The Great Amiga Elitist Debate !!!

[Retromania76]

Gday All!

Every now & then I hear about the great amiga elitists from other forums who apparently carry themselves with great pride & snub other vintage enthusiasts. I definitely do not consider myself this way and i own many vintages from a plus4 to an a2000 (I will definitely snub the PC's which I consider to be the worst computers of all time due to the number of viruses, hackers, software/hardware faults & numerous other faults :nuts::deadhorse:computertrash::explode

I wonder how things would have turned out if I had ever purchased an apple which many people swear by.
I have had good responses from the UK, USA & many other countries from around the world so don't consider myself to have been snubbed off in anyway, although some people don't get back to me if they don't know the answer to my question(s).

Can anyone out there confirm or deny an Amiga Elitist Group & whether you are automatically considered part of the elite if you own an a3000 or a4000 computer. Then I guess if its all true there must be some kind of benefit right ???

My intention is not to create controversy but rather be open-minded to such possibilities & see others point of view(s)

Let the Great Debate Begin

 

[Justin]

there are always some that consider themselves elitist in whatever interest you may have not just computers

with ref to the PC, the Amiga is a PC as is the Speccy and c64 etc. but i know that you mean PC as in x86, but you are still not being fair. the reason the system has so many viruses, hackers hardware software faults is because there are just so many of them. the viruses/hackers are there because there aren't enough of any of the other systems to bother with. software/hardware problems are on every system (just go look at the Amioracle section )

i doubt this will become a "great debate" but can't hurt to try

cheers

 

[ajk]

I wouldn't say it's an elitist thing but there is a clear difference in how the Amiga was marketed/sold in the US vs Europe; in the US many big box systems were sold as business machines, particularly Video Toaster systems and such, whereas in Europe the lower-end hobbyist machines were much more prevalent. It can still be seen today here, NTSC A1200s are less common than PAL ones, but there are often A3000 or A4000 systems for sale in the US. I don't know where Australia fits in but I'd guess it's more like it was in Europe?

Nothing wrong with "PC"s these days either. They are cheap, powerful and work well. Apples I've never really used, they just seem to be more expensive without any real advantages aside from industry support in certain fields of work. I've got an iPad I got as a present, though

 

[SkydivinGirl]

I'm sure there are some elitists in the retro computing community, but I tend to find many more of them in regard to modern systems. I honestly don't care which system a person uses for their retro computing needs, so long as they are having fun.

Heather

 

[sputnik]

Elite? Nah this is all off-the-shelf consumer goods that anyone can buy if they're willing to put in some overtime. A3k/4k may be slightly more elite and lovely machines, but I don't feel like I'm missing out too much since the bulk of Ami software can be run on a bog standard 500. Most Amiga fans aren't snobbish, just very fond of their machines, and why not? They represent probably the most fast developing and interesting time in computing history.

I personally am not 'loyal' to any brand though. I have Apple, Commodore, Atari, Sega, Nintendo, it's all good in my book.

The real elite "retro" computer enthusiasts for me are the handful of crazy sonofaguns running original DEC PDP, CRAY and so on. The sort that are spending tens of thousands and using articulated lorries to cart them around.

Slight side note: Does anyone remember an Italian guy on eBay called Jococco about a decade ago? He used to buy EVERYTHING that was rare (back in the days when you could see winning bidders ID)... he must have been absolutely loaded! I both hated and admired him!

 

[sir_beaker]

Ah, I miss those days. When you could find something else they were bidding on and push up the prices when they won something you were really after. I won so much overpriced stuff I didn't want that way

 

[ColourWheel64]

I have noticed that most people are more than comfortable with their hobby, and simply just like to continue using the things that they enjoy using, collecting or playing with. I love this so much!

Unfortunately, it's impossible to fail to also notice that on occasion when a person has possibly invested more time, effort and money into something than they were prepared to waste, they can malfunction and get very defensive to try to fool themselves and their peers into thinking that their investment is more valuable than they honestly feel.​

This, coupled with the type of personality that reason that if you ruin other people's fun then somehow you've lowered some global bar and therefore in a better position yourself, and you've got some pretty terrible company.

Live and let live is a good point to remember, and there's strength in unity. It's more fun to be friendly too!

