Amiga 600 to buy or not to buy

[Sutty100]

An oppertunity to buy an amiga 600 has come up and I cant decide if I should or not! Basicaly I have a 500 and have wanted a 1200 for some time but not really been fussed about the 600. I sort off see it stuck in the middle with ECS being not much better than the 500 but with the chance to fit a harddrive which is something I have wanted on an amiga which would be cool! I do think its the best looking of the amigas though!

So basicaly I wondered what you all think of the 600 should I buy it??

[Heinz]

The A600 was my first Amiga Computer. It isnt that bad, but it is as slow as a A500.
If you want to use a Harddrive, make sure it have Kickstart 2.05 or better, because the older Kickstart dont support the internal IDE Port. And you will need some Extra RAM.

[XDelusion]

I absolutely love my 600, and I know that if Cammy drops in here, she'll show you plenty of photos showing you why they are so loveable!

I my self have the A604, Internal Flicker Fixer, Subway USB, Compact Flash IDE hard drive, 25Mhz 030, 32Mb of RAM (plus 2Mb Gfx of course), 8Gb Compact Flash and SD reader for the PCMCIA slot, MIDI box, DSS+ Sound Sampler, Genlocker, PS2 Adapter (emulates CD32 pad), Micromys PS2 Mouse Adapter...

...and I think that about covers it. It packs quite a punch for it's small size and I use it more than my A1200, even though the 600 can't compete with my A1200's 060, AGA, and other such features. I think it's the size that keeps me coming back.

Of course it is important to note that it cost me about $800 to put this all together.

The MiniMig and other such clones are starting to look attractive lately...

[Brian]

The A600 was my first Amiga also. Going from an A500 to an A600 is a small step, you get internal IDE controller, easy step to get 2MB chip and PCMCIA port for a cheap NIC option but apart from that it's not more than an A500+ and it have limitations that until recently was hard to get around.

I'm talking about CPU/Fastmem (and other upgrades)... this have been the Achilles heel for the A600 until the ACA630 hit the market, still available I can honestly say I recommend the A600 to anyone who's knows it's limitations and still concidering it but budget an ACA630 into the purchase or you'll feel duped pritty soon. With that said get an A604 (or A603) chipmem expansion while you're at it and you'll get clockport as well as a possibility to upgrade with a scandoubler when/if the need arise.

In short, you get a lesser machine than an A1200, no AGA and with an upgrade path that is very narrow and again more expensive than the A1200. But it is also a computer that takes up less space so if you got the money I say go for it ALSO... as in get an A600 AND an A1200 and I'm sure you'll be happy with both.

[tone007]

I like them, but since you've already got a 500 I'd probably just pick up a couple of upgrades for that one and hold out for the 1200.  The 500's hardware is much more reliable and easy to repair, and RAM/hard drive combos aren't too hard to find.  The 600 would be more worthwhile if you planned on adding an accelerator to it, CPU upgrades are a bit harder to find for the 500.

[mfilos]

As other people said, A600 is awesome and can get some upgrades a lot easier than A500.

These are:
- Hard Drive or El'Cheapo CF Adapter+CF Card as HD
- PCMCIA Ethernet NIC or PCMCIA to CF Adapter for easy file transfer. Also 2-4MB Fast RAM Card found on eBay.
- 68030 Accelerator that is still being sold from trusted Amiga Shops (incl. warranty)

Apart from the fact that it's cute and small I can't say anything more

If you wanna play AGA games then it's a definite NO though and you should focus into getting an A1200.

If you leave an A600 only with the 2MB Chip RAM (without Fast RAM at least) you won't go very far with WHDLoad games (and that's a serious reason). Unless you have and love Floppy disks (sorry but I don't) so then you seriously don't need an A600 cause your A500 can fulfill just fine your needs

[Sutty100]

Unless you have and love Floppy disks (sorry but I don't) so then you seriously don't need an A600 cause your A500 can fulfill just fine your needs

For some reason I do enjoy floppy disks! maybe for the noices they make or the satisfying clunk when they go in the drive! Most likely though because I have been used to CD-ROMS so it is a novelty! either way I  think maybe I will keep my money and try and by a 1200 they are so expensive though!!

[TheGoose]

Yeah, after all the Cammy advocating and add-ons from Individual Computers for a the A600, it's become the must have ECS machine, I might get one if one comes my way.

[Heiroglyph]

For some reason I do enjoy floppy disks! maybe for the noices they make or the satisfying clunk when they go in the drive!!

The clunk followed by the slide popping open...I thought I was the only one who appreciated that

Can't live without no-click though, that constant clicking drove me insane.

[save2600]

The clunk followed by the slide popping open...I thought I was the only one who appreciated that

Nope  

I just traded away a gorgeous A500 that had the most spectacular "clunk". The clunk had a bit of a springy snap to it actually. Felt like new and that simple little tactile feeling took me straight back to 1988  :knuddel:

[Kesa]

The clunk followed by the slide popping open...I thought I was the only one who appreciated that

Can't live without no-click though, that constant clicking drove me insane.

WTF! What click? There is no click! Why does everyone keep complaining about clicking noises?!   :confused:

[CritAnime]

I have a 600 and love it. Cammy is certainly the one to ask when it comes to 600's. She has some great hardware pr0n.

[LaserBack]

An oppertunity to buy an amiga 600 has come up and I cant decide if I should or not! Basicaly I have a 500 and have wanted a 1200 for some time but not really been fussed about the 600. I sort off see it stuck in the middle with ECS being not much better than the 500 but with the chance to fit a harddrive which is something I have wanted on an amiga which would be cool! I do think its the best looking of the amigas though!

So basicaly I wondered what you all think of the 600 should I buy it??

do not buy an A600 is a waste of money
however there are some fanatics that can say yes
but the A600 is the worst amiga model in my opinion and most of amiga users will agree
go for the A1200 much better faster and expandable machine

[Brian]

do not buy an A600 is a waste of money
however there are some fanatics that can say yes
but the A600 is the worst amiga model in my opinion and most of amiga users will agree
go for the A1200 much better faster and expandable machine

The A1200 is obviously the better machine by far and I'd get one first with 030 CPU but I can't see why to not get an A600 also. I don't agree with you that it's the worst Amiga model, yes it was a bad model when it was released as it brought little new to the table and the A1200 was just months away but we don't live in the 90's anymore and with todays available expansions for it I think it's a great ECS machine thanks to its small size.

[Kesa]

@Brian. That's a cool website you have. So what do you do with all those little precious ones?