro.
How much higher can Amiga prices go? This is 20 year old hardware and as beautiful as the machines are, they will eventually fail. Is it wise to be investing 4 figures on this stuff?
Prices have become rather ridiculous lately, except perhaps for A2000 which can still be had at a reasonable price.
Should the UltimatePPC make it to market, accelerator prices may drop.
And as FPGA projects are refined, prople may find those preferable to legacy hardware.
I myself tend to resort to emulators. or NG operating systems.
There will always be a small base of those that retain and push the old hardware though.
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Your analysis on prices is pretty much spot-on. Here on the other side of the pond it's about the same, when you can even find the hardware. About the only things that are occasionally still "reasonable" priced are A500's ($50-$100) and A2000's ($200-$300). The more high end stuff, A3000's, 4000's, or any of that PPC hardware you listed... fuggedaboutit! :cry:
About the only thing that doesn't seem to be worth any money is 1084 monitors. I've had about five of them go through my hands recently, they don't survive being shipped very well so I usually try to just give them away to good homes locally. Still have a couple sitting on the floor in my office, tired of tripping over them! Make me an offer, LOL. ;)
Am sure there's a lot of factors involved, a few off the top of my head would be:
- Hoarders :pissed:
- Systems breaking down
- High end systems that people built in late '90s-early 2000's sitting in people's closets, no longer used
- People thinking they can get a king's ransom for "rare" or "vintage" hardware
- People who wanted high end systems when they were kids and couldn't afford them back in the day, now that we're all (somewhat) more financially sound, buying up things
I still see a lot of Amiga stuff turn up online as part of estate sales. Wonder what the average age of an Amiga user is, now? At 37 I think I'm one of the younger ones. Eventually (sad to say it, but it's the truth) some of these people will pass on, or are already. Wonder if their kids will know what to do with this stuff? Or just toss it?
Anyhow, enough ruminating on this subject, I still say damn the hoarders! :destroy:
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I had a shock awaking to the prices being asked when resurrecting some physical Amiga hardware earlier in 2013. I hit a total block upgrading my A1200 to 68060, never mind PPC - the hardware is still out there but selling for more now than it did new (and it was expensive then).
I still use Amigas, this may change as every one of my machines now has some fault and it is cheaper to buy an iMac and run UAE.
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Hi,well my opinion on the value of classic Amiga machines,yes it is pricey ,but the buzz I get when my 1200 fires up is worth twice the price of a pc and as for failing Amiga's ,there's loads of parts still to be found so I don't think the Amiga is going to become extinct overnight ,and the kids of today still love them ,best wishes Brian.
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and as for failing Amiga's ,there's loads of parts still to be found so I don't think the Amiga is going to become extinct overnight
I've had to write off an A1200 and A2000 due to lack of affordable parts.
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I am fascinated by this pattern you mentioned, folks who sold everything labeled Amiga and then nostalgically return to the platform some time later. There seem to be many who do this, some more than 1 cycle.
I wonder, did you sell off because of dissatisfaction with an ubber expanded Amiga? I still use and treasure my Amigas. However, I seem to be going thru a phase of appreciating more modestly expanded A500s, 600s, and 2000s atm. Even these are commanding higher bids these days. I was in the "got to be online with Amiga" crowd a few years ago. Now, I feel that being connected to the world with every available machine is not desirable or practical. A computer should be useful without the cloud.
Just a few years ago, there was far more classic hardware than there were users to appreciate it. With people dutifully recycling (scrapping, binning) old hardware over past 20 years, the pond has shrunk considerably. Hardware failure (some simple, some not) is also taking its toll. Amiga hardware will probably never again be as cheap or plentiful as it is today. ;)
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ive always wanted a top notch amiga1200 ..i had a good a500 ..but sorta jumped over the 1200 ..so piece by piece ive upgraded my 1200 ..still want a 060 or a ppc (dreaming) ..prices are crazy ..though i do think the usb subway an the indivision aga are worth every cent ..
in working or sorta working condition ive held on to 2 a1200s ..one is 99% working other keyboard is on an off again ..several accel cards ..one works somedays once it warms up ..other 3 no go for no reason ( 040 ppc ) ..in the hope one day i can do a trade or they get fixed ..unlikley ..only hardware i got that prob will never be used in ful working condition is a g rex card ..and ill swap that for a working 100% internet card an fully working software to put me online ..
oh..an theres a box or 3 of a500 stuff ..but i would never part with that ..
ebay ..love it ..cant afford it ..
