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Originally Posted by YouKnowWho
So...form before function? It could be argued that a lot of upgrades for the Amiga are just about the SysInfo numbers, regardless if it actually changes the user experience much.
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It's a credit to the Amiga's design that the user experience on a stock A500 doesn't suck as much as it would on a similarly specced PC, but even just adding some FastRAM and a hard drive makes a significant difference. I added 2MB RAM and a 20MB hard drive to my A1000 and it transformed the machine from a toy into a useful development platform. SysInfo would say there was a modest improvement, but the 'user experience' was greatly improved.
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Funny, we were willing to wait for floppies to load back on a 68000, yet today we're not happy with 5s load time to Workbench from CF and 68020 making everything playable and usable.
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It's not just about Workbench (and I bet very few are not happy with 5 second load times). Some applications need way more speed than a 68020 can provide. Stay way from them and sure, a stock A1200 is plenty fast enough. But if you want to play games like Breathless or Alien Breed 3D, work with modern image formats, compile large programs or get onto this site with IBrowse, you will want a lot more speed.
A 50MHz 030 is OK if you don't mind lower resolution and slower operation, But a Vampire definitely 'changes the user experience much' in comparison. Whether you want that change is another matter. I mostly use the A1200 because I prefer the bold look of AGA on my TV, and I am happy to run 8 colors on Workbench. But the Vampired A600 is great for when I need to compile a large C program or run stuff that needs RTG and the fastest possible CPU.
My A500 only gets used for stuff that can't handle the extra speed and power of my other machines. I have a minimal WB1.3 disk to cut down loading time, which is OK because I don't need all the stuff my other machines have to load. Nevertheless I hope to add a lowly 14MHz 68000 with a bit of FastRAM and CF Card or hard drive someday, because some games appreciate it.