Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!solo! From: wright@etsuv2.etsu.edu (BRIAN WRIGHT) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Time For A New Computer? Message-ID: <1990Dec18.214018.15242@solo.csci.unt.edu> Date: 18 Dec 90 21:40:18 GMT Reply-To: wright@etsuv2.etsu.edu Organization: East Texas State University Lines: 87 In article <9012180315.AA23854@cwns1.INS.CWRU.Edu>, ai065@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Thomas Hill) writes... > > > I was sitting around today, thinking about expansion for my 500, when [Stuff deleted] >Here's what I came up with: > > If you want to keep the 500 as a under-$500 Amiga: > >1) Commodore should provide the 500 with a new expansion box which you can >buy as an addon and plug into the expansion bus on the 500, in much the >same style and fashion as the Bodega Bay. Price- $300 to $350. This box can >be used to bring your ordinary 500 into the world of the newer features >found on newer Amigas (IE: 24bit graphic cards, 68030 CPU cards, RAM, etc.) > >2) Add one new model to the Amiga line for a price of around $800. This >new machine is mainly a 1500A ( "?" See info about Commodore's new model >show in Europe.) look-alike. This machine will have the following features: >o 68030 or 68040 CPU running at at least 16Mhz o 1.5 MEG of true 32 BIT RAM >o 3 Amiga ZorroIII slots o A CPU Slot o A Video Slot (All slots same as >2000's.) o A new Commodore STANDARD 24BIT Graphic Board (Lowrell U? (SP?) All of this, especially the 040, would cost Commodore quite a bit more than $800 to make. It might be possible to do this with a 68020. Hardly with an 030 or even 040. >This board will either be a card in one of the ZorroIII slots or built into >the motherboard.) o 3.5" 1.5 (or more) MEG Floppy [END OF FEATURE LIST] What you are suggesting is basically what the 3000 already is. If that is the case, why redesign the machine when they can just drop the price of the 3000. Then to add the graphics card will add even MORE to the price, assuring that Commodore couldn't produce this machine for $800. What might be more reasonable for the A1520 (renamed from the A1500) ? A 68020 w/o math chip with 1 or 2 Zorro II slots. 1 of those slots is a video slot. 1 meg. A deinterlacer, if possible. A SCSI on motherboard, if possible. Motherboard memory expansion to 4 megs. 1 meg chip. Standard graphics. Video slot would assure graphics upgrades or the toaster. For about $1000. Then introduce the A2020. The same setup as the 2000 with an 020 chip on motherboard and a math chip, for about $1600. The A1520 would have room for only 2 3.5 floppies internally. The SCSI would be external. [stuff about SCSI's, Detachable keyboards and floppies deleted] >If you are ready to drop the 500, in a sense: > >1) The above machine will still be the same, price and everything. > >2) The 500 with simply be changed, motherboard-wise. The changes to the >normal-looking 500 will include: o A 32 Bit Motherboard o 1 or 1.5 MEG RAM >(32 bit) o The new 32 bit special Chips o 24bit Graphics built in o A >68030 or 68040 CPU running at at least 16Mhz o The provision of a expansion >box which can be bought later on, to bring the 500's ability up to that of >the above computer, along with the 2000 and 3000 series machines. To add the above modifications to the 500 would remove it from the market it is in now. Let's just leave the 500 the way it is in the processor sense. Once you have added an 030 or 040 then it's not quite a 500 is it? Not to mention the developmental costs. > Well, I think this would be a killer idea for Commodore to think over. >Commodore well sell a lot of machines by providing the first '30 CPU and >24bit graphics machine at a under-$1000 price. Nobody has done this yet. I agree, but I think Commodore might lose out in the end trying this. It's probably not a good idea at this point. >If you think about it, the market of under-$1000 machines has been unchanged >since the 68000s were introduced. The 68000 machines are still there, with >no new breed of computer hitting the market (yet). Also forgot to mention >that people shouldn't worry about 24bit graphics being an incompatible >issue in the future. I'm sure Commodore will come up with some type of >driver, along with maybe a little hardware, to make the thing emulate the >old Amiga graphic modes. No problem there, probably. What does everybody >think? About the ONLY possibility of a > 68000 CPU computer going below the the $1000 price is the 020. 68020's can be had for a relatively cheap price retail, so I can imagine what Commodore could get them for. > Tom -Brian Wright -wright@etsuv2.etsu.edu