Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!news.cs.indiana.edu!cs.widener.edu!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Wake Up Commodore! Message-ID: <19996@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 20 Mar 91 14:55:30 GMT Article-I.D.: cbmvax.19996 References: Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 72 In article lcs@remus.rutgers.edu (Lyle C. Seplowitz) writes: >Kill the A500 already! Sorry folks, but Commodore needs to replace the >A500 with a better low-end machine, like an A1500. The A1500 could >look like a longer version of the A3000. Commodore needs to have a >low-end machine that is professional as well. A detachable keyboard >and expansion slots are important. An optional INTERAL hard drive is a >must. Well, with all those changes, you're practically an A2000 already, and certainly no longer a low end machine. The A500 is a low end machine simply because its configuration is the cheapest way to make an Amiga. Larger cases, larger power supplies, detachable keyboards, internal hard drives, and all that jazz cost money. You don't replace a $500 machine with a $1000 or $1500 machine. >Yet, Commodore should design the machine so that A500 owners can transform >their machines into the A1500-type design. That's what we call, in the business, a kludge. >This way no one is left behind (Commodore's favorite policy). That's not Commodore's favorite policy, it is the way of the world. You don't expect to upgrade your 1990 car to the latest thing that comes out in '93, you can't expect to upgrade your A500 to a different kind of computer, other than going the route of something like a Bodega Bay. External expansion is the way to upgrade an A500, and it doesn't leave anyone behind, capabilities speaking. If you're disturbed by the aesthetics, as you obviously are, you don't have to look at it, but computers in general are sold for their capabilities. If they also happen to look nice, that's just gravy. As long as the A500 runs Amiga programs and can be adapted to use A2000 expansion cards, you aren't being left behind. You want something for nothing -- you want to pay a low end price for capabilities that only come with an intermediate level machine. >As far as the A2000, make that machine look better, please! And make >the hard drive standard! The A2000 comes in two model, A2000 and A2000HD. You have your choice, you have the freedom to buy it with or without the drive. No problem. Sure, the A2000 is homely. We had much better case design on the A3000. That's progress. >And the A3000 should have 3 Megs, 1 Meg Chip, 2 Megs fast. Buy the A3000-25/100; it comes with 1 Meg Chip, 4 Megs Fast. >I like Commodore and I like the Amiga, but Commodore needs to wake up and see >what's going on in the computer world or they'll be left behind. The current trend is toward machines that are minimally expandable or totally unexpandable. Is that what you're after? You buy a monochrome NeXTStation, you have to buy a whole new computer to upgrade to color. No slots. The new Apples have one slot. It's impossible to make any machine infinitely expandable. If you want progress, you are going to get to the point where your current system can't be expanded to take in everything that's new. If you really need all that's new, then you upgrade your entire system. The Amiga philosophy has always been to force this only when absolutely necessary. You can upgrade an A500 to do virtually anything an A2000 can do, except for some video slot things. You're just arguing about the aesthetics of that. The A3000 supports things that couldn't possibly be done in an A2000, which is why we built it. The A2500/30 served just fine until we needed to go to the A3000 level. Maybe someday there will be something new enough to warrent an A3000 replacement or something at a level higher than the A3000. This is natural growth, not designed in obselence, which is the current trend. -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "What works for me might work for you" -Jimmy Buffett