A4000, A1200, or A2000?

[TheBilgeRat]

So, I am at a crossroads of a sort.

I have a bit of Miggy money and am trying to decide the best way to spend it.  I am currently in possession of an A2000 rev 4.3 that is a trooper, but is stock 68000 with 3 megs of ram.  Researching all the things I can do to get it up to decent par (030 accelerator, indivision, at the very least), with that money I could for sure get an A1200.  The idea is much like Runequester- I just want to use the funk out of it.  I don't think I'd get rid of the big brown battleship, as she just keeps ticking, but I still really want an AGA machine like my first purchased computer (a 1200).  The problem is I always coveted the 4000s.  I know this topic has probably been flogged a bit, but I'd love to hear the chorus opinion on which AGA machine is preferable to expansion ( in a non-frankenstein way) and all around longevity.  Or should I eschew AGA altogether and make this 2000 a beast?

I'm so torn!

[ElPolloDiabl]

If you play a lot of games the A1200 is recommended. Although I envied an A4000 in the old days, WinUAE is seriously good, high speed RTG Amiga... for nix.
If it were back in the day the A4000 would be the better option in the long run for easy upgrades. But the A1200 will probably be easiest to get parts for in 2011.

[stevee617]

I would have to agree. If you play games, then the A1200 is the way to go.

I recently got AMIGA Forever 2011. It is very good and I do enjoy running it. Personally, I like having the real deal. If you like buying add-ons for your computer and cracking the case to install cards and upgrades, then a 4000 is probably the best.

Myself, I have an A3000 and it has 3.1 ROMS in it and I just put a Picasso II graphics card it and it runs really good. I probably won't play a lot of games on it, I am more interested in getting the most out of the OS, adding a USB card to it and challenging myself to get it on the internet. I also have a 1200 that I upgraded to a CF HD and a GVP 1230+ accelerator. I plan on doing the same thing with it as I am the 3000, but I want to connect it to my wireless network and get it on the net.

So, I like cracking cases and upgrading computers. I think if I had it to do all over again, I just would have gotten a 4000 and had the best of both, the big box 3000 and the AGA of the 1200.

It really depends on what your going to do with it.

[runequester]

1200s are vastly cheaper than the 4000s nowadays, they are very expandable, and the PCMCIA slot comes in very handy these days.

The 2000 can be upgraded quite significantly too, of course, and you already got the beast.

1200 advantages: AGA. PCMCIA. IDE.

2000 advantages: Zorro slots (but 16 bit), far easier to add RTG

[dougal]

For a decent games machine i would go for the following spec:

A1200 with Blizzard 1230 MKIV, 64/128mb fast ram, 6Gb+ IDE HD, 4way IDE buffer, PCMCIA Compact flash adapter and perhaps an Indivision 1200AGA.

That is enough to run OS3.9 decently enough too, and if you get a PCMCIA network adapter you could even browse the web though i don't recommend web browsing on anything less than a 68040 with RTG.

[Khephren]

The only bad point about the A1200 is lack of RTG, AGA is pretty slow.

For accelerating the A1200 the ACA 28 or 56 boards are really well priced with plenty of ram:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=43

Get a compact flash Adapter instead of a harddrive.
Get A PCMCIA compact flash reader, so you can easily move data between PC/Amiga
Perhaps get a PCMCIA WiFi card for direct downloading.
All of the above are cheap to implement on an A1200.

Of course you can add RTG to your A2000, but then you'd need an accelerator for that as well!
If you could get an A4000 cheap enough, you could have the best of both worlds, AGA and RTG, but again, you'd have to source an RTG card.

What kind of monitor are you using? I use a LCD TV, and it runs pretty much every resolution flicker free.

[Damion]

This topic comes up occasionally, and unfortunately you'll find there's really no clear answer. I spent a few years slowly decking out my A2000 with '060, PIV, etc. It was an immensely fun project, it's amazingly fast for what it is, and in some ways, it's my favorite computer ever.

On the other hand, I found I really did need AGA for demos, so I set the 1200 back up on the desk next to the 2000.

Then, you start wanting AGA and RTG on the same machine, but you can't let go of the other ones.

And so forth.

[ElPolloDiabl]

PCI board + Voodoo + Tower = A1200 with AGA and RTG. Can someone put a price comparison for the 3 systems kitted out with RTG, accelerator, USB and networking?

[TheBilgeRat]

Well, it's good to see that I am hardly the first or the only one who struggles with this then!  I think I am definitely leaning towards the big box 4000 or kitting out the 2000.  Now, the RTG thing confuses me - I can get RTG in the 2000 and 4000, but only in the 1200 if I tower it?  And how does that change if I use the Indivision?  I use a 23" LCD monitor for my main comp, but for the 2000 I'm using a 1084s.  Isn't an RTG just a graphics card, and if so, wouldn't the indivision bypass it anyway?

[runequester]

The only RTG card that will fit a 1200 requires a very specific blizzard accelerator card.

Honestly though, RTG isn't that important. It'll help with web browsing but the age of the browsers will probably be more of a problem anyways.

There's a few games taht use it, but most are PC conversions anyways like quake

[nicholas]

I just bought an A3000 after coveting one for 21years.

[Darrin]

I always loved the A2000 for the space inside (and I'm decking one out right now).

My A1200 always suffered due to lack of Zorro slots and even after fitting one into a tower case I hated the cludge-like add-ons, held on with tie-wraps like the Power Flyer Gold IDE adapter.

My A3000 was a big disappointment due to the restricted case size (and lack of AGA).

Finally I went for an A4000 which gives you just enough room to cram in almost everything you need (RTG, USB, DVD, Fast IDE, etc).  The last move was to add a Mediator board which involved transferring it to a tower case.  At least I no longer have to fold, prod, bend and force cables into tight spaces.  

Go for the A4000.

[tone007]

A4000 is cramped!

4000T all the way!

[Darrin]

A4000 is cramped!

4000T all the way!

The worst thing about the A4000 is trying to find a CD/DVD drive that fits with enough room to actually have the cable attached.  All it needed was an extra 2" of space.  They should have stuck with the A2000 case dimensions.  

[zipper]

The worst thing about the A4000 is trying to find a CD/DVD drive that fits with enough room to actually have the cable attached.  All it needed was an extra 2" of space.    

Had it - but barely.