CUSA Amiga range will cost up to $25,000

[vox]

If you thought a SAM system or X-1000 was expensive, well you would be wrong. CUSA's upcoming Amiga line will cost up to $25,000! Pictures or specs for these systems has not been released yet. More information via the link below.

http://www.commodore-amiga.org/forum/27-commodore-usa/8551-phone-call-with-barry?lang=en#8569

Wait, there is said just the case is $1000?

And they say AmigaOne boards are expensive :-)

[vox]

I am curious when and why their strategies have changed.
First time around they were making these Amiga boxes for the "retro" market, with intentions of their own rebadged distro with integrated emulation.

Now they are taking a shot at the high, high end content development market.  Where does the "Amiga" fit into that?  Are you telling me that for $25,000 I'll get a "high end graphics machine" running reskinned Linux and UAE on it?  I can just imagine Pixar waiting with baited breath to put in a 20 million dollar order.  The "Amiga" name doesn't mean squat to the people that would be in the market for these high end machines.

Listen, we've all seen the Amiga brand be raped and defiled in front of our eyes for many years, and while I quite enjoy the hysterical nature of all this - I'm confused as to why they would suddenly figure that going from bargain basement $600 commodity hardware stuffed into custom cases to $25,000 machines is the logical step.  And even if that made sense, why would anyone choose these systems over the big boys with 24/7 on site support and millions of customers worldwide?

There's 1001 vendors making systems like this, and not just the big guns like Dell.  It's like Yugo putting leather seats, nice stereos and burl walnut trim in their economy cars and figuring it's time to take out Rolls Royce.

While CommodoreOS would certainly make C64x/VIC users happier,
yes, you are right, it will have no effect on the higher priced CUSA "Amiga" range.

Well, even the Yugo never went that road. Last was discontinued in 2008

[vox]

Here's my theory: Barry, incensed and disappointed that his $600-1500 generic Atom/i7 machines were not setting the world on fire as he fantasized, decided that the thing to do would be to set his sights on a market where people are used to paying lots of money for a machine. Surely, $1,000 extra for a case/brand-name tax would not be missed in such a purchase!

(The reference there is to imply that Barry, like Syd Barret, must have ingested copious amounts of controlled substances to come up with what he has. The difference is that in Barry's case, it's not meant as a compliment.)

Hmmm ... man has got the cow (both Commodore and Amiga stickers and logos, except for Boing Ball displayed sometimes on the website) and got to milk it to the max. Now, verry glad Amiga Inc has lost the court case and limited itself to tablets n cows

Quite psychadelic yes, and reminds me of Barry calling me "stoned" :-)

Everything good takes time to build, eveything notworthy shall fade away

[vox]

Here's the bit that concerns me:

...

Phase 6:
Pocket all of the investment money you can and make sure you pay top prices and salaries to yourself, family members and the shell companies you've set up as "middle men".  When the scheme finally collapses, the LLC has no cash assets, the offices turn out to be rented, the staff are all temps and there is nothing left for the investors to recover.

Alternatively, you could open up an LLC and make novelty computer case and hope you sell millions of them just like C=USA.....

well, abusing irresponsible side of the capitalism.

But with too many big words and too little results, one must always have this picture in front. For the good of the people that get the product and have high hopes, hope it will not happen

[vox]

well they have revealed the case on their new website.

http://web.************.net/amiga

Didn't take me long to track down the case.

http://www.origenae.co.kr/en/htpc_s16t.htm

So that what "expensive" case he is using.

I found a review of the smaller version of the case.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Origen_ae/S10V/7.html

Give them their dues. It's a nice looking case. Shame about the bad photoshop with the Amiga badges.

Verrry nice case, however $350. Far far from $1000

Anyway, when its done.

All before that are concept stolen images on CUSA website :-)

[vox]

whats worrying is the response from the CTO, who i believe is supposed to be developing this thing, about all this.



If they have not even set in stone whats supposed to be coming on these machines then I wonder how far they actually have got with deciding whats going in the case, what the price range is or even what planet they are on.

I also wonder which version of the OS is supposed to be shipped out to those who already purchased a machine off them. After all they are supposedly getting COS mailed to them once it's finished.

Well, now it seems its not COS but those Mint (RETRO/MODERN) CommodoreOS OEM or something cryptic like that.

Seems C64x users will be viewed as "retro" and get the ability to run Amiga software on their C64 (interesting retro of the retro) while Commodore USA Amiga (hard thing to write!) will get the modern thing, since its their "most modern and futuristic model".

Since nothing is really known of these we have to wait and see.

Sadly, to put the cost down, they never supplied option of having Windows with the machines: so C64x is most expensive Linux nettop up to date.

If they continue the same with their high end workstations (aka Amigas)
will this MINT FUTURE be enough?

[vox]

Yep. For as much as they've been trying to convince the Amiga community that this is The Future Of Commodore (while all the time restating that the Amiga community totally isn't their target market, therefore all objections are totally invalid,) all they've really been accomplishing is making people wonder if custom boards are really that overpriced...

('Course, I still think so, but I'll at the very least concede that $800-1000 for custom hardware compares favorably with $800-1000 for utterly vanilla Atom/i7 boards.)

Well, since their commodoreamiga.org board has started, its cleary visible its some of the Amiga (and C64) fans that is their user base, and even there its clearly visible at this announcement stage, they dislike the new "high budget policy"

If future is just exploitation of the past and the present, its better to have no future.

But thanks to people that develop Minimig, Natami, MorphOS, AROS and AmigaOS 4 there is some blink of the past it new age

[vox]

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product.aspx?c=1257&id=1481#Tab0

At about $345 this touchscreen plus the water cooled level 10 GTS will set you back just over $700, $300 more will buy you a storage draw, remote, cup holder, toaster, scented oil diffuser or whatever else you wish to pimp your case with.
CUSA are mad I tell you, maaaaaaddddd!
...and they ain't getting any cash off me!

They will try to justify high price with best possible industrial and pro use components. While this alone is a tricky market to enter, we can just wait "few more weeks" when this road becomes official.

Best current CUSA user base can hope is that they will have the beloved emulation box in couple of next months for their C64x and VICs: Amigas will stay out of the commons man reach. What is also interesting as that such Pro budle would need pro software and that is something CommodoreOS will not provide: they will have to make some good bundle. Interesting test for CUSA, much heavier burden then ever before with less chance to succeed.