What's the point of the MiniMig?

[Tomas]

gdanko wrote:
Maybe I am stupid or maybe I am some sort of infidel, but I do not see the point of the MiniMig. This unit emulates a 7 MHz A500 for > $200 USD? Why bother buying this thing when you can get a real A500 for about $25 USD?

But can you put a a500 in such a small case footprint? There is also less and less working a500 available.. Our hardware is aging, so any new hardware is very welcome in my opinion.

[Tomas]

I think all my a500 is starting to show signs of aging.. Main problem is the floppy disk drives. One of the floppy drives seems to be a bit out of alignment, since no other amiga can read the disk written by that drive. 2 other floppy drives have problems with the instert disk button/pin.. Sometimes it might suddenly act like you ejected the disk for a second, even though you never did.

[Tomas]

Sorry, but I have to disagree with you. Apart from the floppy disk drive, the A500 and A600's (with the exception of the A500+) are like concrete. They will last for many, many years.

Yes.. but how much longer? I have already heard of plenty amigas dying in storage mainly due to caps drying out or similar. I doubt there will be that many working systems left in lets say 20 years from now.