Best all round machine?

fatboy · 19 January 2015, 10:16

Having owned pretty much every UK released 8/16 bit home computer (and consoles) in the past 30 or so years I was wondering what was the general consensus on which was the best all round machine? By this I mean in terms of what you got for your money!

The Amiga must rate quite high not only because of it's technical capabilities but also it's longevity? But I wonder if there is a 'list' not based on popularity but cold hard technical facts and UK retail price at launch?

my own opinion for top three contenders are:

1. ZX Spectrum -High res colour graphics, sound and plenty of software at an affordable price

2. Amiga A1200 - Versatile and useful beyond it's shelf-life

3. N64 - Tech spec and Game library, still good to play today!

Of course this is just my opinion but the Amiga may come out top in an offcial poll (not just fanboys

)

DDNI · 19 January 2015, 10:31

You are mixing wildly different hardware classes. Two of your examples are neither 8 or 16 bit. The A1200 is 32bit and the N64 is 64bit.

However, to answer your question, the machine with most impact and bang for buck must be the original Playstation.

fatboy · 19 January 2015, 12:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by DDNI

You are mixing wildly different hardware classes. Two of your examples are neither 8 or 16 bit. The A1200 is 32bit and the N64 is 64bit.

However, to answer your question, the machine with most impact and bang for buck must be the original Playstation.

Really meant any machine from any period that offered the best machine compared to it's competitors at the time, for price/performance

demolition · 19 January 2015, 13:02

I would say C64 belongs in there. Was manufactured and sold for 12 years without any major changes (only new case, IC process changes and general cost down). It offered a lot of bang for the buck for home entertainment.

The best Amiga in my opinion from a market point of view was the 500. Like the C64, it was way ahead of the competition and provided the best value for money for games and home productivity (simple word processing, spreadsheet etc. which could be used without HDD). The 1200 was too little and too late.

Nobby_UK · 19 January 2015, 19:55

Quote:

High res colour graphics, sound

But Speccy BASIC

C64 = Better Graphic + Sound but harder to Programme

alexh · 19 January 2015, 20:21

I believe I enjoyed using my Spectrum the most but I think that was because of my age at the time. I mapped Driller, Dark Side, CastleMaster & Total Eclipse. Played Jet Set Willy through (with cheats). Tens of hours of 2-player Way of the Exploding Fist.

The N64 is the machine I racked up the most hours playing (Mario64, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Conkers bad Fur Day, Perfect Dark, Golden Eye, Ocarina of time, Majora's Mask, Paper Mario. Say 30+ hours each!) The N64 saw way more action than PSOne for single player.

Xbox-1 is the machine which hand the most longevity in this house (mainly due to XBMC + Xport Emulators). I bought it in 2002 around launch day and it was retired with the RaspBerryPi got XBMC (2013?). So 10+ years!

Phantasm · 20 January 2015, 10:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by demolition

The 1200 was too little and too late.

I think thats rather harsh. The 1200 was a good compromise on hardware and cost. I'm sure Commodore specifically wanted to keep the 1200 down to the £399 price point that they dominated so successfully with the 500. Improvements to the sound and a high density floppy would have been nice but would have pushed the price up. The Atari Falcon had some of these features but I think the price point was not competitive. PC's were still expensive at the time the A1200 was released. I can't think of any other machines that competed strongly against the A1200 in late 1992. The machine had a run of around 2-3 years which at that time was a reasonable run. Technology was progressing at a fantastic rate around that time. The Playstation was released around 94/95 and PC's were much more affordable both of which pretty much destroyed any other systems.

alexh · 20 January 2015, 11:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phantasm

I can't think of any other machines that competed strongly against the A1200 in late 1992.

SNES, launched in April 1992 in the UK, it basically stole the slice of the UK games market the Amiga had.

I got a SNES (and a SuperMagicom

) in 1992 instead of an A1200

Nibbler · 20 January 2015, 16:58

AMIGA - (1985)
PS1 - (1995)
DREAMCAST - ( 1999 )

(my opinion)

Those baby´s set new standarts at the time and you got the most for your´re money.

