@mlankton
The problem is that the Amiga is expensive, that's a fact. But don't think of the SAM as being a computer like a PC is, it'll always lose. At the moment the Amiga hardware will always be slower and more expensive... but the point is a PC can't run AmigaOS (no, neither AROS nor MorphOS are AmigaOS). Think of it as being the only machine available that can run AmigaOS - which it is (at the moment). So it's only 800MHz? It makes little difference for most things.
If you want to get into the modern Amiga you'll have to bite the bullet, I'm afraid. But remember one thing - a loaded SAM system is much much cheaper than a high-end classic Amiga when it came out. In fact a loaded SAM is cheaper than an A500 when it came out, in real terms.
Buy a Sam 440. If you don't like it - sell it. The depreciation on them is tiny compared to most machines. I don't think you will though.....
As someone who did exactly that, bought a Sam440Ep when it and OS4.1 was first announced waited 2 months for delivery then sold it about 2 months after that, I must say that I was very disappointed with the Sam/0s4 package.
Before I get into details maybe a little of my background will help mitigate the flaming responses.
I have worked in the IT industry for approximately 15 years as a Analyst/programmer and had many other side positions along with that and have recently set up my own IT services company, In that time both professionally and personally I have had experience of just about every mainstream platform there is. I am currently sat in my office surrounded by machines of just about every type, an assortment of PC's running various OS's from Vista down to bare Dos and various Linuxes (what is the plural of Linux??), An assortment of Sun workstations, Silicon graphics workstations, IBM RS6000's, a smattering of macs and of coarse several amiga's including a Pegasos 2 (Yes I do count the Peg as an Amiga). And that list does not even count the various of Enterprise gear in the garage.
Professionally and personally I believe in using the best tool for the job, I'm not someone who has to have the latest and greatest must have whizz bang machine just because its 2% faster than the previous model. My main machines are a 4 year old P4 3.2 xp Box and a Sun WZ2100 Workstation running Ubuntu Linux (This was the fastest PC you could buy back when it was released in 2004 but I didn't get it till earlier this year) but it does have 16 gig of ram which is perfect for running lots of VM's
I love the Amiga because it was that platform that got me interested in serious computing in the early 90's.
My experience of the Sam and Os4 were a major let down probably because I already had a Peg 2 running Morphos 2. My general feeling was that the package was a major step back for me.
Some of my reasons are these :-
1) The boot loader, can't even remember the name (most of the experience has been sent to the trashcan in my mind) It one of the most uncooperative and annoying pieces of software I have ever used, why they didn't take the opportunity to move to open firmware I'll never know.
2) The CPU, 667 MHz is fine with me I use many machines day to day with far lower clocks than this but the fact that Acube decided to use a CPU with next to no caches or any speed enhancing features meanes that lots of CPU cycles are used in wait states for data that would be sat in cache on a decent CPU.
3) USB yes the Sam has USB 2 but OS4 and its archaic USB stack doesn't support it. As I moved most of my storage from scsi and fibre arrays some years ago I went to external usb2 drives for pure data storage if speed was not an issue. I found the lake of USB2 speeds impossible to live with in any machine I want to use seriously. The fact that my 2 main 68k Amigas (4000d in tower and 3000d) both have USB2 thanks to Deneb makes its absence for OS4 even more painful.
4) OS4 itself (flame retardant underwear to maximum) My personal feelings about OS4 is that it is only a slight improvement over 3.9 (and in some ways a step backwards) It cannot claim to be the next generation when IMHO Morphos is years ahead of it in looks feel and responsiveness.
It was my intention to buy OS4 for my peg but I feel at the moment (especially in light of the recent comparison benchmarks, which I do take with a pinch of salt) I feel I would be wasting over £100 on software that I would not use.
I am not a freetard and have put my money where my mouth is to support innovation in my Amiga Hobby where I see it, I registered Morphos 2 on the day it was released, pre ordered my Sam on the day it was first available at Amigakit (BTW great service) and ordered 2 Denebs on the day they were announced (further feeding my USB2 fetish).
As for the price excuses for Sam been so expensive I'm sorry the Sam's were designed and sold as embedded broads for industry not just as the saviour of the amiga. I think its plain that industry said NON and we are the only user base deemed gullible enough to have the aimed at us, until both Acube and Hyperion rectify the short comings of the current release Sam/OS4 than I will also say NON and keep my few remaining pennies in my pocket.
To offer an alternative opinion the fellow user group member who bought my Sam uses it everyday and couldn't be happier with it so maybe all of the above opinions are just me but I do stick to them. :-D
The above are my own honest opinions which may not match yours, I am happy to debate then but trolls will just be ignored, I'm to old to get wound up buy idiots any more. As someone once said "Arguing on the internet is like competing in the the special Olympics. You may win but your still retarded".
Gaz