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I've had to write off an A1200 and A2000 due to lack of affordable parts.
I sold my bare A1500 for around £100 a year ago on ebay. I had planned to upgrade it to A2500/30 spec, but it was just too expensive (and I got ripped off on amibay by a hacked account on an A2091).
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I wonder, did you sell off because of dissatisfaction with an ubber expanded Amiga?
I didn't own any classic Amiga hardware for nearly 10 years, sold off my moderately expanded A1200 piecemeal out of frustration in 2003 after all three of my hard drives crashed within a week of each-other, taking with them 11 years worth of data and countless nights of customization work. Right before the last one went I ran out and bought a new 20GB hard drive (not cheap at the time) and got as far as installing 3.9 on it, with the plan to try to transfer everything onto it, but then a failed file transfer left me with a corrupt recursive directory structure (that looked like Libs:Libs, Libs:Libs/Libs, Libs:Libs/Libs/Libs, etc.) that the OS couldn't validate and would Guru... and that's when the last HD failed.
Sad story! I still have those old hard drives, someday I'll send them to a data recovery place, haha. ;) And these days all of my Amigas use CF cards instead of hard drives. LESSON LEARNED. :idea:
I still suspect that periodically we'll see the market flooded with hardware if/when one of these old collectors/hoarders dies. I've heard (and seen a few pictures) of people that have 20 or more Amiga systems. Just hope that this stuff gets put on Ebay or somewhere and not trashed! :pissed:
Personally I don't try to keep more than one spare part for each critical component in my Miggy's. Everything else I sell off. I'm too OCD to hoard this sh**, LOL. ;)
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I still suspect that periodically we'll see the market flooded with hardware if/when one of these old collectors/hoarders dies. I've heard (and seen a few pictures) of people that have 20 or more Amiga systems. Just hope that this stuff gets put on Ebay or somewhere and not trashed! :pissed:
I not trying to dampen the Christmas spirit, but, you seem to write a lot of posts villainizing and labeling folks who have more Amigas than you do. How many Amigas makes an Amigan evil?
Most of the Amigas in my possession were rescued from certain oblivion over the last 25 years. I'm not sorry for it. I intend to preserve them deep into the future.
On a positive note, I value your expertize that you have shared generously with me and other Amiga users. You seem like a well rounded and balanced person otherwise. :)
Sour grapes don't become you.
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How many Amigas makes an Amigan evil?
Good point. I applaud your rescue efforts. I guess the question is, how many can you use? I have two Amigas, one at home and one at the office. That's really all I need. What I dislike about "hoarders" is that they're keeping other people from possibly becoming Amiga owners themselves, or from access to repair parts. As another commentor said, "they had to give up an A1200 and an A2000 due to lack of affordable parts". That really speaks for itself. It might be different in your area, but when I wanted to get back into owning classic hardware I searched for over a year to find a good condition, reasonably-priced system anywhere near me. I'm happy with what I got, but it was a lot of work. Oh well, everyone needs a hobby, right? :D
PS - my girlfriend probably would not agree with you that I'm "well-rounded" or "balanced". Although she does enjoy playing a game of Lemmings with me... even if I do kick her bu** at it, haha. :D
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For giggles, I just searched for "Amiga 500, A500, 2000, & A2000" on eBay. It seems that there are fewer whole computers on offer compared to a few years ago. There were various parts (chips, drives, keyboards, etc), a few accelerators, expansions, and a few 1080 series monitors.
The prices are higher, not just Amiga stuff, but, everything! eBay has become a "buyer beware" bazaar (Try a search for Betamax. ;)). It seems there are many sellars now who are asking outrageous prices and hoping for that one fool who is unaware of an items real value. Some items keep getting re-listed for months at astronomical prices.
