CompuServe Messages

Larry: I had a 1000 when the Amiga first came out and upgraded to the 2000 about a year later (shortly after it came out.) No personal experience with the 500. I would say, however, that even if IBM compatibility is not an issue, one could still make an argument for the 2000 over the 500. It really comes down to expandability. If your nephew is most likely to use his machine in its "off-the-shelf" configuration, the 500 is something like half the price of the 2000 (have not checked recently…) If, however, your nephew is likely to want to add a hard drive, extra memory, or any of the myriad expansion hardware items out there, the 2000 would be the better choice. Mounting extra boards, drives etc internally saves lots of desk space AND $$$. In fact, the added cost of an external hard drive and controller, plus a couple of memory or other boards, when compared to those same items for the 2000, almost makes up the difference in price between the two machines–well, it makes up a big chunk of the difference anyway. I am by no means a serious Amiga hacker, and I use my computer mostly for fun, but I wouldn't trade my 2000 for 500 under any circumstance. But don't take my word for it. See if you can get a 500 user out their to give you some feedback! John Steidl