Amiga500 Vs Amiga600! - Page 2

adolescent · 28 March 2006, 03:53

Step forward, even with it's limited expansion capability. ECS, IDE, PCMCIA, color composite, compact size, etc. I still love the A500 though, but the A600 was a better machine.

That said my A600 has decided to die recently.

I'll have to send it out to get fixed as NTSC A600s are quite rare and expensive.

Parsec · 30 March 2006, 20:16

Was the A600 not originally going to be a "cut down" A500 called the A300 that they renamed at the last minute? Or was that just a rumour!

Am sure I'll find out for myself when I get a few more chapters into "The Rise and Fall of Commodore"

madenph · 30 March 2006, 22:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parsec

Was the A600 not originally going to be a "cut down" A500 called the A300 that they renamed at the last minute? Or was that just a rumour!

Am sure I'll find out for myself when I get a few more chapters into "The Rise and Fall of Commodore"

More than just a rumour, take one apart and "A300" is printed on the board.

Galaxy · 31 March 2006, 04:27

And that's also why the A690 was renamed to the A570 in the last minute.

blade002 · 31 March 2006, 08:34

Definately a MASSIVE step backwards. not only did it not have the Numeric Keypad as someone already stated, but it offered hardly anything new and it was designed to look more like a Toy than a Computer. Hardly the right thing to do when your trying to market an amazing multitasking system like the Amiga.

If i was a new user to the Amiga, i would have seen the A600 purely as a games machine and nothing more, and thats just what the Amiga needed to steer clear of at that point in its life. The A500 looked a hell of alot better due its size and design which i think looked a hell of alot more modern than the door wedge A600 did.

The A1200 should have been the next machine in the pipeline after the A500, and although it looked pretty much the same as the A600 but just with the Numeric Keypad included again, it somehow "did" look the part once more!.

It was an EXTREMELY traumatic time for me when Commodore released the A600, the words mistake and impending doom for Amiga rang clear... lol... I could not believe how SHIT it looked and they released it not long after the A500+ with virtually no significant improvements. Words still cannot describe how dissapointing that was.... look at me, im still going !!.. hehehe..

So in summary, the A600 is one of Commodore's BIGGEST mistakes EVER!.

rare_j · 31 March 2006, 21:10

The 600 was a nice little machine for games and tinkering. It should have come bundled with a degrader disk like relokick to softkick into KS1.3 for those troublesome games, and a modifier key to emulate the keypad like on a modern laptop, and a joystick. Then it would have been a perfect little amiga for gamers.

No, the real step back was the 1200, the mid range machine, which should have featured full 68020 and 2 mb fastram and modest harddisk. missed opportunity.

BarrySWE · 31 March 2006, 21:29

Amiga 1200 is the best looking amiga.

Mick_AKA · 01 April 2006, 13:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarrySWE

Amiga 1200 is the best looking amiga.

Even when its been butchered and had a wank keybord attached to the top of it?

blade002 · 01 April 2006, 16:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by rare_j

No, the real step back was the 1200, the mid range machine, which should have featured full 68020 and 2 mb fastram and modest harddisk. missed opportunity.

Yeah agreed, the A1200 could have had a much better spec, but if it had of been released when the A500+ was released, then it would have fared better and then a year after the Actual A1200 release they should have released the AAA chipset machine that was in the pipeline.

That would have looked alot better for them in the marketplace.

rockersuke · 01 April 2006, 18:43

I bought a second hand A600 at last MadriSX retrocomputing meeting last month, even though there were also some cheaper A500 available. I preferred its size (serious space problems at home, really ^_^'' ) and its IDE connector (wich is supossed to make my life a bit easier if I decide to add a HD). The fact that I'm a big Interactive Fiction enthusiast and the only Amiga Frotz interpreter requires WB 2.0 or higher also helped to make my decission!

SilentBob · 02 April 2006, 23:36

The A600 would have been OK in 1991, but in spring 1992 the A1200 should have been released. Too bad it wasn't finished at the time. The A600 was not a good image for the Amiga line. Too toy-like as mentioned. Didn't exactly improve the bad rep as games machines the Amiga line already had, courtesy of CBM. Believe me, hardly any Amiga users or retailers around here had much good to say about the A600. It's all about marketing, and as we all know, CBM sucked at it.

tin · 05 April 2006, 15:40

A600 - ace because it's small and had no modulator hanging 50ft out the back of it. Plus also ace because it meant virgin megastores got them in to do genlock stuff, as did the ROXY in Sheffield

. Finally ace because I can stick one in the corner with a little hard disk in it, nobody notices it, and it can scala all day long.

A1200 even acer. As retro gamer (or gamesTM can't remember which) recently pointed out, how long it lived after C= died is testament to the greatness. Yeah it could have been better but it wasn't.

Parsec · 05 April 2006, 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by tin

A1200 even acer. As retro gamer (or gamesTM can't remember which) recently pointed out, how long it lived after C= died is testament to the greatness. Yeah it could have been better but it wasn't.

