Poll: Let the A2000 or A3000 go?

[Sandman]

Just do like me and keep'em all!

 I got back into this hobby several years ago when I found a A4000 for sale cheap locally and figured that it was most evolved Amiga and one that I could never afford so I picked it up for just a nostalgic romp.

That was 7 1000's, 8 2000's, 5 3000's and 4 4000's ago not to mention a room full of hardware and let's not even get started on the 8-bit stuff!  I got the room so I figured why not.  Now if I can ever get the time to actually use them instead of fix/restore them.

Short answer...... keep both.

[Ral-Clan]

I just sold an A3000 and kept my A2000.

I just like the A2000 better...partially nostalgic reasons, but partly because it's much easier to open up and fiddle around with.  The A3000 runs very hot and is very crowded inside.

The A3000 is a nice computer and technically superior on paper....I just have a soft spot for the A2000.  Plus it's easier to get replacement parts for and service (due to a larger, less densely pack circuit board, and it being more common on Ebay).

The A3000 I had was a little finicky with SCSI drives...it wouldn't boot properly with some internal drives and also while some external drives were hooked up (and YES I did terminate properly with both active and passive terminators).

Of course, my A2000 has a built in flicker fixer and 2MB chip ram, so that lessens the gap.

Having an internal CD-ROM drive on an A2000 is also nice.

[save2600]

Thanks all for the input! After heavily weighing everything, I have decided to let the A3000 go. Any poking around I may do in the future can all be handled by the A1000 and A2000 I've got. At this point, the Amiga hobby for me really is more about nostalgia than getting any real productive use out of 'em  

I realize most members (and by a wide margin) recommended I keep the A3000 and I appreciate that, but I know its potential and features just would not and did not get the use in my home. Time to turn her loose! The first hard decision, but as I depart from hoarding, many more goodies are going to eventually make it to marketplace.

[Ral-Clan]

One thing about thinning down your collection and keeping the A2000 is that the A2000's have always had a good track record for longevity.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are more A2000s still running than any other big box Amigas. So if you are going to have less Amigas then the A2000 seems a good choice.

[Ami_GFX]

One thing about thinning down your collection and keeping the A2000 is that the A2000's have always had a good track record for longevity.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are more A2000s still running than any other big box Amigas. So if you are going to have less Amigas then the A2000 seems a good choice.

My A2500 has been running since 1992. I did replace the motherboard once. It wasn't dead by any means but it would only recognize half the chip ram. I got a complete A2000 in bad cosmetic condition with the same motherboard revision for next to nothing which gave me the new motherboard and enough spare parts to keep it running forever. With the stock A2630 accellerator, GVP SCSI card, DKB 2632 memory expansion and A2320 Amber flicker fixer, it has just about everything an A3000 has except a Zorro III bus with more room to expand.

My A4000 has been a bit more probmatic and I had to replace the CPU card recently but it was originally owned by a technical college for video editing classes and has seen some heavy use before I got it and, all and all, is doing well for it's age and amount of use it's had. I do like using the Toaster 4000 with the AGA graphics. I had a Toaster 2000 and sold it and kept the Toaster 4000 due to the better video graphics.

I saw the A3000 listing and I would have considered buying it if I had more time and space for it but I'm in the thinning mode myself and just sold my spare Atari Mega 4 St to pay for the parts to fix my A4000.

[orange]

One thing about thinning down your collection and keeping the A2000 is that the A2000's have always had a good track record for longevity.  I wouldn't be surprised if there are more A2000s still running than any other big box Amigas. So if you are going to have less Amigas then the A2000 seems a good choice.

well, that's quite obvious given their size (so the PCB tracks are wider, cooling etc..). also, iirc they are two layered PCB compared to 4layers in a4000 (or something like that).

still, leaked battery seems to influence them most. because it is near the CPU. I never had such problems with other Amigas. apart from that, they are very sturdy.

but if one has more Amigas, A2000 takes most space.. (except maybe A4000T or A3000T).

[Ami_GFX]

The A2000 is sturdier and better built over all. The chips and other electronic components are either socketed or soldered in plate through holes which are a lot easier to desolder and replace than surface mounted chips.  

The battery in the A4000 is right near the simm sockets, buster and other sensitive areas. I got mine out before it did much damage but I did have to clean up a bit to get it to recognize all the memory simms. The A4000's A3640 CPU card has 5 surface mounted electrolytic capacitiors  and 3 are usually mounted with the polarity reversed which makes them tend to leak and cause damage. It was one of the ones with correct polarity next to the 68040 that leaked and killed my first A3640, ironically.

Of all the big box Amigas, the A4000 is the most ergonomic and space effecient. The internal 5.2" drive bay helps a lot compared to the A3000. It still takes up a lot of room but a lot less than an A2000. But, hey, the Amiga came out long before the era of laptops and way before the era of smart phones and, if you want one, you are going to have to set aside some space for it.

[AndyLandy]

@Save2600: At the end of the day, you have to do what's right for you. I do miss my A2000, but I think for me, keeping the A3000 was the right thing for me. If you've stuck with the A2000, that's awesome.

One thing I will point out is that the A3000 is also mostly socketed chips and through-hole as well. People often seem to forget that. The A600, A1200 and A4000 are the only SMD-based Amigas.