What sort of Amiga should you own if you must? The tres Amigas that you should own are Amiga 600, Amiga 1200, or Amiga 4000 in my view.
The other Amiga computers are also nice but these tres Amigas are superior to any else if you want to be able to communicate with today’s computers better and be able to buy expansions without ruin your pocket. It is these tres Amigas that got the expansion capabilities that keep them into 2021 more than any of the other Amigas.
Most sold Amiga deserves to be loved
Amiga 500 is the most sold Amiga model in the world, but it is also one of the most impractical ones even though I love it. You do have Vampire and Warp for it that helps a lot but I have never been a fan of the expansion port on the side of it that much. Today it’s only for Amigans that want to expand it and that’s expensive. Getting Amiga 500 online is not the easiest thing to do. I have one of the earliest Vampire V500 V2+ cards and I have used a Plipbox Deluxe with it. But it’s not the best solution. Newer Vampire V500 V2+ cards do have an expansion connector though.
The tiny Amiga 500 itself is easy to upgrade the machine but the lack of a PCMCIA slot ruins its reason for me to give a reason for having it now for others than computer interested people. Collectors might disagree but I am taking look at today’s usage and fit. The Amiga 500+ is a bit better, but it still lacks IDE and a PCMCIA slot from that era.
Also, I think that the design of Amiga 500 is not as stylish as Amiga 600 or Amiga 1200. It is in that category of AtariST line of computers together with Amiga 2000. Commodore did something magical designing choices with Amiga 600, Amiga 1200, and Amiga 4000 to their designs. I personally love all of the Amigas including the Amiga CDTV and Amiga CD32. But these tres Amigas never gets old.
Amiga 1000 with a Vampire is my fourth beloved Amiga. It was the first Amiga ever to be released but the design stands even today. I really love it more than the Amiga 2000 or even Amiga 3000, but this article is about which Amigas that I think that you should own to be able to use it. So, if there was an Amiga 2000 in the AGA version and have the possibility to use PCI slots. Then the Amiga 2000 would be a king.
The Tres Amigas in Order of Love
Amiga 600 doesn’t have AGA but it got an IDE controller and a PCMCIA slot. With a Vampire V600 or an accelerator that tunes it up… it is the most practical Amiga to have now in 2021. Back at the beginning of the 90s when this Amiga was supposed to be named Amiga 300. Commodore actually saved it for the future without knowing it. With so much negativity about it back in the 90s, it is now obvious how amazing this tiny Amiga is. Apollo Team lifted this Amiga-like no other and even without that extra 68080 power. Amiga 600 is a true Amiga! Also, it invites itself to any room with wives that might be critical to your Amiga computers.
Amiga 1200 is the next tres Amigas Amiga because it is even more expandable than Amiga 600 or even the mighty Amiga 2000. You can keep it as it is with Vampire or Warp to make it do remarkable things. Or you can transform it to a Tower machine, which the Amiga 1300 was based on. The fact that it got AGA is its biggest reason for being loved by me. You can play all sorts of demoscene demos or games. You can add an RTG card and at the same time run AGA side by side. Also, you can upgrade the machine with 16-bit soundcards and USB addons using its clockport. But that’s not all. In Tower, you can also add PCI slots to it which lets you add ATI Radeon 9200 card with 3D capabilities even. Out of all the tres Amigas to have, the Amiga 1200 is absolute on the top. Released back in 1992,.. it is still pumping reasons for owning it in 2021 like its tiny sister Amiga 600.
Amiga 4000 is also on this tres Amigas to own because it is so expandable thanks to the Zorro III slots and it got AGA out of the box. With some minor upgrades, you can also have PCI slots in it and you can do what you can do with Amiga 1200T. There are tons of expansion cards made for it like the ZZ9000 just recently. Giving remarkable screenmodes and expansion capabilities. The Amiga 3000 deserves to be in this category too but the SCSI choice and the fact that everything is so tightly packed in the box makes that Amiga was harder to upgrade. Don’t get me wrong. Amiga 3000 is a good-looking big-box computer but in my view, it doesn’t stand up to the Amiga 4000 in looks. Amiga 600 also lacks AGA like Amiga 3000, but because Amiga 600 got IDE it is cheaper to get adapters for it that puts it higher on my tres Amigas to own.
So, there you have it. Tres Amigas to own that I recommend. This is my view and I think it reflects that Commodore was genius. Keeping me in love with this platform in 2021 still. Thank you!
What sort of Amiga computers would you recommend today?