LieutLaww · 20 January 2015, 17:15

I loved my Dreamcast

Gzegzolka · 20 January 2015, 17:43

Well, I have c128, A1200 and many different pc configuratins (+ I try to emulate other consoles) - hard to select best one system - each one have some crap games and ones that are exclusive gems.

Nibbler · 20 January 2015, 18:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by LieutLaww

I loved my Dreamcast

I still do

and the best is that games are still made to this day !
Games like STRURMWIND & the awesome NG DEV TEAM brings "new wind" to the DC. Support it if you love youre DC

Phantasm · 20 January 2015, 19:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by LieutLaww

I loved my Dreamcast

Agreed. Dreamcast was fab, but if there ever was an argument for piracy killing a machine this has to be up there right at the top of the list.

StingRay · 20 January 2015, 19:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phantasm

I think thats rather harsh.

I don't think so as I actually have the same opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phantasm

The 1200 was a good compromise on hardware and cost. I'm sure Commodore specifically wanted to keep the 1200 down to the £399 price point that they dominated so successfully with the 500. Improvements to the sound and a high density floppy would have been nice but would have pushed the price up.

I liked my A1200 when I bought it back in 1992 but rose-tinted glasses aside it was nothing more than a "pimped" A500 with a faster CPU and more bitplanes.

68030 CPUs were rather cheap in 1992 already so they could have (optionally) used that one instead of the 68020. The biggest mistake IMHO though was to sell it without any fastram. 32 bit CPU and chipram only sure makes sense, not! There should have been a better/faster blitter and also a hardware c2p since bitplane mode is way too slow when dealing with 8 bitplanes. And good old Paula definitely should have been improved too!

Samurai_Crow · 20 January 2015, 19:56

C2P support on the CD32 costed as much as 2 megs of fast RAM! I agree with everything else though.

Nibbler · 21 January 2015, 00:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phantasm

Agreed. Dreamcast was fab, but if there ever was an argument for piracy killing a machine this has to be up there right at the top of the list.

No, i dont think so.
Dreamcast Software sold very well. I never had a burned game,
and if you think of the PS1, THAT was a PIRATE BAY !!.

Microsoft and Sony killed the Dream.
MS screwed SEGA BIG TIME... but thats another story

Dream on

Phantasm · 21 January 2015, 10:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by StingRay

I don't think so as I actually have the same opinion.

I liked my A1200 when I bought it back in 1992 but rose-tinted glasses aside it was nothing more than a "pimped" A500 with a faster CPU and more bitplanes.

68030 CPUs were rather cheap in 1992 already so they could have (optionally) used that one instead of the 68020. The biggest mistake IMHO though was to sell it without any fastram. 32 bit CPU and chipram only sure makes sense, not! There should have been a better/faster blitter and also a hardware c2p since bitplane mode is way too slow when dealing with 8 bitplanes. And good old Paula definitely should have been improved too!

So you are saying you'd rather that all of these things were included but at a higher price point?

freehand · 24 January 2015, 20:42

In 1992 a dx 33 running alone in the dark made the 1200 look silly for 3d I sold after a very short time we was expecting so much more from the 1200 processor wise.

And yes I am aware of the other goodness of the amiga hardware and the restrictions but 3d was the way forward for me.

Paul_s · 24 January 2015, 22:39

Memotech MX512 by a country mile

They made Kelly LeBrock with one!

[ Show youtube player ]

Amigajay · 24 January 2015, 22:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by freehand

In 1992 a dx 33 running alone in the dark made the 1200 look silly for 3d I sold after a very short time we was expecting so much more from the 1200 processor wise.

And yes I am aware of the other goodness of the amiga hardware and the restrictions but 3d was the way forward for me.

So you were expecting a £399 budget computer to compete with a £1500 PC?!

Anyway for the best value, and long support and cost.

