help me pick an amiga

[smerf]

Hi,

As I have just found out there was an Amiga 1500, and an Amiga 2500. They both look like an A2000. I will have to look up and see what the differences are and see if it is worth it to add to my collection, and then again I really don't know, maybe I will just stay with Amiga Forever and sell out all my Amiga's. I have really been losing interest during the past 2 years or so. It seems all of my old friends have already moved on and the Amiga clubs have been slowly dwindling down. Sure hate to give up the A4000 it has done so much for me during the past 21 years, and the Amiga itself from the A1000, 26 years ago. Fine machines that I will never forget. Heck if it wasn't for this machine, I wouldn't have box upon box upon box of Amiga junk up in the attic. Heck if I got rid of the Amiga stuff upstairs in the attic, I would only have about 2 boxes of computer junk since PC stuff no one usually keeps because it is all just throw away junk after about 2 years. I mean the most collectable PC is the 8088 and people have them just to run DOS.

Yep, the A1500 and A2500 had to be made for them Euro-peons, because I have never seen one in the US.

[ElPolloDiabl]

The 2000HD was an A2000 with 2091 SCSI card in it.
The 2500 was a A2000 with a 2620 68020 board in it.
Later you could get the 2630 68030 card included as well, before it was dropped because it was competing with the Amiga 3000.
The 1500 was an A2000 with two floppy drives and was exclusive to UK.

The upgraded A2000s must be rare because they were dropped when the A3000 came out. Plus a lot of people would have waited for the A1200 before upgrading.

[Rob]

A1500 was Commodore UK's response to the Checkmate A1500 expansion for the A500.  There should be info about it on BBOAH or you could probably chat to Steve Jones/ClusterUK about it.

[Zetr0]

The "Amiga Experience" changed from model to model and from different upgrades.


The A2000 is a fine machine, I have 4 of them in various flavours - from crazy expanded to hardly touched - each offering a unique feel.  I also have an A4000D heavily expanded and that is yet another completely "different" experience.

Like some others here I have multiples of every Amiga model, each with different upgrade paths and upgrades!

Fortunately for me space is not the issue, I am also quite lucky as my wife does support my Amiga Addiction.  However I say to my self EACH machine must have a purpose a use if you will or it has to find a new owner.

I have 3 primary A1200's

One of them is PPC/BPPC based
One of them is PCI / 060 based
One of them is a custom build 030@40/64MB RAM in a CDTV chassis (dont worry the CDTV gubbins passed away before I got it)

While they can near enough ALL do similar things, Each one of these machines gives me a different feel - a different experience of the Amiga A1200 and that is really what it should come down too...

My 3 A2000's (the 4th is stock)

One of them is a P3 1Ghz x86 / GVP 040@33 Hybrid / 2MB CHIP with lots of gubbins
One of them is a A3630@25Mhz / 8MB
One of them is nothing more than an 8mb GVP + SCSI card

Again like the A1200 each has a different feel to, also in this regard each has a different OS too.


So where am I going with this..... well its quite simple..... that A4000 when you get it will really give you a completely different experience, not only will it be 32bit ( not 16bit ) it will also be quick, snapier, faster loading along side upto 16MB of FAST RAM and 2MB CHIP - yeah you could emulate it..... but lets be honest - you could easily do the same for the A2000.

The reason we keep the REAL hardware is there is that intrinsic - something special that draws us... binds us to it.... it may all be nostalgia but I think its more than that.

In the long run the A4000 may not offer you a better experience than your A2000.  However what I can sincerely promise you the A4000 will offer you a completely different Amiga Experience and its one I think you will really enjoy as well.

[stefcep2]

In the days when the A1200 was named so because it was sold for $1200 and the A4000 was named so  because it was $4000, I naturally bought an A1200.

I then bought Amiga format with Real 3D, CU Amiga with Image FX, and I put my joystick down.  And that's when I hit the roadblocks.  Flickery PAL screen, lack of resolution, lack of color depth, lack of speed in anything more than 64 colors, no CD ROM, slow CPU-hogging IDE interface.  

So a 8 MB RAM board was going to fix that, right?  Nope.  Patches, kludges and hacks, PC side towers with IDE ribbons snaking out folowed.  But still not where I wanted to be.

Then some guy I was buying an '030 board off said:" Ya'know, an A4000 will fix all your problems".  Yeah but we need a new kitchen first, was my reply.

Three years later an A4000 with CS II 68060, Cyberscsi, CV-3D plus scan doubler was up for sale for $800 because the seller thought "he'd get some money back before PPC Amiga's came out and made it worthless".

That was 13 years ago.  Have never looked back.

[Lord Aga]

In the days when the A1200 was named so because it was sold for $1200 and the A4000 was named so  because it was $4000

So that is why Commodore dropped the A300 name and went for A600

[ElPolloDiabl]

And the production cost was $400 for the A1200. $1000 for the A4000.
What they did with the profits, I don't know. Except for all the losses in their continual push into the PC market.
However much it would have cost to put in the AAA chipset instead of AGA would have been worth a hefty continuing profit margin.

[Zetr0]

I am a little confused with some posts as -

The A1200 was released in October 21, 1992 at a price of $599 US and £399 GBP respectively.

The A4000 when released in March 1993 with an 030@25 was at $2499.00 US

Would an 040@25 raised the price by nearly $1500 ?



