Why?

[Cyberus]

Why is it that Amiga hardware is so expensive?
Sure, its an enthusiast's market, but so is the Apple Mac.

It's something I've thought about before, and I'm sure all of you have thought about it too. We all know that we have to pay the price for being so enthusiastic about a platform that is essentially dead.

But what really brought it home to me, is that I've got a Powerwave PowerMac clone, and I've been spending a bit of time playing around with it and looking at the possibilities - its a PCI based Mac, with 604 processor, that can be upgraded to a G3/G4 by way of an upgrade card (which would cost between about 50 and 200 pounds depending on whether it's a G3 @350MHz or a G4@800MHz), capable of running classic Mac OS (which I'm not a huge fan of so far), Yellow Dog Linux and other Linux distros, Mac OSX. It supports PCI cards obviously, and I can hook up a normal VGA monitor, as the gfx card has both the Apple standard and the VGA standard outs. I can run applications such as Mozilla with ease, and at the fraction of the price of an Amiga.

So I'm asking myself, why am I sitting on all this expensive, ill supported Amiga hardware?

Now it isn't my intention to troll or start a flamewar or whatever, and I realise that the big thing about Amigas is that they run Amiga OS (!). But does anyone else take a step back and think.....why? I can understand why people have lost patience with the Amiga - every other classic system seems to be so much more affordable for a start....

Seriously, it may be evidence of dedication, but spending 300 or 400 quid on upgrading a ten-year-old machine to seven-year-old specification seems to be just plain silliness.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Why? Because it runs smooth, it's stable and it has not much crashes

It's about useability rather than being up to date. If you aren't dependent of windows (because of your work or so), you can do everything on it (except the newest games and so).

*sigh* it's just so much fussing around with sh*t of these pc's! I do not want to know the amount of burnouts due to this.

btw see also my thread about spyware in bios (!RANT!)

[restore2003]

Because amiga hardware is rare and only produced in small quantities....

Thats the reason....

So for the few companies that still exists, they have to sell them at ridiculous prices to make ends meet  :-(

But when os4 is out(yes, its coming) things will change, IF os4+a1 or a1 lite sells in large enough numbers, then companies will see that there can be made cheap hardware and that they can make money on it.

And not to forget that this will also create competition, something that have been missing for a long time.

[restore2003]

The best thing we can do for the Amiga, and its future, is to convince as many as possible to buy it, not only online, but in real life also, talk to relatives, friends, your neighbour, your kids, your....you get the picture :-)

Spread the word!

Then you have done something good for your community :-)

[DanDude]

I agree with restore2003.  Tell more people about it and watch the price drop soon.
 :-)

@Cyberus,

It's no secret that I've shared your concerns and queries about the pricing of these parts and the new systems.  Speaking strictly for the new systems, there are certainly a lot of "answers" being bandied about, but none of them make much real sense and a majority simply sound like excuses for gouging the remaining community.

I'm not promoting EITHER solution here, but while the $300 Pegasos is a good and acceptable step in the right direction (I've paid $300 for mobo and processor before), there is simply no legitimate reason for an AmigaOne motherboard/processor to cost "$750" or more.  

Using a Pegasos, I can (and have) built a full machine -- including 17" monitor -- for around $700 USD.  $700 USD is, to me, an acceptable cost for a full Linux-capable PPC solution IF you just can't bear to run Windows or Intel.

I understand economies of scale.  I understand that the more you buy/build the cheaper it gets.  I understand that the Pegasos is currently a loss leader for Genesi (strictly guessing).

That being said, the problem here is that "Amiga's" and Genesi's markets are embedded and dedicated devices (slot machines, ATMs, set-top boxes, etcetera).   In my mind, Such devices would never suffer a $300 cost for a motherboard and processor.  I know that the local cable company pays less than $100 for even the latest set top box with DVR capability.  Granted, that's an "economy of scale" issue, but there's a point where you simply cannot lower the price of a product by buying more parts.  In other words, buying a million processors doesn't get you a 90% discount versus 20% for ten thousand.

That leaves strictly a server market for low power embedded or small-footprint Linux machines.  You know, the Sun "Cobalt" and other dedicated Web servers.  Even the trend for those devices is "more power" and "lower cost".  You can buy dedicated LAN Webservers for under $300 now, so where does this leave "Amiga" (or Genesi for that matter) to turn?

Wayne

[restore2003]

@Wayne:

I agree the a1 shouldn`t cost that much, infact the price should have been cut in half, but thats not likely now :-(

Btw:

Will there ever be an option to delete your own post?

@restore2003

Not unless the Xoops team writes it in, which is doubtful.

Wayne

[Speelgoedmannetje]

restore2003 wrote:
Spread the word!

I fear they do not want to hear about it from me anymore. I fear they get mentally disturbed if I mention Amiga once more :lol:

[restore2003]

Then use hypnosis  :crazy:

Or sales marketing techniques  :rtfm:

 :-)

[restore2003]

Yay! 500!  :pint:

[chris]

Because.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

restore2003 wrote:
Then use hypnosis  :crazy:

Or sales marketing techniques  :rtfm:

 :-)

hm, hypnosis would work I think, though I need some practice.

But I really can't do marketing techniques, my brain is not built for that.

I'll go for the hypnosis then :inquisitive: :-o :crazy:  

[itix]

The best thing we can do for the Amiga, and its future, is to convince as many as possible to buy it, not only online, but in real life also, talk to relatives, friends, your neighbour, your kids, your....you get the picture

But when someone asks "Why?", what do you say? Just think of software base.

[itix]

And not to forget that this will also create competition, something that have been missing for a long time.

Aint there competition already?