-No expansion slots/Zorro III
It had an expansion slot. On the side. It wasn't Zorro III, but it was many many years before Zorro III. That's like complaining that it didn't have PCI or AGP. ;-)
-Only 256k for Kickstart
You could softkick higher if you had extra RAM.
-No CPU slot
But there were CPU accelerators that attached to the CPU and/or side expansion.
-OCS only
No ECS is not really a big deal. Not many people actually used those modes.
I do agree that the big drawback was that it was stuck with 512M CHIP, which is a problem.. Only solution I'm aware of to that is a motherboard replacement, and those are hard to come by...
-Side expansion was cumbersome
That's a matter of opinion. I like side expansions myself.. ;-)
-No RTC
That's silly. Adding a RTC is easy. Lots of expansions came with one.
And considering the jump in technology, the 1000 was a HUGE jump. Most of the other Amigas were littler jumps, and it took way to long to get there..
For it's time, I still say the A1000 was the best.
For today, I'd have to say the A1200. Cost, expansion, features...
The 3000 was great looking and had the built in flicker fixer. Nice. But no improved graphics. (ECS doesn't count)
The 4000 had AGA and lots of slots, but lost the Flicker Fixer.
Nice machines, but no Amiga 1000.. ;-)
desiv