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Amiga Models

The following are some of the models of the Amiga computer that have been released over the years. With the new open licencing policy of Amiga International, it won't be possible to add all new "Amiga Clones" that come on to the market, but we'll pick some of the more typical models as an example.

Quick links: A1200 | A4000 | A3000 | A500 | A1000
 
 

Amiga 1200

Amiga 1200
Processor Motorola 68EC020 @ 14 MHz
RAM 2 Mb Chip
Chipset AGA
OS Version 3.0, later 3.1
Available December 1992 to present day
The Amiga 1200 was the last computer that Commodore ever produced. It delivered AGA performance and OS 3.0 at a very low price (compared to the extremely expensive A4000) and was aimed at the home computer market. Commodore's profits were way up after the release of the A1200 and games and application software was in abundance. However many were disappointed with Commodore's last effort, expecting the inclusion of a Digital Signal Processor and other wizardry. To many people's annoyance, the floppy disk drive was still double density and very slow... and the much loved expansion slot at the side had been replaced by a PCMCIA card slot. 

When Escom purchased the Amiga in April '95, their subsidiary, Amiga Technologies GmbH, thought it would be a good idea to have A1200s rolling off the production lines again. Nobody is quite sure why... and Amiga International is now trying to give away its remaining stock...
 
 

Amiga 4000

Amiga 4000
Processor Motorola 68030 @ 25 MHz or 68040 at 50 MHz
RAM 2 Mb Chip, 4 Mb Fast
Chipset AGA
OS Version 3.0, later 3.1
Available September 1992 to 1994
Commodore's successor to the popular A3000 came as a bit of a let down to Amigans. To cut a long story short, Commodore engineers will today tell you how costs were cut and projects scrapped, and the A4000 was an amalgamation of two projects, with the so called "AA" (later "AGA") chipset jacknifed onto a motherboard which was from a different computer altogether.
 
 

Amiga 3000

Amiga 3000
Processor Motorola 68030 @ 25 MHz
RAM 2 Mb Chip
Chipset ECS
OS Version 2.14
Available 1990 - 1992
Hailed as the most "cutting edge" of all the computers that Commodore ever released, the Amiga 3000 was and still is a particularly popular machine amongst Amigans. Featuring one of the first operating systems to include a standard set of graphical user interface tools for the programmer and plenty of room for expansion, the 3000 sold well despite its high price tag.
 

Amiga 500

Amiga 500
Processor Motorola 68000 @ 7.14 MHz
RAM 512k Chip
Chipset OCS
OS Version 1.2, 1.3
Available 1987 - 1990
The A500 was the first "man on the street"'s Amiga. Featuring all the capabilities of the Amiga 1000 computer, and at an affordable price tag, the A500 was a huge success. This computer played a very large and important role in teaching thousands to program. Many a programmer started life on this epic machine.
 
 

Amiga 1000

Amiga 1000
Processor Motorola 68000 @ 7 MHz 
RAM 256k Chip, later 512k Chip
Chipset OCS
OS Version 1.0, 1.1
Available June 1985 - 1987
The first ever Amiga computer, the Amiga 1000 stunned many with its advanced graphical abilities, notably an animation of a juggler which quickly rose to fame in the fast-growing Amiga world. Its 8 bit, 4 channel stereo sound also impressed and its 16 bit power blew the old 8 bits out of the water. Unfortunately its high price tag put off many, who ended up buying the cheaper Ataris instead. 

The case featured, as can be seen in the picture, a neat slot in space for the keyboard, and on the inside you can find the signatures of the engineers and the paw print of Jay Miner's dog.

 Inside the A1000!

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