Another surprise for me are the old green phosphor monitors (I need a replacement for an IBM 5150, & another for an Hp-86), you couldn't give them away. Now 20 years after the last one was made, they go for hundreds of $$$.
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I don't know I went back and forth when I came back to amiga from real hardware to dedicated emulation pc and aros pc, now trying to go back to real hardware but its expensive. I have a 1200 motherboard power supply and keyboard but I need a plastic 1200 or 500 case, leds/wires, joystick cable from motherboard to back of case. Also need a floppy power cable. If anyone has these please pm otherwise I will have to pay crazy high ebay prices to rebuilt this 1200...
Also need a cf card adapter 4 gig cf card, amiga joystick or sega genesis controller. could use pcmcia network adapter and driver, accellerator.
Argh down the rabbit hole... I also would like an external scandoubler, though I got a nice beigh kinda 20 inch crt svga monitor recently.
I think the monitor is supposed to be white... needs retrobright!
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Oh stop complaining...
Amiga hardware prices are fair considering legacy Amigas have not been produced for over 17+ years. I wonder how many of those complaining would be happy to sell their Amiga collection for fire sale prices. If so, I am more than willing to buy them!!
I recently listed a Amiga 3000 on eBay. I based my BIN price on the fact that Amiga 3000s do not appear often on eBay in my country (I check often) and that Amiga 4000s command high prices. It did not sell - who cares.. I will hold onto it until someone is prepared to pay a 'decent' price for it (just like many Amiga users on here)
As for those who purchased Amigas in the early days when they are cheap.. Good luck.. For those who want them now for cheap.. Bad luck!
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@Haywirepc - all of the parts you listed can be found on Amibay or AmigaKit. I expect it will cost you $200-$300, give or take, unless you want to go a little higher on the accelerator. Let me know if you're having trouble finding any of them, I've seen links to purchase pretty much every item you listed within the last day or two. Honestly that's not too bad, considering what some of these other parts go for. :(
@Tenacious - now you understand! Most days a search for "Amiga 2000" on ebay is going to yield you a couple chips, a Video Toaster board, some dead floppy drives, a couple fake sellers with systems listed for $800-$1000 (look at them, they're all using the same pictures, it's some kind of scam), and three pages of Amiga World magazines at $10 a pop. There are basically almost no systems left to buy, is what it seems like.
IMHO @Megamig should sell one of his A1200's to @Haywirepc. The former doesn't need 'em as he's clearly tripping over stacks of A3000's and A4000's, and the latter has been asking for reasonable prices on those small bits for months. Or maybe that's just the socialist in me, thinking "the rich should share their wealth". I'd Robin Hood that guy, LOL. :D
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Here is my opinion on how many:
If you have a couple you play with, fine. If you have some you use and have one of each boxed for collection purposes fine. Someone is hoarding who has has "stacks" of them, especially stacks of them in original boxes. How many you actually gonna use ?
I not trying to dampen the Christmas spirit, but, you seem to write a lot of posts villainizing and labeling folks who have more Amigas than you do. How many Amigas makes an Amigan evil?
Most of the Amigas in my possession were rescued from certain oblivion over the last 25 years. I'm not sorry for it. I intend to preserve them deep into the future.
On a positive note, I value your expertize that you have shared generously with me and other Amiga users. You seem like a well rounded and balanced person otherwise. :)
Sour grapes don't become you.
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Hey Tenacious,
I have no ill will or malice towards this guy at all, but I've said it before, HE is the SINGLE reason there are no Amigas to collect. Quite simply, he owns them all...:biglaugh:
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/a_amiga_inframe.htm
I'm not saying it's evil, but I am pretty sure this is what 'Mike means by "hoarding". If you disagree please post :D
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Just wanted to share this with the thread. So I ordered a Picasso II from a guy in Greece this morning. Excited for it to get here, it'll be the first Amiga video card I ever own. I've been watching for one for months. The thread on Amibay only had two views before I snapped it up, LOL. After shipping and Paypal fees it'll cost me over $250 USD.
Think that's expensive?
