#4000 vs 1200
4 messages in this thread
Can someone help me with some input here please ?
With the current situation with Commodore and the future of the Amiga looking
distinctly dodgy, is it worth buying a second hand A4000/030 ?
I currently have a A1200 (6mb Ram 250MHD) running on a standard TV. I was
thinking of selling the A1200 and buying a 4000/030 for the better keyboard,
'normal' system box design & monitor. If the Amiga does die would I be better
off keeping the 1200 given the current size of user base and therefore add-on
availability for at least a few more years ?
If anyone can think of good arguments to either keeping the 1200 or buying a
4000 please let me know (Also, whats a fair rate for a fairly standard A4000/03
second hand in the UK ?
Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom – Andy
In my opinion, the A4000 is the way to go if there is not much price
difference. You can use the more storage and inexpensive 3.5" hard drives
unlike the more expensive 2.5" for the 1200. Plus slots are the way to go for
expansion (if needed). in addition to add up to 18 megs of memory (2 chip + 16
fast) it is way cheaper in the 4000. And finally, I like my keyboard
detached. The only reason I haven purchased an A4000 is the price.
If you want to upgrade the machine later then go for the a4000 now always etc.
If you will never add anything to it then get a monitor. You can get the a1200
up to the spec of the a4000/030 (you may have already). I haven't seen any 040
or 060 boards for the a1200 yet and come to think of it no 16bit sound or mpeg
boards.
I too have an a1200 and it's only a second hand one at that. I couldn't justify
getting an a4000 when they were in production and ran out of time getting a
brand new a1200 (I own a brand new one but I don't think it exists, the court
case is coming up).
Only you will know whether you will add video boards etc and at the moment the
a4000 is better supported. The a1200 may have a bigger installed base, but that
only means there are alot of 68020 2mb chip ram single floppy machines out
there. Doesn't mean anyone is upgrading there machines.
Phill
If you are planning on staying with the Amiga on the order of years, I'd
say go ahead and buy the 4000. They sold more 1200's than 4000's, but the
4000 can use cards from the 2000/3000 also, which I believe the 2000 sold
way more machines than the 1200.
(You would want to stay away from Zorro II memory boards, as they really
hobble a Zorro III machine. Same for 24 bit boards. Otherwise the
performance wouldn't suffer.)
Can't help you with prices, I'm on the wrong side of the pond.