Worst Amiga model ever

[CaptainNow]

Everytime I look at Kelly Brooke now I'll be thinking of CD32!
I do feel like I've kicked a puppy here, I never owned one I must admit, and I don't know what the capabilities were (as Heavy Stylus says, it would've been great to see what the Akiko chip was capable of).
That photo does make it look nice...

[deicidal]

Originally Posted by Skope

Actually yes I quite like the CD32, both looks wise and for what's in it. I may be considered crazy but that was one (modest) step in the right direction for the miggy imo.

I agree (although I never owned one, but thats on the to do list), if they had made it little bit more expandable and less cheapy looking it would have been brilliant.

[lordofchaos]

CDTV gets my vote, looked pretty cool at the time but never have I regretted such an expensive purchase in my life! Sure it was great in the beginning what with all the CD-ROM stuff but the novelty soon wore off and it`s relevance in the Amiga line up soon become very questionable very quickly...Ever since then I have been very cautious of being a day one adopter of any new machine/system.

[duga]

Although I've never owned a CD32, it would have been a great machine with 1 or 2 MB of fast RAM (with the same price tag).

[FOL]

Originally Posted by duga

Although I've never owned a CD32, it would have been a great machine with 1 or 2 MB of fast RAM (with the same price tag).

Agreed.

[Retro-Nerd]

Originally Posted by Gordon

The CD32 is beautiful!! Say what you want about its performance or its point, but come on its wonderfully crafted. Its like saying Kelly Brooke is ugly.

Always a matter of taste. I don't like this cheap plastics look, and the build quality is really bad. Another killer: NO RGB without expansion, wtf!?

[Gordon]

I didnt notice much difference to other keyboard amiga plastics?

Regarding RGB, i thought S-VIDEO and RGB quality is very similar as they share the same pins or something? Maybe someone can clarify this?

I havent noticed much difference.

[Retro-Nerd]

No, RGB and S-Video aren't really similar. S-Video has a chrominace (colors) & Luminance (brightness) separation. RGB is separated in the 3 primary colors (Red/Green/Blue). The latter gives you a sharper image, with better colors. Though a bit darker than Composite/S-Video.

Well, if you e.g. have a 10-20 years old crappy TV you won't see a big difference.

[duga]

Originally Posted by Gordon

I didnt notice much difference to other keyboard amiga plastics?

Regarding RGB, i thought S-VIDEO and RGB quality is very similar as they share the same pins or something? Maybe someone can clarify this?

I havent noticed much difference.

HDMI > Component > RGB > S-Video > Composite > RF

[Jope]

Originally Posted by abraXXious

Seriously? I can understand the CDTV (overpriced, not much original software, a pig to upgrade etc)... but the a2000? That was THE flagship bigbox Amiga from 86 to 90.

Yep, it has a huge case which is almost totally wasted - only three drive slots, which are quite cumbersome to use. Still 68000 based, they should have integrated the a2620 or 2630 design on the motherboard for the B2000, but instead it was just a big box A500.

[Paul_s]

Originally Posted by Jope

Yep, it has a huge case which is almost totally wasted - only three drive slots, which are quite cumbersome to use. Still 68000 based, they should have integrated the a2620 or 2630 design on the motherboard for the B2000, but instead it was just a big box A500.

O RLY?

[Skope]

Originally Posted by Paul_s

O RLY?

Damn, I said DAMN! That's some steroid 2000!

[blackcornflake]

Originally Posted by LordNipple

Everytime I look at Kelly Brooke now I'll be thinking of CD32!
I do feel like I've kicked a puppy here, I never owned one I must admit, and I don't know what the capabilities were (as Heavy Stylus says, it would've been great to see what the Akiko chip was capable of).
That photo does make it look nice...

I've owned a CD32, and that photo being so small does its aesthetic appeal a big favour. (That image is labelled amigacd23.jpg, btw. Er...)

It looks cheap, feels cheap, and is cheap. But it's still an Amiga, of course, and it still has a certain loveable something about it. It's rather like the Speccy in that respect. Must be the black plastic.

Oh, and the CD32 Sensible Soccers aren't that bad - probably best not played with the original controller, though, as stated above. Like the CD32 itself, they have certain inalienable qualities that make you warm to them.

[CaptainNow]

Sod it, I want to cuddle the CD32 now.
We're friends really.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Heavy Stylus

I would love to see a tech demo showing the capabilities of the Akiko chip.

You wouldn't see anything interesting.

Akiko C2P is crap. CPU writes LONGs and gets LONGs back, no DMA, it is slow and mostly useless.

Normal CPU-only C2P (if Fast RAM available) is faster than Akiko C2P.

(Akiko = Custom chip that contains DMA CD controller + CIAs + C2P + some IO ports and parts of Gayle)

[mfletcher]

Hmm. Im might revise my vote to the A4000 desktop version.

Ive had nothing but trouble with mine. PSU died and had to replace it. Case is really cramped so once you start upgrading its a pain in the neck.

The front panel is difficult to remove if you want to get the drive cage out.

Cable management is a nightmare, ever tried installing a full size cd-rom drive? Butts right up to the power supply.

[CaptainNow]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

You wouldn't see anything interesting.

Akiko C2P is crap. CPU writes LONGs and gets LONGs back, no DMA, it is slow and mostly useless.

Normal CPU-only C2P (if Fast RAM available) is faster than Akiko C2P.

(Akiko = Custom chip that contains DMA CD controller + CIAs + C2P + some IO ports and parts of Gayle)

Bugger.

[ChrisUnionNJ]

I had to pick Odd number since it just a variation of the 2000..

[AndyLandy]

OK, the first observation has been touched on already. Do you mean worst Amiga then or worst Amiga now.

At the time, the A500+ and the A600 are usually the top targets. They were both too little, too late. My vote is for the A600 because that was a completely new system with no purpose. The A500+ was at least just an A500 with a few upgraded chips. The later revision C2000s were the same, they also had ECS chipsets at the end. Long story short, C= should only have made one of those models (but it doesn't matter which).

Nowadays, my vote goes to the A1000. I'm sorry guys, but it does. It's the oldest of the miggies, so it's the least powerful, that's just the way it is. Don't get me wrong, it was utterly awesome at the time it came out and it's still a beautiful machine to this day. In fact, I'd list the A1000 as the best Amiga ever made, at the time, but today it's pretty underpowered compared to what else you can do with other models. The bog standard A500 is in a similar position, they were fantastic at the time, but a bit pointless nowadays.

Conversely, the A600 is one of the most desirable rigs these days, especially if you fill it with all the shiny Schoenfeld niknaks! (ACA630/A604/IndyECS), it's a competent and powerful ECS machine that's really tiny at that point.

[Skope]

Originally Posted by AndyLandy

OK, the first observation has been touched on already. Do you mean worst Amiga then or worst Amiga now.

I mean ever like the title says.

But ofcourse everybody are free to vote as they wish and elaborate. For example I remember when the A600 came out, my friend was rebitten by the Amiga bug. He bought one with HD in it only to find out most of his fav games either wouldn't run or couldn't be put on his precious harddrive. This annoyance doesn't apply today since we now have WHDLoad and other ingenious inventions, still we (me and him) don't like that machine to this day because of that issue. Also we were heavily into Protracker then and the chopped keyboard bummed us out a lot, having to switch samples with the friggin' mouse!

If there was a table in front of me with each of the Amiga models on it and somebody said I could choose one to take home for free, the A600 would be my last choice. That being said, if there was only the A600 and I had none at home I would take it and be annoyed by the keyboard for the rest of my life.