Next purchase - What should it be...

[Rooster]

So I'm happy and content with my A500 and A2k.  (well minus the issues at hand!).

What I'm wondering / curious about, is other than starting an entire collection (which I wouldn't mind doing someday) what newer era Ami should I set my buying sights on?  back in the day, I never "progressed" past my Ami500, which I still have.  Missed out on many generations (ok, a few anyway!) of awesome Ami times.

Should I look for A600?  A1200? A4000?  Other??
Tell me your thoughts / comments / suggestions.  (Also looking for locations other than ebay for purchase, if ya wanna drop some places/people!) Concerns would be:

1-All current software is A500/2000 based.  So I'll have NOTHING to put on this newer era system (other than what it comes with - but no OS, no applications, no games!)

2-Hardware upgrades - Which of these are the easiest to find stuff for? Which are the hardest, or are they all about equal?

I realize this might be a kind of vague question, but I appreciate any input.  I can read specs all day long, but that doesn't tell me what I'm ACTUALLY going to be able to find - What pieces/upgrades/software for what system.  That's why I'm asking the experts out there  Thanks again as always,

   Rooster

[Rooster]

@ Boogiegail - I'm out of town this weekend.  I'm really interested in your thread, though.  Have to talk to wife when I get back (You know - phone call about it not going to be real positive, lol)..

I have downloaded and gotten into WinUAE - Mainly because as I mentioned elsewhere, the fact that the "NEWEST" of my disks was 1991, I am very concerned that data loss is going to start occuring, rendering my original Ami disks useless.  Figured since I was going through the effort of running disk2file and making tons of ADF's I might as well try em on the WinUAE application, lol..  And no, it's not the same, and many of the games I have don't run at all for some reason. (Batman and Faery Tale Adv. to be the two foremost on my mind).  Suspect there are issues with copy protection, as I remember that becomming a problem, and special programs had to be used back in the day to copy them..  Gotta find those again, because one way or another, I need archives.  But no, AF or WinUAE just not what I want - I want the box, be it full or A500'ish, not a software proggy.  Thnx though for the suggestion.  

Thanks to all who have posted, as well.  Good to see that so many people want to support various machines.  Enjoy reading about that, and the why's etc., behind your thoughts.  Sure makes it tough though, lol..  I kind of thought everyone would be like, "get X, because it's the best".  Though I knew that really wouldn't be the truth, lol..  Gonna talk to the wife, as I said, looks like the A4k deal is pretty good.  Thanks to all

  Rooster