I was watching a couple other video cards. They both sold today. Here's what they went for:
Cybervision 64/3D. $513.96 USD
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=111242576457&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:US:3160
Picasso IV. $524.63 USD
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121239691795&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:US:3160
Crazy! Someday if I ever find someone sitting on a stack of Amiga video cards, I'm going to go all "mob rule" on them, LOL. :biglaugh:
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HE is the SINGLE reason there are no Amigas to collect. Quite simply, he owns them all...:biglaugh:
I got as far as "15 A1200's" before I started to weep silently, LOL. ;)
Edit: Notice that website has been several years since it's even been updated? What's that guy doing with all of them now? Is he even still active in the community? Or are they collecting dust?
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Maybe he got trapped under a pile of computers and never made it out...I hope not...but you never know.
OR...the weight of his gear caused his house to sink to the center of the earth.
I got as far as "15 A1200's" before I started to weep silently, LOL. ;)
Edit: Notice that website has been several years since it's even been updated? What's that guy doing with all of them now? Is he even still active in the community? Or are they collecting dust?
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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
You rock, dude. If you ever make it down to the DC area I'm going to buy you a beer, LOL. :D
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A simple equation that will help you solve this issue:
Amiga current value = (Retail price when model was being discontinued / 2) * Hoarders * (Profitters + 100) + FUD * Ebay R@rity - item condition + sentimental value + mad seller randomness
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Amiga current value = (Retail price when model was being discontinued / 2) * Hoarders * (Profitters + 100) + FUD * Ebay R@rity - item condition + sentimental value + mad seller randomness
Ha! Your math is spot-on! :biglaugh:
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These days ebay is really a last ditch place to find Commodore stuff. I have better luck at yard sales, and flea markets. Old friends are the best help.
I am down to two Amigas these days; an 030 fired A2000 and a stock A1000 (with 2.5Mb). They are used every day, not just stuck on a shelf.
Prices are going to go up. Markets do that. We just have to balance everything (and ignore the stuff that is just too expensive)
I find it interesting we can buy a brand new SD/FF for way less than the old options (I am refering to the Indivision VGA adapter).
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Hey Tenacious,
I have no ill will or malice towards this guy at all, but I've said it before, HE is the SINGLE reason there are no Amigas to collect. Quite simply, he owns them all...:biglaugh:
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/a_amiga_inframe.htm
I'm not saying it's evil, but I am pretty sure this is what 'Mike means by "hoarding". If you disagree please post :D
I see he has no early Commodore PC-x series machines, would be fun to contact him and see if he would be interested in a trade for one of his many Amigas ^^
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Just wanted to share this with the thread. So I ordered a Picasso II from a guy in Greece this morning. Excited for it to get here, it'll be the first Amiga video card I ever own. I've been watching for one for months. The thread on Amibay only had two views before I snapped it up, LOL. After shipping and Paypal fees it'll cost me over $250 USD.
Think that's expensive?
I was watching a couple other video cards. They both sold today. Here's what they went for:
Cybervision 64/3D. $513.96 USD
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=111242576457&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:US:3160
Picasso IV. $524.63 USD
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121239691795&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:US:3160
Crazy! Someday if I ever find someone sitting on a stack of Amiga video cards, I'm going to go all "mob rule" on them, LOL. :biglaugh:
Hey mike, one second here.. i think you are comparing apples to oranges. The picasso II is a old slow,2mb ram card that is zorro2. Its lucky to manage 800x600 and if you try 24bit(i dont think it will do past 16bit with only 2MB),it will crawl.I think the PicassoII+ had 4MB ram.
the cv64/PIV will run rings around that picasso II in a zorro3 machine.
at the end of the day a gfx card is better than no gfx card however ;)
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The picasso II is a old slow,2mb ram card that is zorro2. Its lucky to manage 800x600 and if you try 24bit(i dont think it will do past 16bit with only 2MB),it will crawl.I think the PicassoII+ had 4MB ram.
No, they are almost identical (2MB); plus is slightly faster. 24bit is almost unusable slow (800x600 max), I kept 16bit screen if possible.
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at the end of the day a gfx card is better than no gfx card however ;)
Depends on what you want from an Amiga.
