Upgrade 1200 or sell and find 3000?

[matt3k]

The topic of the best Amiga is hotly contested and has many posts.  There is no right answer, largely is a matter of taste.

IMHO, I have a 1200  and a few 3k's(have owned 500, 1000, 3000t, 4000), the 3000 is the best Amiga ever built.  It has the least number of compromises and was built like a tank.  I think the 3k keyboard is better than the 1200, again this is a matter of taste.  It looks the richest and has the best quality feel of any Amiga.

The 3k is nicely expandable and if you deck it out with an accelerator (recommend the Warp Engine 3040 or CS MK III) and a Picasso IV or Retina BLT Z3, you will be very happy with it. NIC's are still around on ebay, recommend either the X-Surf or the Ariadne.

The only things to look out for with the 3k is battery damage, acid destroyed too many 3k's because of neglect.  Make sure you see the system run without any video defects and look at the mb to confirm no damage.  Video defects are usually caused by mb damage.

Good Luck!

[scuzzb494]

Not sure why you want an A3000 given their rarity, but hey. I have 3000s and two 3000Ts. I even have a 3000UX and a 3000 with AMAX II but I still wouldn't use any of them in pref to my 1200 or 4000. The 4000 desktop with the Picasso IV or my 4000T is what I prefer. But then I have every Amiga model and probably in excess of 30 A1200s. The A1200 is still a great machine but I mothballed all my collection other than the 1200, 4000 and my Checkmate. With those I can do pretty much anything anyway. Personally I would try to get a 4000.

[runequester]

Ups and downs for both:
 
3000 benefits:
Zorro slots for easy expansion.
Built-in scan doubler
Comes with 030 as standard
SCSI interface for CD ROM and hard drive
 
1200 benefits:
Many cheap accelerator cards available
PCMCIA slot.
IDE slot.
AGA.
 
 
In the end, for heavy expansion its easier to start with a 3000, since towering a 1200 is a fair amount of work, cost and fuss.
If you want RTG, its pretty much 3000 or towered 1200 anyways.
 
On the other side, its easier to fit simple IDE CF options to the 1200, you get PCMCIA for networking and file transfers, and you get AGA, which opens some software options.

[chfriend]

Oh vey,

Me have a headache!  If I can locate a 4000 that hasn't been destroyed by battery leakage do any of the RTG cards act as a pass-through to scan-double the AGA output so I can use one monitor for everything?

[chfriend]

Maybe I'll try it this way.  If anyone is looking to sell either an A3000 or A4000 (with flicker fixer) or has a CPU/Indivision for my A1200 please PM me with the specs and price you want.

Probably want to keep it to the US or Canada or shipping charges will be through the roof!

[Tenacious]

Maybe I'll try it this way.  If anyone is looking to sell either an A3000 or A4000 (with flicker fixer) or has a CPU/Indivision for my A1200 please PM me with the specs and price you want.

Probably want to keep it to the US or Canada or shipping charges will be through the roof!

Just to throw it out, a Picasso IV has a flicker fixer in its input.  When installed in a 4000, you get AGA native modes retimed to 31kHz and all that the IV can deliver.  Picasso IVs are less common and a little more expensive.

[mechy]

Ups and downs for both:
 
3000 benefits:
Zorro slots for easy expansion.
Built-in scan doubler
Comes with 030 as standard
SCSI interface for CD ROM and hard drive
 
1200 benefits:
Many cheap accelerator cards available
PCMCIA slot.
IDE slot.
AGA.
 
 
In the end, for heavy expansion its easier to start with a 3000, since towering a 1200 is a fair amount of work, cost and fuss.
If you want RTG, its pretty much 3000 or towered 1200 anyways.
 
On the other side, its easier to fit simple IDE CF options to the 1200, you get PCMCIA for networking and file transfers, and you get AGA, which opens some software options.

You forgot a few things here.I love the 3000 and 1200 but...
The 3000 will likely have a 030/25, old buster 7,9 if your lucky. Need upgraded for zorro3 operation,need a updated scsi chip(not always). The 3000 will probabaly need 3.1 roms,it will have a old dmac2 and ramsey 4 also.  it uses more expensive zip ram. it has a 030/25 (in most cases),no place for cd/dvd rom.Of course if you can find one cheap with all this your golden.

The 4000 makes most sense, it has a 040/25 stock and at least 3.0 roms,can take 16MB of easy/cheap 72 pin simms,is AGA,has latest ramsey etc. chips(buster11 except some came with buster 9-which is still better than buster 7 which has broken zorro3),it has a slightly better power supply,room for a cd/dvd. Can add a pal/ntsc switch if needed. 4000's Can usually be picked up in the $300-500 usd range in stock 040 form..

The 1200 makes the least sense. you would need a tower, accelerator,bus board expansion,new power supply,etc. its pcmcia is a nice thing,but its ide is unbuffered and slow.by the time you buy all these addons its will be as much as a 4000 and still not be a fast.Bringing a 1200 up to this spec would cost way more and still be slower in most cases.