Amiga 1200 advice please?

[Paulcan]

Hello All,

Been a memeber on here and EAB for a while, I read more than I post.
I have 2x A500's but do want a 1200, can I please ask a few basic questions...?

Do they all have a PCMCIA slot so I can add a hard drive? (if it didn't come with one) or CF adaptor etc..
Is there an IDE and a PCMCIA slot in all of them?
Please give me info on models rev's etc... any to avoid?
Not bothered at the moment about loads of hardware upgrades, I can get them later if needed, just looking for a cheap entry level A1200 please.

I have a GVP HD8+ Impact II for my 2x A500/+'s which is great, I own a copy of WHDLoad, but I find some run a wee bit slow, will the A1200 have slight speed increase? Will Robo 3 run better for an example??
Also I find that WHDload seems to be more geared up for...and supports the A1200 more than the A500, agree with that? So maybe less strange problems/errors with WHDload and my A500???

Sorry for the noob style questions, although I had a A500 in 1990 I can find my way around them ok to a point, but in no way have the wealth of knowledge you guys have about them.
Arcade machine's is my main bag, I like collecting jamma pcb's and a few cabs well.... 11 now :shhh:But that gets most of my time, but a very close second is retro computers.
I have a 1084/5 (can't remember which) monitor, some RGB cables, and 2 A500's + one hard drive as said, but never got into 1200's, 4000's and the expensive and rare world of miggy upgrades.
Any advice would be warmly welcomed.

 

[StrontiumDog]

Hello All,

Been a memeber on here and EAB for a while, I read more than I post.
I have 2x A500's but do want a 1200, can I please ask a few basic questions...?
Yes
Do they all have a PCMCIA slot so I can add a hard drive? (if it didn't come with one) or CF adaptor etc..
Yes
Is there an IDE and a PCMCIA slot in all of them?
Yes
Please give me info on models rev's etc... any to avoid?
All 1200's are good but for best results with WHDLoad, also budget for a 4mb (minimum) Accelerator card such as the ACA 1230/28
Not bothered at the moment about loads of hardware upgrades, I can get them later if needed, just looking for a cheap entry level A1200 please.

I have a GVP HD8+ Impact II for my 2x A500/+'s which is great, I own a copy of WHDLoad, but I find some run a wee bit slow, will the A1200 have slight speed increase? Will Robo 3 run better for an example??
Oh Yes!
Also I find that WHDload seems to be more geared up for...and supports the A1200 more than the A500, agree with that?
Absolutely yes!
So maybe less strange problems/errors with WHDload and my A500???
Yes

Sorry for the noob style questions, although I had a A500 in 1990 I can find my way around them ok to a point, but in no way have the wealth of knowledge you guys have about them.
Arcade machine's is my main bag, I like collecting jamma pcb's and a few cabs well.... 11 now :shhh:But that gets most of my time, but a very close second is retro computers.
I have a 1084/5 (can't remember which) monitor, some RGB cables, and 2 A500's + one hard drive as said, but never got into 1200's, 4000's and the expensive and rare world of miggy upgrades.
Any advice would be warmly welcomed.

See BOLD comments

 

[Zetr0]

@Paul,

I believe Bankstare hit home all the answers =)

for a little detail though =)

Processing
The A500 is a 16bit machine and can achieve about 0.7MIPS with Fast RAM
The A1200 is a 32bit machine, the A1200 can achieve about 3MIPS with Fast RAM.

The A1200 has a 44pin Internal IDE socket
The A1200 also has a PCMCIA Card socket

The A500 doesn't have either of these

The A1200 comes with 2MB of CHIP ram as standard
The A500 only has 1MB CHIP as standard


Out of the box, in every way, the A1200 will out perform the A500. the A1200 has lot more adapters and wider selection of upgrade paths that the A500 doesn't have.

If I had to choose between the A500 and the A1200 - then I would choose the A1200 simply because it is a better machine.

I believe that by selling and or trading on your existing kit - you should easily get a very powerful A1200 for not much difference.

 

[Paulcan]

Thanks guys for telling me exactly what I needed to hear, very sound advice thank you.