Amiga 500 +

[Xanxi]

People, why discourage him?
The 500 Plus is a great computer, the first amiga i ever owned, and it is very upgradable.
First of all, remember that ACA520 are coming, and they should offer a passthrough for A1200 CPU expansion. Imagine an A500 Plus with a Blizzard PPC board (and there is room for it the large A500 case).
Then, there i a lot of expansions for the A500 side slots, either IDE or SCSI controllers, RAM expansions, etc, that usually sell rather cheap compared to other amiga hardware and are not rare. A590 is a good choice and of course works with the 500 Plus.
He can also use a zorro adapter for the side slot and use anything from RTG boards to a Deneb.
And finally, the A500 Plus can be fitted with the Indivision ECS, which is not only cheaper than its AGA counterpart but also a lot more powerful and can almost become a mini RTG board.

[Xanxi]

Good luck plugging a Deneb into a slingshot adapter...

No, seriously: if hardware is already present a 500 can be a nice machine. But I'd take a 1200 any day when it comes to using and upgrading the system.
- adding an HDD is peanuts (simple IDE vs. external SCSI controller + disk)
- adding a CDROM is easier/cheaper
- adding RAM is much cheaper
- no need to add a cheap accelerator, '020 inside
- no need for 2 MB chip RAM upgrade
- no need to upgrade Agnus/Denise to get VGAish video - a simple alternative to RTG
- no / less clunky external expansions

I still do not agree. I'm thinking you may have been an amiga user only after the coming of the AGA era, because 80's users are really bound to the A500 and A2000. I feel just like that myself, even if my main amiga is an A1200 because indeed it is the more convenient as i have a 060 accelerator for it. However, my A500 Plus is here too and will gain again a good place on my desk when i move to a larger flat. Hopefully, it will be when the ACA520 will be available .