Reproduction micros

[Peter Corlett]

On 17 Jul 2016, at 17:28, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
[...]
> Again with the "braindead" jibes. You have not clarified or explained
> what your objection to the machine was.

We perhaps forget just how eyewateringly expensive these things were. They were "braindead" because to build them "properly" would price them out of the market. I can't quickly find 1987 pricing, but I found a plausible price list from Calco Software on page 83 of the September 1989 issue of Amiga Format. I also give an approximate RPI-adjusted price in 2016 pounds:

Amiga A500: £349 (£800).
Amiga A590 20MB hard disk: £395 (£900).

Amiga B2000: £895 (£2,000).
Plus an A1084S monitor: £1,125 (£2,500).
Plus an XT bridgeboard and 5.25" drive: £1,395 (£3,100).
Plus a 30MB hard disk: £1,595 (£3,600).

A suitable floppy drive to fit the A2000: £79 (£180).
A2620 68020 accelerator card: £1,395 (£3,100).

Based on this price list, we can estimate the price of the models:

> It seems that there were about 5 models...

> A1500 -- A2000, no hard disk but dual floppies. A sensible affordable
> model for 1987 or so.

£895 + £79 = £975. (ISTR them selling for a grand at launch in 1990, so at least this estimate is good.)

> A2000 -- an expandable A1000 with slots and provision for an on-board hard disk.

The A2000 was a ground-up redesign. It even got a new Agnus chip!

£895.

> A2000HD -- an A2000 with a hard disk preinstalled.

£895 + (£1,595 - £1,395) = £1,095.

> A2500 -- an A2000 with a CBM processor upgrade preinstalled, either a
> 68020 or a 68030.

£895 + £1,395 = £2,290.

> If you are arguing that the A2000 should have been launched with a
> 68020 on the motherboard, rather than a 68000, well, yes, that would
> have been great -- but also very expensive, and the Amiga was a
> low-cost machine in a very price-sensitive market. A 68020 in 1987
> might have been just too much, too expensive.

I think it should be quite obvious from the prices why the Amiga 2000 didn't ship with a 68020 as standard.