Interestingly

The A1000 was released in 1985 at $1300 US
The A2000 was released in 1987 at $1500 US

In April 1990 Amiga 1000 owners we offered a $1000 trade in for the A2000

The CDTV was released in January 1991 at a price of $1000 US
The A600 was released in March 1992 at a price of $600 US
The A3000 was announced in 1990 with a price of $4100 US (inc Monitor)
The A3000UX was released in 1991 with a price of $5000 (without Monitor)

Sadly I cannot get a definitive price on the original release A4000-040

[paul1981]

I am a little confused with some posts as -

The A1200 was released in October 21, 1992 at a price of $599 US and £399 GBP respectively.

The A4000 when released in March 1993 with an 030@25 was at $2499.00 US

Would an 040@25 raised the price by nearly $1500 ?



Interestingly

The A1000 was released in 1985 at $1300 US
The A2000 was released in 1987 at $1500 US

In April 1990 Amiga 1000 owners we offered a $1000 trade in for the A2000

The CDTV was released in January 1991 at a price of $1000 US
The A600 was released in March 1992 at a price of $600 US
The A3000 was announced in 1990 with a price of $4100 US (inc Monitor)
The A3000UX was released in 1991 with a price of $5000 (without Monitor)

Sadly I cannot get a definitive price on the original release A4000-040

I'm pretty sure the A4000 came out before the A1200, and with 68040/25Mhz (A3040). The model you're referring to came out afterwards in 1993 with built in 030/25Mhz on the motherboard.

[Zetr0]

I'm pretty sure the A4000 came out before the A1200, and with 68040/25Mhz (A3040). The model you're referring to came out afterwards in 1993 with built in 030/25Mhz on the motherboard.

Yes I did mention this =)

[matt3k]

Dear Amigans :

I appreciate everyone's comments about which amiga to pick.
After serious consideration, I have really good news !!!
I can KEEP my amiga 2000, and get the amiga 4000 !!!
I have a special desk which I use for decorations, it'll be very tough
for me to clean it(get rid of nice decorations)but I can use the extra
room to  put an a4000 on it.
I am not going to have the money til christmas (my gift !!!)so I have
plenty of time to decided if or not to buy it (amiga 4000).
Thank you all !!!

A win/win Red!

From an old Amiga guy, since you know the 2000 and it works for you, glad you kept it.

A 2000 is very similar in price to a 4000 to upgrade.  I might even humbly suggest putting your money into the 2000 and not getting the 4000.  An accelerator and video card in the 2000 make it a different machine altogether and much faster than a stock 4000 with aga.

I never use AGA on my 4000D, all games I have are ECS and RTG is the only way to go for productivity.  IMHO the 2000 is the least problematic big box Amiga.  I rarely see a a 2000 fail and they aren't as "twitchy" as the 3000/4000.

[spirantho]

I'm pretty sure the A4000 came out before the A1200, and with 68040/25Mhz (A3040). The model you're referring to came out afterwards in 1993 with built in 030/25Mhz on the motherboard.

Only the 4000 "CR" (Cost Reduced) had the '030 on the motherboard. Most A4000/030s have the 030 on a daughterboard, same as the '040.

[slaapliedje]

I just thought I'd throw in that I absolutely love my A4000D, especially after getting an 060 in it.  The difference between that and the 040 is staggering.  So I could only imagine the difference between an 68000 and an 68040.  

Besides, why would anyone suggest the A2000 over the A4000?  Since he programs, he'd be able to support OCS/ECS/AGA with the 4000, instead of just OCS/ECS!

And we all know we need more programmers!  

But it's awesome that he's able to have both.  Better for compatibility reasons.

slaapliedje

[nicholas]

I just thought I'd throw in that I absolutely love my A4000D, especially after getting an 060 in it.  The difference between that and the 040 is staggering.  So I could only imagine the difference between an 68000 and an 68040.  

Besides, why would anyone suggest the A2000 over the A4000?  Since he programs, he'd be able to support OCS/ECS/AGA with the 4000, instead of just OCS/ECS!

And we all know we need more programmers!  

But it's awesome that he's able to have both.  Better for compatibility reasons.

slaapliedje

I got rid of my A4000 and I much prefer my A3000/060/PIV/Deneb.

I don't miss the AGA chipset as I very rarely used it due to the PIV tbh.  I have A1200's for the odd AGA demo or game.

[matt3k]

I got rid of my A4000 and I much prefer my A3000/060/PIV/Deneb.

I don't miss the AGA chipset as I very rarely used it due to the PIV tbh.  I have A1200's for the odd AGA demo or game.

Absolutely agree.  I prefer my A3000 over my A4000, it is the best big box Amiga IMHO.  The Picasso IV looks like a sweet card, never tried one out though...

[matt3k]

I just thought I'd throw in that I absolutely love my A4000D, especially after getting an 060 in it.  The difference between that and the 040 is staggering.  So I could only imagine the difference between an 68000 and an 68040.  

Besides, why would anyone suggest the A2000 over the A4000?  Since he programs, he'd be able to support OCS/ECS/AGA with the 4000, instead of just OCS/ECS!

And we all know we need more programmers!  

But it's awesome that he's able to have both.  Better for compatibility reasons.

slaapliedje

I would agree that going from a Amiga 3640@25MHz to a 060@50MHz with local memory and SCSI Controller makes a HUGE difference.

Would also say, going from a Warp Engine 040@40MHz with local memory and SCSI to a CS MK III is faster.  If you compare to a CS MK I or II without SCSI, the Warp Engine it is give and take.  For math the 060 is faster, for general usage the WE is faster (Since the WE has faster memory access then the MK II).