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Any graphics card is "probably" better than no graphics card. My concern is the price the darn things are going for (even a crummy one... and half-a-grand for decent ones)! I could use some choice words, but anyway it will be fun to play around with. :p
BTW, hey @Mechy, what's your thoughts on removing that one resistor near the back outright, for using modern LCD monitors? I saw your comment a couple years ago on that thread on EAB. Thanks! :)
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Any graphics card is "probably" better than no graphics card. My concern is the price the darn things are going for (even a crummy one... and half-a-grand for decent ones)! I could use some choice words, but anyway it will be fun to play around with. :p
BTW, hey @Mechy, what's your thoughts on removing that one resistor near the back outright, for using modern LCD monitors? I saw your comment a couple years ago on that thread on EAB. Thanks! :)
you can go ahead and remove that resistor, i fried the one on my pII ;)
a few(5?) years ago softhut was selling the gvp gfx cards for $159 new i think. around the time they had new 4060dt's and such.
Remember, take care of your amiga hardware and it will likely sell for close to what you paid for it. its a good investment imho. i bought a PIV new in 1995 and used it for over 10+ years,sold it for what i paid.. i cant complain.. i shouldn't of sold it,but found another a year later :)they will likely go up in value like 060 accelerators.
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No, they are almost identical (2MB); plus is slightly faster. 24bit is almost unusable slow (800x600 max), I kept 16bit screen if possible.
Ah,thats what it was. thanks for the correction. I wish i could remember all the stuff i used to know ;)
i did recall 24bit was nearly un-useable on the PII.
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Speaking of real world value... SCSI Card Readers on ebay are now ridiculously priced... I see one for $220.00!!! :evil:
Mechy, are you ever going to be getting any more? Have you found a supplier yet? I really would like one for my A2000. :biglaugh:
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its a good investment imho. i bought a PIV new in 1995 and used it for over 10+ years,sold it for what i paid.. i cant complain..
Leaving money somewhere for 10 years and only getting back what you put in is not a good investment.
The inflation in the mean time has meant you're behind, you can justify it by the use you got out of it but that is hard to quantify.
Obviously if you bought an A2000 for a thousand dollars then selling it now is a bit of a come down. I paid £30 for my A1500 in the 90's, sold it for about £100 so I'm up on that.
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Speaking of real world value... SCSI Card Readers on ebay are now ridiculously priced... I see one for $220.00!!! :evil:
Mechy, are you ever going to be getting any more? Have you found a supplier yet? I really would like one for my A2000. :biglaugh:
I love my SCSI card readers! Got one from Mechy and then a second one off ebay after he ran out. Most of those scammers now are just slapping their own label on ones from him, after marking up 200%. Argh! :( Too bad we can't figure out a way to manufacture more!
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ATTENTION HOARDERS!
Give all your Amiga hardware to me. :)
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I have a pile of old Amiga hardware, most of it I don't care much about, perhaps you can get some of it later on from me. The key to the survival of the Amiga for my use has been the WinUAE emulators that kick the crap out of system performance of the actual Amiga hardware. For intensive data processing like I do, the Emulators slam the old hardware and leave it in the dust. Since Commodore never developed a portable Amiga laptop, it was left in the dust by the PC equivalents. The emulater allows me to have an Amiga laptop.
However that said, the emulator has big trouble in replicating ports and functionality with hardware interfacing. Takes the trusty old hardware to to do the job.
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@gateres - your hardware, your call what to do with it, but you could always post up a list here in the Marketplace section or somewhere like Amibay (both sites are free to list on, and you'd be dealing directly with members of the Amiga community). You never know, that pile of hardware that you don't care much about might contain just the parts that someone else has been searching for to make a running system. Just a thought! Thanks! :D
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For intensive data processing like I do, the Emulators slam the old hardware and leave it in the dust.
Of course, but what Amiga software are you running that requires so much speed to do? Isn't there any native peecee software that can do it too?
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It's the old "Supply and Demand" rule. Over time, there will be fewer and fewer Amigas around, so lower supply. Many of the people of my computer generation (80's and early 90's) who could only dream of such machines at the time, but couldn't afford it then, are now in a financial position to buy them. They are the ones driving up the demand.