It was RetroGamer I read that too! Although CBM went bust in 1994, Retrogamer reckoned it was 2000 until the A1200 was actually dead (commercially I guess they mean). Quite an achievement - and it still lives on really.

10 April 2006, 00:01

Huge step backward, because its failure due to its higher price compared to an A500+ and the missing keys cost Commodore lots of money. Instead of desperately trying to kill off the very good selling A500, they should have waited until the A1200 was finished.

31 March 2006, 08:34	#25
blade002 Zone Friend Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Australia Age: 50 Posts: 2,616	Definately a MASSIVE step backwards. not only did it not have the Numeric Keypad as someone already stated, but it offered hardly anything new and it was designed to look more like a Toy than a Computer. Hardly the right thing to do when your trying to market an amazing multitasking system like the Amiga. If i was a new user to the Amiga, i would have seen the A600 purely as a games machine and nothing more, and thats just what the Amiga needed to steer clear of at that point in its life. The A500 looked a hell of alot better due its size and design which i think looked a hell of alot more modern than the door wedge A600 did. The A1200 should have been the next machine in the pipeline after the A500, and although it looked pretty much the same as the A600 but just with the Numeric Keypad included again, it somehow "did" look the part once more!. It was an EXTREMELY traumatic time for me when Commodore released the A600, the words mistake and impending doom for Amiga rang clear... lol... I could not believe how SHIT it looked and they released it not long after the A500+ with virtually no significant improvements. Words still cannot describe how dissapointing that was.... look at me, im still going !!.. hehehe.. So in summary, the A600 is one of Commodore's BIGGEST mistakes EVER!. Last edited by blade002; 31 March 2006 at 10:40.

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28 March 2006, 03:53	#21
adolescent Powered by Motorola Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Redondo Beach, CA Age: 52 Posts: 1,065	Step forward, even with it's limited expansion capability. ECS, IDE, PCMCIA, color composite, compact size, etc. I still love the A500 though, but the A600 was a better machine. That said my A600 has decided to die recently. I'll have to send it out to get fixed as NTSC A600s are quite rare and expensive.

30 March 2006, 20:16	#22
Parsec Registered User Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Lancashire Age: 49 Posts: 434	Was the A600 not originally going to be a "cut down" A500 called the A300 that they renamed at the last minute? Or was that just a rumour! Am sure I'll find out for myself when I get a few more chapters into "The Rise and Fall of Commodore"

31 March 2006, 04:27	#24
Galaxy Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Canberra, Australia Age: 46 Posts: 1,417	And that's also why the A690 was renamed to the A570 in the last minute.

31 March 2006, 21:10	#26
rare_j Zone Friend Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: London Posts: 1,176	The 600 was a nice little machine for games and tinkering. It should have come bundled with a degrader disk like relokick to softkick into KS1.3 for those troublesome games, and a modifier key to emulate the keypad like on a modern laptop, and a joystick. Then it would have been a perfect little amiga for gamers. No, the real step back was the 1200, the mid range machine, which should have featured full 68020 and 2 mb fastram and modest harddisk. missed opportunity.

31 March 2006, 21:29	#27
BarrySWE Zone Friend Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sweden Age: 46 Posts: 404	Amiga 1200 is the best looking amiga.

01 April 2006, 18:43	#30
rockersuke Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Madrid / Spain Age: 56 Posts: 258	I bought a second hand A600 at last MadriSX retrocomputing meeting last month, even though there were also some cheaper A500 available. I preferred its size (serious space problems at home, really ^_^'' ) and its IDE connector (wich is supossed to make my life a bit easier if I decide to add a HD). The fact that I'm a big Interactive Fiction enthusiast and the only Amiga Frotz interpreter requires WB 2.0 or higher also helped to make my decission!

02 April 2006, 23:36	#31
SilentBob Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Norway Age: 49 Posts: 246	The A600 would have been OK in 1991, but in spring 1992 the A1200 should have been released. Too bad it wasn't finished at the time. The A600 was not a good image for the Amiga line. Too toy-like as mentioned. Didn't exactly improve the bad rep as games machines the Amiga line already had, courtesy of CBM. Believe me, hardly any Amiga users or retailers around here had much good to say about the A600. It's all about marketing, and as we all know, CBM sucked at it.

05 April 2006, 15:40	#32
tin Registered User Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: chester Posts: 415	A600 - ace because it's small and had no modulator hanging 50ft out the back of it. Plus also ace because it meant virgin megastores got them in to do genlock stuff, as did the ROXY in Sheffield . Finally ace because I can stick one in the corner with a little hard disk in it, nobody notices it, and it can scala all day long. A1200 even acer. As retro gamer (or gamesTM can't remember which) recently pointed out, how long it lived after C= died is testament to the greatness. Yeah it could have been better but it wasn't.

10 April 2006, 00:01	#34
Vigo Posts: n/a	Huge step backward, because its failure due to its higher price compared to an A500+ and the missing keys cost Commodore lots of money. Instead of desperately trying to kill off the very good selling A500, they should have waited until the A1200 was finished.

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