Upgrade 1200 or sell and find 3000?

[chfriend]

Hi,

I currently have two Amiga 1200's I picked up.  I changed out the power plug to use an AT power supply on one of them.  I'm currently debating if I should buy a flickerfixer and processor card for this model or sell both of them and get a 3000.

They are both straight stock.  One is a Commodore with KS3.0 and the modded one is an Escom with KS3.1

The only postives I can see for the 1200 over a working 3000 is AGA and the fact that I have an IDE drive that is configured to go in the modified 1200, which I was able to do using an IDE to USB converter and WinUAE.

Thoughts?

[ChaosLord]

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that u r completely crazy :lol:

You want to downgrade your A1200 into an A3000? :hammer:

It might make sense if all you were going to do was host websites and only use your Amiga as a file server.

What exactly are you planning to do with your Amiga?

[ChaosLord]

Wait, I just realized that your A1200 is not in a Tower, correct?

So that is 3 advantages the A3000 has over your A1200.

[Cammy]

If you ever plan on going online the A1200 is able to use cheap, readily-available PCMCIA network cards, but the A3000 is limited to rare, out-of-production, expensive Zorro network cards. Also the A1200 is nicer to type on.

[chfriend]

Wait, I just realized that your A1200 is not in a Tower, correct?

So that is 3 advantages the A3000 has over your A1200.

Nope, no tower, just the standard wedge case.  I want to play around with some of the graphics programs.  I do alot of screen printing design that I'd like to try using the Amiga for instead of my PC, especially since most of the equipment I have for doing it is older.  I'd also like to use WHDLoad for playing older games.

My biggest problem with the 1200 is the 15khz output.  I have several monitors here and none support it, whereas an A3000 would be able to have an RTG card added and I'd be able to use the same monitor for both RTG and ECS output due to the built-in scan doubler.  The A1200 only appears to have one video card upgrade available which is paired with the Blizzard PPC board from my understanding and I'd still need an Indivision AGA somewhere.

EDIT: Just saw the other reply - I have a DLink PCMCIA card on the way.

[mechy]

If you ever plan on going online the A1200 is able to use cheap, readily-available PCMCIA network cards, but the A3000 is limited to rare, out-of-production, expensive Zorro network cards. Also the A1200 is nicer to type on.

awww now cammy,you must be joking the 3000 is a fine machine with a real keyboard,not one with a chicken mcnugget return key.

you are right about the zorro cards,but they arent that expensive used.
not to mention the 3000 has a proper expansion bus and a good psu compared to a stock 1200's

add a mediator or zorro3 gfx card and the 3k is pretty good. A A4000 makes more sense tho, why not move up to the next AGA machine.

mech

[Tripitaka]

I would upgrade an A1200, but then the A1200 is probably my favorite Amiga. You've got two of them. mmm... sounds like one needs a tower to me.

[mechy]

The dell sl2320L,st2320l,sl2420l and st2420l monitors support 15khz from the amiga no problem. These are not too hard to get monitors in the USA.

mech

Nope, no tower, just the standard wedge case.  I want to play around with some of the graphics programs.  I do alot of screen printing design that I'd like to try using the Amiga for instead of my PC, especially since most of the equipment I have for doing it is older.  I'd also like to use WHDLoad for playing older games.

My biggest problem with the 1200 is the 15khz output.  I have several monitors here and none support it, whereas an A3000 would be able to have an RTG card added and I'd be able to use the same monitor for both RTG and ECS output due to the built-in scan doubler.  The A1200 only appears to have one video card upgrade available which is paired with the Blizzard PPC board from my understanding and I'd still need an Indivision AGA somewhere.

EDIT: Just saw the other reply - I have a DLink PCMCIA card on the way.

[chfriend]

I guess the question is which one of these will cost the least to get a usable system in terms of CPU, RAM and usable video.  The biggest turn off of the 4000 is that it will need an Indivision AGA or other flicker fixer for the built-in video too, although it will not need a CPU/RAM card like the 1200 does.

Why the *PHHT* did Commodore not update Amber for AGA?  I know they were cost cutting at the time but the 4000 deserved a built-in scan doubler.

Chicken Mcnugget return key?

[Kawazu]

I would go for the 3000 if you ever plan on expanding your system with gfx card and other zorro cards.

You can get a zorro network card for less then 100us, i dont find that expensive. the same goes for an gfx card.

[psxphill]

I would upgrade an A1200, but then the A1200 is probably my favorite Amiga. You've got two of them. mmm... sounds like one needs a tower to me.

My favourite is the a600. Although I never owned one, so it's just down to looks and not functionality.
 
I'd keep the a1200 over an a3000, but I'd probably get an a4000 though.

[touringsedan]

I just bought and upgraded a 3000 and so far its pretty awesome.

A3000D/16 w/A3640 Rev 3.2

Added
AriadneII Network card for 100 bucks.
Cybervision 64/3D (Amazing card) for 100 bucks.
128MB ZorRam

Can run in 1440x900 matching my LCD display and its crisp and fast.

I seem to have much more challenges getting games and demos to like the 3000 then my A2000.

Get a 4000 if you need AGA, otherwise Mechy sold me a SCSI Compact Flash that is AMAZING! with LUN support I can plug all kinds of cards into it simultaneously.

[wa9yoz]

I sent you a PM...don't know if it went thru..if not, drop me an e-mail:
wa9yoz@arrl.net

[desantii]

I agree.. the 3000 is my favorite Amiga
 

I just bought and upgraded a 3000 and so far its pretty awesome.
 
A3000D/16 w/A3640 Rev 3.2
 
Added
AriadneII Network card for 100 bucks.
Cybervision 64/3D (Amazing card) for 100 bucks.
128MB ZorRam
 
Can run in 1440x900 matching my LCD display and its crisp and fast.
 
I seem to have much more challenges getting games and demos to like the 3000 then my A2000.
 
Get a 4000 if you need AGA, otherwise Mechy sold me a SCSI Compact Flash that is AMAZING! with LUN support I can plug all kinds of cards into it simultaneously.

[matt3k]

The topic of the best Amiga is hotly contested and has many posts.  There is no right answer, largely is a matter of taste.

IMHO, I have a 1200  and a few 3k's(have owned 500, 1000, 3000t, 4000), the 3000 is the best Amiga ever built.  It has the least number of compromises and was built like a tank.  I think the 3k keyboard is better than the 1200, again this is a matter of taste.  It looks the richest and has the best quality feel of any Amiga.

The 3k is nicely expandable and if you deck it out with an accelerator (recommend the Warp Engine 3040 or CS MK III) and a Picasso IV or Retina BLT Z3, you will be very happy with it. NIC's are still around on ebay, recommend either the X-Surf or the Ariadne.

The only things to look out for with the 3k is battery damage, acid destroyed too many 3k's because of neglect.  Make sure you see the system run without any video defects and look at the mb to confirm no damage.  Video defects are usually caused by mb damage.

Good Luck!