A1200 minimum upgrade recommendations

[mechy]

Yes, SD cards are more reliable, also easier to handle (my laptop has built-in SD reader). As for putting them inside my A1200 I do it this way:

http://krashan.ppa.pl/articles/hardware/img/ka47_view1_576.jpg

Or even this way (you can see Indivision AGA on this photo as well):

http://krashan.ppa.pl/articles/hardware/img/ka60_view1_576.jpg

Nonsense,Where do you guys come up with this stuff?  More reliable than CF? nope.. CF is true IDE and takes no conversion through the pcmcia slot or ide on amiga. Its straight through,making them utterly more reliable with minimal access time. SD requires adaption from the parallel ide to serial style the sd card is which requires a custom chip, this not only adds latency(slower access time-although not that noticeable),but it one more conversion.
Not to mention flash ram is flash ram basically,addressed serial or parallel.
Introducing more complex chips into the equasion doesn't make it more reliable than a cf that plugs straight in,wired one for one with no conversion chips.

If you think cf is unreliable,don't buy cheap no name ones and or ones that are counterfeit off ebay/china etc. many sandisk extreme even have a lifetime warranty and you can reg them online.

[mechy]

On a budget, a 4meg fastram card with RTC. Even those cards can fetch silly money these days, but you may be lucky. Obviously you'll need a pcmcia network card, wireless if you like. Then take your choice regarding storage. Personally I have many spare laptop hard drives and you may do as well. Why fork out for a flash storage solution if that is the case...

If you want to play games like AB3D and Gloom Deluxe or flight sims etc then one of Individual Computer's ACA 68020 cards might be a better purchase, as you'll get a bit more cpu power and added bonus of more fastram with pcmcia compatibility.

An A1200 with hard drive and fastram does make a really nice WHDLoad machine.

Let me answer that  Flash is way faster than most laptop ide drives. It has almost zero access time, versus say the laptops 5 to 12ms access.

Its ultra low power and dead silent,and makes virtually no heat,which are all good for amigas,especially ones with anemic stock psu.

Transfer speed is usually slighly improved depending on the cf. Workbench feels fast and snappy. 8GB cf will hold all of whdload pretty much as well as apps etc.

A 8gb CF card in sandisk is like $14USD  worst case and the ide to cf adapter is all of $3-5USD.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1012244&gclid=CPbkwsfH8csCFQmqaQodZQYAdw&Q=&ap=y&m=Y&c3api=1876%2C92051677562%2C&is=REG&A=details

Even a poor person like me can afford CF setup. I've actually ran 32Gb cf's in my 4000 for over 10+ years and now 64Gb cards as well as samsung ssd's.

[mechy]

You are right in theory, but in practice getting Compact Flash card working with Amiga is a lottery. I've read endless threads about which cards work, which do not, there are even some working in CF2IDE, but not working in CF2PCMCIA or the other way around. SD cards just work. Any brand. They are also smaller, so easier to fit, especially when you have internal scandoubler, turbo board in A600 and so on.

stick with a quality sandisk card, it works every time. Many people in these reports buy bootleg ebay or used cards is why they have headaches.
not all sd to ide adapters work on amiga in my experience.