I was fortunate to graduate from University in 1984. So I bought a A1000 when it came out in '85. Commodore had a program to upgrade it to an A2000 in 1988, so I got one of those. When my sister married in 1987, I got her an A500 as a wedding present.
About 15 years ago, I found an A2500 in a pawn shop. I traded the guy 5 IBM PS/2 systems my old company was getting rid of for it. The A2500 is a lot rarer than those IBM machines, so even more valuable today, especially since I did not pay anything for it.
About 5 years ago, someone on Ebay was getting rid of his A500 system for 1 penny. He (or more likely his wife) just wanted to get some storage space back in their garage. It's a good thing I had my van. I thought I was getting a basic A500 (which for 1 cent was already a good deal). Instead, I got a fully pimped-out A500 with a GVP A530 side-car (030 accelerator, 8 MB Fast RAM, and 170 MB HD), 2 MB Chip RAM upgrade, full ECS upgrade, an ICD Scan Doubler installed, a 1.3 and 2.04 ROM Switcher, a Commodore 1942 Bi-sync monitor, and loads of parts (floppy drives, Power supplies, etc...) and software (many of them boxed originals).
Then a couple years ago, my sister gave me back the A500, I gave her many years ago.
And last year, my brother gave me one of his spare A2000-based Video Toaster machines.
That's why I have quite a collection of Amigas. I also had a large collection of vintage Macintoshes (from the time an old company of mine was getting rid of them): Mac SE's, II CI's mostly but also some exotics like a Mac IIx, LC2, Plus, PowerBooks etc... I gave them away years ago, when my mother sold her house to move to a smaller place which is where I was storing them. Hated to get rid of them, but we only have so much space to store our toys. My rec room looks like an Amiga museum. But I'm glad I've kept them, especially seeing the value of these items rise. I may not be rich enough to have a classic car collection, but I have a pretty cool classic Amiga collection.
I wonder what other people's opinions are on the value of classic Amiga machines.
I haven't looked at Amiga stuff on eBay for years as I sold off all of my classic hardware years ago. I thought I'd have a look tonight to see what things were selling for these days and I was amazed.
I had 3 or 4 Blizzard PPC boards and at the time I sold them they went for about €180. I saw one sold recently for €1200?
I sold my Blizzard 1230 Mk IV for about €70. Now they seem to be going for €250.
I sold my BVision card for €90. One just sold there for €350.
Used A1200's used to sell for €30 to €40 now it's around €150.
My Phase 5 CSPPC+060 board I sold for €280-ish with 128MB RAM. I don't even know what that would be worth today, but a CSMKII with just the 060 sold for €600!
Are these prices more or less the norm these days? I was thinking of picking up some classic hardware again but at these prices it's difficult to justify when a middle-of-the-road classic system would end up costing me the price of a new retina MacBook Pro.
How much higher can Amiga prices go? This is 20 year old hardware and as beautiful as the machines are, they will eventually fail. Is it wise to be investing 4 figures on this stuff?
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It's the old "Supply and Demand" rule. Over time, there will be fewer and fewer Amigas around, so lower supply. Many of the people of my computer generation (80's and early 90's) who could only dream of such machines at the time, but couldn't afford it then, are now in a financial position to buy them. They are the ones driving up the demand.
There were literally millions of Amigas made (I think I read 2 million A500s alone). Most of those Amigas and peripherals were NOT collected and hoarded, they were discarded and recycled! If I were disappointed in anyone's behavior, it's the guys who land-filled their machines and monitors when they left the platform.
@Mike
Your post #38 was noble. ;)
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For giggles, I just searched for "Amiga 500, A500, 2000, & A2000" on eBay. It seems that there are fewer whole computers on offer compared to a few years ago. There were various parts (chips, drives, keyboards, etc), a few accelerators, expansions, and a few 1080 series monitors.
It's amazing the difference a few days can make. Today, I find 3 A2000s from an Austin Goodwill, all starting at $9.99 as-is.
Perhaps things are not quite as dire as they seemed! ;)
EDIT: This, by the way, is what I was talking about above: if this Goodwill can't sell them on eBay in a given timeframe, they will likely recycle them. Who is desperate for a big-box Amiga now?
