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From: acs@amdahl.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Byte A2000 Article
Message-ID: <5774@amdahl.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 28-Feb-87 00:20:06 EST
Article-I.D.: amdahl.5774
Posted: Sat Feb 28 00:20:06 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 1-Mar-87 13:41:52 EST
References: <9599@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> <544@cti.cti.UUCP>
Reply-To: acs@amdahl.UUCP (Tony Sumrall)
Distribution: world
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 47

I've head that Commodore is gonna phase out the A-1000.  I don't know if
this is true or not but I figured I'd throw my 2 cents in.  I know nothing
of the A-500 nor any more of the A-2000 than what I've read in AmigaWorld.
Keep in mind that I've had my Amiga since around Dec 1, 1985 so I paid
more for it than what one can buy it for now (I paid $1295 and got 256K,
one drive and no monitor).  At the time I thought it was a little pricey
but I had been looking for a machine for 2+ years.  I'd looked at a mess of
MS-DOS machines and even the Unix-PC -- they didn't give me what I wanted
so when I saw the Amiga I *knew* it was what I wanted.  To date I've added
256K expansion RAM and an external floppy drive (this last item I acquired
within the past month).  I *still* use a regular old color TV set (NTSC).

The intro over, I've gotta admit that I'm not pleased with the rumor that
the A-1000 is going away.  I know several people that have (or are in the
process of) selling their 1000s so they can get the 2000.  AmigaWorld says
that the price (albeit preliminary) is < $1500 not including a monitor.
Add an lp monitor (< $500) and you've got $2000 invested.  Granted, you
have 4 Amiga slots and 3 XT/AT slots and 1M memory with the capability to
expand to 3 internal drives (including a hard disk) but...for the "average"
user, big deal!  Buy an A-1000 now for $995 (including monitor), a 1M
Starboard2 for $349 (0M, 1M address space) + $32 (16 256K x 1 150ns RAMs @
$2 each) + $300 for an upgrade to the lp monitor and you're still paying
only about $1800 (and that's not including any price drops on the 1000 that
will probably occur after the 2000 becomes available -- I figure a drop of
about $200, personally).  An SCSI interface hard drive currently costs
around $700-$900 regardless of whether you put it in your 200 or your
1000.  So Joe Average (someone like...ummm...well, me!) will end up paying
slightly *less* for a 1000 than a comparably equipped 2000 (am I wrong
here?). If I want IBM compatibility I buy a Sidecar (for around $600) and
get nearly what's in the 2000 for $100 more (but I'm *still* under the
2000's price).

The place that my reasoning breaks down is if an A1000 to A2000 bus
converter is either impossible or costs more than several hundred dollars
*and* I want a board that is only available in an A2000 breed.

Maybe Corporate America will buy soooo many 2000s that the price will drop
several hundred dollars within its first year (but I doubt it).  My point,
though, is that I don't wanna pay for expansion that I'm not gonna use.
If I want to upgrade I'll buy an expansion box but if I'm *not* gonna
upgrade I don't need to pay for the expansion slots.  Maybe the A500 will
address this issue, maybe it won't but that's how *I* see the situation.
-- 
Tony Sumrall acs@amdahl.amdahl.com <=> ...!{ihnp4,hplabs,seismo}!amdahl!acs

[ Opinions expressed herein are the author's and should not be construed
  to reflect the views of Amdahl Corp. ]