What do the numbers mean?

[sim085]

Hi,

I guess this may sound like a stupid question; but what do the numbers given to the different Amiga's out actually mean. I mean what does '500' mean in the A500 or the '1200' mean in the A1200? From where did they get these numbers? I am not sure if my question is clear. I am just interested to know what made them call their products like that!

Thanks and Regards,
Sim085

[bloodline]

They are just model numbers... There is no magic

[redrumloa]

Most likely they mean nothing. The Commodore 64, 128 and 16 all related to built in RAM. The Plus4 had 4 built in software applications. But that pretty much ends there the numbering system had meaning. The Vic20 was given the number 20 because C= thought 20 was a friendly number. I'd guess (just a guess) with Amiga 1000 they chose a big number to sound impressive, and just worked from there.

[Zac67]

The 1000 was renamed just that only after the 500 and 2000 were announced.

I'd guess they positioned the '1000' as a base number to start from (with '100' offering too little options and not showing enough distinction from '64' and '128'). So they could use lower numbers (1000/2) for low end and higher numbers (1000*2) for high end machines. From that they counted up in hundreds and thousands with the 1200 hanging somewhere in between - low end target with higher performance than the older 1/2000.

[amigadave]

Zac67 wrote:
The 1000 was renamed just that only after the 500 and 2000 were announced.

I'd guess they positioned the '1000' as a base number to start from (with '100' offering too little options and not showing enough distinction from '64' and '128'). So they could use lower numbers (1000/2) for low end and higher numbers (1000*2) for high end machines. From that they counted up in hundreds and thousands with the 1200 hanging somewhere in between - low end target with higher performance than the older 1/2000.

I have never heard that the A1000 was not always an A1000. Where did you see this information about it not becoming an A1000 until after the A500 and A2000 were announced?  What model was it before the A500 & A2000?  The label under all of my 3 A1000's have FCC ID numbers that end in -1000 and under that where it says "Model No." it is followed by the number 1000.  So, I would think that the first commercial Amiga model has always been an A1000.

[sim085]

Thanks for all the replies. Deep in my heart I always felt that the numbers must have had some type of meaning but could never understand what. Now I know they where meaning less  

[quarkx]

Where did you see this information about it not becoming an A1000 until after the A500 and A2000 were announced?  

You have to pick up the book "On the Edge", it explains this and is such a fascinating book about CBM in general. I have read (and re-read it) a few times now, it is always interesting. Some argue it might not all be true, but it sure is a great book.

[Ilwrath]

Thanks for all the replies. Deep in my heart I always felt that the numbers must have had some type of meaning but could never understand what. Now I know they where meaning less

Yeah, there's no magical formula, but, in general, they are designed to give you an idea where the system fits into the product line.   (IE, the A500 is a less expandable machine than the A2000.  The A2500 is more powerful than the A2000.  The A3000 is more powerful than either the 2000 or the 2500, etc...)

Then, later on, the A600 was incremented replacement to the A500.  So the system that was a more powerful, but still self-contained unit was named the A1200.  

[Zac67]

@amigadave

Before being called A1000 the first model was simply called "Amiga". I'm not entirely sure when it was renamed but that was at least a year after introduction.

[QuikSanz]

Actually those numbers are close to their price in USD :lol:

Chris

[chris]

@Zac67

From that they counted up in hundreds and thousands with the 1200 hanging somewhere in between

I always thought they'd chosen 1200 because it was twice the spec of the A600 (1MB vs 2MB, 7MHz vs 14MHz, 16-bit vs 32-bit etc), and it was almost twice the size as well!

[stefcep2]

Model numbers that were multiples of 1000 all had zorro slots, and hence "big-box".  Everything else had no zorro slots.

[Tension]

Ilwrath wrote:

Thanks for all the replies. Deep in my heart I always felt that the numbers must have had some type of meaning but could never understand what. Now I know they where meaning less

Yeah, there's no magical formula, but, in general, they are designed to give you an idea where the system fits into the product line.   (IE, the A500 is a less expandable machine than the A2000.  The A2500 is more powerful than the A2000.  The A3000 is more powerful than either the 2000 or the 2500, etc...)

Then, later on, the A600 was incremented replacement to the A500.  So the system that was a more powerful, but still self-contained unit was named the A1200.  

The A600 was gonna be called the A300, til the marketing guys got their hands on it!!  I think it says A300 on the PCB but I cant remember for sure.

Also, I think the CD32 was gonna be called the A100, although I cant remember for sure.

My head`s shot.
 8-)

[Lorraine]

/

[weirdami]

chris wrote:

I always thought they'd chosen 1200 because it was twice the spec of the A600 (1MB vs 2MB, 7MHz vs 14MHz, 16-bit vs 32-bit etc), and it was almost twice the size as well!

Perhaps the other way around, if anything, since the A1200 came first.