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It's amazing the difference a few days can make. Today, I find 3 A2000s from an Austin Goodwill, all starting at $9.99 as-is.
Perhaps things are not quite as dire as they seemed! ;)
EDIT: This, by the way, is what I was talking about above: if this Goodwill can't sell them on eBay in a given timeframe, they will likely recycle them. Who is desperate for a big-box Amiga now?
Yep, my A2000 cost under $40 about a year ago.
They are still affordable (and reliable).
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It's amazing the difference a few days can make. Today, I find 3 A2000s from an Austin Goodwill, all starting at $9.99 as-is.
Yup, watching all those myself, LOL. I really wonder about the backstory of some of these items? That Goodwill store has listed severall other Amiga's recently, and also has a lot of four Vic-20's for sale now. Oh well, probably will never know!
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It does make you wonder where theses things come from.
I'd be willing to bet that listing items on eBay is not the usual Goodwill practice across the country. God only knows how many undiscovered Amigas have disappeared into oblivion this way (A few of mine came from thrift stores.).
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It does make you wonder where theses things come from.
I'd be willing to bet that listing items on eBay is not the usual Goodwill practice across the country. God only knows how many undiscovered Amigas have disappeared into oblivion this way (A few of mine came from thrift stores.).
On the other hand, there seems to be some very optimistic sellers out there. Check out these items:
Amiga 1000
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-1000-/151197525817?pt=US_Vintage_Computers_Mainframes&hash=item2334132739
Epson EX-800 with Color Kit
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-Compatible-Epson-EX-800-Printer-for-Amiga-1000-/151180838247?pt=US_Vintage_Computers_Mainframes&hash=item2333148567
Funny thing is, I have both of these items which I bought as an original owner back in the eighties. And I know I did not pay anywhere near these prices new. I got my Amiga 1000 system (CPU, 1080 monitor, 256K RAM expansion, external 1010 drive) and some software thrown in (DeluxePaint, Seven Cities of Gold) for just under $2000. I paid either $400 or $500 for the EX-800 printer and that included the Color Kit.
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On the other hand, there seems to be some very optimistic sellers out there.
It is almost as if the sellers have agreed among themselves to ask ludicrous prices hoping to convince everyone that that is the new normal.
Another thought, could these crooks be getting encouragement from folks adding them to their watchlist? Do they get some kind of positive feedback from eBay if people lurk on their auction just to see how outrageous the price is? If so, maybe we are slitting our own throats.
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It is almost as if the sellers have agreed among themselves to ask ludicrous prices hoping to convince everyone that that is the new normal.
Sellers will look at the current price that people are listing for, because they don't want to let something go too cheap.
However because listings at a reasonable price get snapped up while listings at a high price just get relisted then there will always be more items listed at a price nobody is prepared to pay.
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It is almost as if the sellers have agreed among themselves to ask ludicrous prices hoping to convince everyone that that is the new normal.
I am baffled by auctions such as these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Commodore-Amiga-2000-HD-/281124377553
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Commodore-Amiga-2000-HD-/130927097472
If you look at the photos you can tell clearly that it's the same system. But it's different seller accounts, different prices, and different item locations. I've seen the exact same A2000 system pop up a couple dozen times on ebay, always for some ridiculous price. Honestly don't understand what this is, is it some kind of scam?
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Yah Mike,
I saw that BS last week too and wondered WTH ?
I am baffled by auctions such as these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Commodore-Amiga-2000-HD-/281124377553
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Commodore-Amiga-2000-HD-/130927097472
If you look at the photos you can tell clearly that it's the same system. But it's different seller accounts, different prices, and different item locations. I've seen the exact same A2000 system pop up a couple dozen times on ebay, always for some ridiculous price. Honestly don't understand what this is, is it some kind of scam?
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It is almost as if the sellers have agreed among themselves to ask ludicrous prices hoping to convince everyone that that is the new normal.
I think at the moment prices are creeping up slowly. Some thing like: New asking price = last seen price + 50%.
I have been watching for CyberVisionPPC cards. You can see on AmiBay how prices have more than doubled in the last couple of years.