 

[Retromania76]

Hey Guys & Gal,

Thanks 4 sharing skydivinGirl; you are my first female encounter & hopefully not the last
@Justin. Yeah I probably come across as a little harsh but the dreaded x86's have caused me great pain & loss over the decades. I have wasted ten of thousands, lossed sensitive data & experienced just about every problem there is
However I will agree that the modern laptops are much more reliable but still think the dreaded ibm & compatible PC's need to be fully replaced with a newer more reliable technology; dual tablet/laptop is not the answer but im sure something better will come in future. After all we are all forced to use them as smartphones & tablets can still not perform every task such as download all the highly-sought torrent stuff...music, vid's etc

@ajk Oz had very few sales with PAL a3000/4000 systems but I think a1200's had a bigger impact. It also may have something to do with the economies back in the late 80's early 90's. Oz is still a developing nation whereas UK,USA & Germany are well established with large economies although I cant explain the low NTSC versions

@ sputnik & AMibayers I also got speccys, amstrads, & ataris with some consoles to boot
I don't remember that Italian guy so I guess I would have been watching after the iD's were masked; but what a selfish bugger/geezer & certainly no elitist. He will probably hang on to the collection till parting this world...in which his inheritors will probably just sell it all off anyway !!!

Personally for me anyone who is a vintage computer professional who specialises is considered elite whether they are part of an elite group or not.
Most people on this forum turn to you for support & advice
So my hats off the to the pro Amibayers & Staff Moderators I think you guys/gals are the best at what you do !!!

Keep Up the Great Work

 

[SkydivinGirl]

Hyou are my first female encounter & hopefully not the last

There are a few of us on the forums. Many more are getting into gaming and hopefully that will bring them into the retro scene as well.

Heather

 

[Retromania76]

Thats Great to Hear Heather

More POWER to the women i say

Now this should get the attention for some Elitists.....LOL

 

[NinjaRabbit]

Thats Great to Hear Heather

More POWER to the women i say

I'm one of them, but I really don't see how we're any different in this hobby...

Anyway, as far as elitism goes, I've not encountered any myself. The closest I've seen - and it's really not all that close - is debates relating to whether emulators are good enough or not.

 

[snoopy77]

The Great Amiga Elitist Debate !!!

Can anyone out there confirm or deny an Amiga Elitist Group & whether you are automatically considered part of the elite if you own an a3000 or a4000 computer. Then I guess if its all true there must be some kind of benefit right ???

From what I've been told the only automatic way in is via ownership of an A1000 or genuine mil spec 2000 (metal fascia).

Also ownership of the following results in automatic refusal,

A500+
A600
Escom 1200

(Machines considered "in bad taste")

Was one guy here a couple of months ago bought a 600 and was expelled by the following morning.

 

[Retromania76]

Way to go NinjaRabbit you are no doubt the Queen of the blogs & as my sister would say 'you go girlfriend' :razz:

Snoopy you bring up some interesting points; I don't own an a1000 or the fascia version of the a2000 but I really thought that owning an a1200/3000/4000T Tower would get you auto-entry to the Elite Amiga World. :respect:

FACT: The Elite Space Agency NASA has a room full of Amigas; I would really love to know what models & specs if anyone out there can enlighten us ? :rainbow:

 

[ajk]

At least A2000s and A4000s. Dunno if they use them any more, at least some were on eBay a few years ago.

YouTube

 

[Hitek]

I haven't really run into any "Amiga Elitists" at all, whether it be someone who thinks the A3000/4000 are the best among Amigas or that Amigas are best in general. I think the retro community, for the most part, tend to be mature individuals that don't lean towards that sort of behavior.
I was a "Commodore kid" when I was growing up. Started on a Pet, moved up the line to the Vic-20, C64, 128, A1000 and finally an A500. Although the majority of my current collection is Commodore, I have a few non-commodore retro systems that I never owned when they were current (Apple IIe, Atari 1040ST and a few C= systems that I never owned).
I DO see a lot of elitism in current systems though. There is a lot in the Apple designer community, those guys just like to throw money at expensive hardware in a walled garden environment. Any modern PC can run Photoshop and Illustrator just as well as a Mac.
There is also elitism in the gaming community, with PC gamers considering themselves the gaming "Master Race" when compared to console gamers.

So, yeah, there is some elitism, and probably some in the Amiga/retro community, but from what I've seen, it's way less than in the modern PC/gamer community.

 

[Monkeh]

I was a 500/1200/cd32 owner in the day, now I've been building my collection only really missing the cd32, 3000t and 4000t. I own 3 4000s but feel no elitism over anyone - there will be people with higher spec 2000s than my 4000s so I have no place to be anything and I'm doing this to preserve part of my childhood/adolescence as I think most of us are. My favourite Amiga is the 500 plus cos it was my first. The best one imo is the 2000 because of the expandability of it. C= should really have just updated the mobo with an 030, Z3, AGA and slightly altered the case so it could stand on its side to be a tower or desktop config instead of plowing R&D cash into the 3/4k, but hey hindsight and all that. In fact omg GBA2000 anyone?

I too am part of the PC gaming master race, but I'm also an unwashed console peasant when I feel like it. To old to give a toss about the hardware I run a game on. I don't understand the cult of Jobs at all though.