Newbie

[roskoff]

Greetings.  I'm a complete newbie with Amigas.  I've been collecting 8-bit Commodore machines/accessories and now I'm ready to run with the big dogs.  The problem is that I have LOTS of questions.  What machine would you recommend I get as a first step?  What should I look for?  What should I avoid?  From what I've read so far, an Amiga 1200 HD seems like a good machine to get since it has AGA, PCMCIA and IDE-interface features.  

What about accelerator boards?  They seem to be a requirement to actually ENJOY using the machines.  Do they overheat?  Are they easy to install?

I've noticed that there a few-to-none Amiga 1200s listed on EBay which are NTSC.  Are 1200s for the North American market that rare?

Thanks in advance for any and all comments.

[roskoff]

Thanks for the information everyone.  Where is the best place to find an A1200/HD for North America?  And how much should I expect to pay?

Also, I've seem some of these 'Magic Pack' A1200s for sale but what are they?  Are they worth getting?  Thanks again!