1.) Commodore A500
2.) ZX Spectrum
3.) Sega Megadrive

19 January 2015, 10:16	#1
fatboy Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: the unknown Posts: 150	Best all round machine? Having owned pretty much every UK released 8/16 bit home computer (and consoles) in the past 30 or so years I was wondering what was the general consensus on which was the best all round machine? By this I mean in terms of what you got for your money! The Amiga must rate quite high not only because of it's technical capabilities but also it's longevity? But I wonder if there is a 'list' not based on popularity but cold hard technical facts and UK retail price at launch? my own opinion for top three contenders are: 1. ZX Spectrum -High res colour graphics, sound and plenty of software at an affordable price 2. Amiga A1200 - Versatile and useful beyond it's shelf-life 3. N64 - Tech spec and Game library, still good to play today! Of course this is just my opinion but the Amiga may come out top in an offcial poll (not just fanboys)

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19 January 2015, 10:31	#2
DDNI Targ Explorer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 5,431	You are mixing wildly different hardware classes. Two of your examples are neither 8 or 16 bit. The A1200 is 32bit and the N64 is 64bit. However, to answer your question, the machine with most impact and bang for buck must be the original Playstation.

19 January 2015, 13:02	#4
demolition Unregistered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Copenhagen / DK Age: 43 Posts: 4,190	I would say C64 belongs in there. Was manufactured and sold for 12 years without any major changes (only new case, IC process changes and general cost down). It offered a lot of bang for the buck for home entertainment. The best Amiga in my opinion from a market point of view was the 500. Like the C64, it was way ahead of the competition and provided the best value for money for games and home productivity (simple word processing, spreadsheet etc. which could be used without HDD). The 1200 was too little and too late.

19 January 2015, 20:21	#6
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	I believe I enjoyed using my Spectrum the most but I think that was because of my age at the time. I mapped Driller, Dark Side, CastleMaster & Total Eclipse. Played Jet Set Willy through (with cheats). Tens of hours of 2-player Way of the Exploding Fist. The N64 is the machine I racked up the most hours playing (Mario64, Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie, Conkers bad Fur Day, Perfect Dark, Golden Eye, Ocarina of time, Majora's Mask, Paper Mario. Say 30+ hours each!) The N64 saw way more action than PSOne for single player. Xbox-1 is the machine which hand the most longevity in this house (mainly due to XBMC + Xport Emulators). I bought it in 2002 around launch day and it was retired with the RaspBerryPi got XBMC (2013?). So 10+ years!

20 January 2015, 16:58	#9
Nibbler namm namm AMIGA Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Austria Age: 44 Posts: 734	AMIGA - (1985) PS1 - (1995) DREAMCAST - ( 1999 ) (my opinion) Those baby´s set new standarts at the time and you got the most for your´re money.

20 January 2015, 17:15	#10
LieutLaww Registered User Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Uckfield, UK Age: 53 Posts: 195	I loved my Dreamcast

20 January 2015, 17:43	#11
Gzegzolka Registered User Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Warszawa / Polska Posts: 1,858	Well, I have c128, A1200 and many different pc configuratins (+ I try to emulate other consoles) - hard to select best one system - each one have some crap games and ones that are exclusive gems.

20 January 2015, 19:56	#15
Samurai_Crow Total Chaos forever! Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Waterville, MN, USA Age: 49 Posts: 2,186	C2P support on the CD32 costed as much as 2 megs of fast RAM! I agree with everything else though.

24 January 2015, 20:42	#18
freehand Registered User Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: wisbech Posts: 274	In 1992 a dx 33 running alone in the dark made the 1200 look silly for 3d I sold after a very short time we was expecting so much more from the 1200 processor wise. And yes I am aware of the other goodness of the amiga hardware and the restrictions but 3d was the way forward for me.

24 January 2015, 22:39	#19
Paul_s Registered User Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Amigaville Age: 46 Posts: 3,334	Memotech MX512 by a country mile They made Kelly LeBrock with one! [ Show youtube player ]

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