Ranking the Commodore Amiga models Worst to Best - The 12 Days of Amigas - Part 11 Amiga 500

[@chrisatye]

Imagine having a ZX Spectrum, and then going to the shop in 1989 and buying this… it was magnificent! Only program I had for a while was a demo of ‘Xenon II’ on an Amiga Computing cover disc, mind, but it was still a superb machine. Expanded the heck out of mine. A590, trapdoor RAM, Supramodem 2400+… lovely stuff. Pagesetter II and Kindwords, and a BBC emulator which was rather handy for A-level Computing. In fact, it still is a cracking machine - it still works, and the only reason i don’t use it is the 68060-based A1200 sat behind me as I type this!

[@vix_in_japan]

Sounds wonderful and what a massive leap over a Speccy! Yes the A1200.....But the A500 deserves a lot of kudos hence my ranking of it at no.2.

[@TheArtOfCharlieConstantinou]

A simply masterful era in technology. Never bettered.

[@vix_in_japan]

Definitely a supremely interesting era, when you look at everything coming out, very interesting.

[@svenmertens2089]

It speaks for itself. That's so true. The A500 is the computer I know more about than about any other machine. I read up everything I could find at the time. I have volumes of books and hundreds of floppies. And yet ... all you really have to know is readily available to your eyes and ears once you boot it up.

[@tfksworldoflinux]

I own a A500 and a A600. The A600 is still stock. The A500 has been upgraded with a 2 MB chip ram extender, indivision flicker fixer, and an aca500plus with an extra accelerator attached. Its indeed in a smoke colored plexiglass case. I currently run WB 3.1.4 from CF card. The thing I like most about the aca500plus is its versatility. The extra speed and memory is nice and having a real time clock module and networking module too, but the fact that one can upload roms to it and boot from those is just great. And its ability to override the boot drive to use DF1 is amazing because it means that I don't have to modify the case to be able to boot floppies on my gotek. Very clean.

[@vix_in_japan]

It really is a great bit of kit, it would be amazing if one day it was made an internal expansion, and maybe those compact flash cards could be set out through the side expansion slot, I'm sure it could be done, it may need the metal shield around the expansion connector to be removed but a custom panel with the two CF cards would be great, I know it would stop the expansion connector itself from being usable but it would be rad. If only the A500 had a little expansion flap available at the back like the A1200 it could use!

[@GadgetUK164]

Another wonderful part of the series =D Didn't know that the other "code names" on boards were all B52 tracks, except for the CD32!

[@bigd5090]

It's just the following hardware with The B-52s songs for code names; A500, A600, A1200 and the A590 hard drive/memory expansion card for a bonus mark with 'Party Mix' (a re-mix album not a song). None of the Big Box Amigas had The B-52s references! 'Spellbound' sounded great though for the CD32. Maybe The B-52s should release a new track called 'Spellbound' in tribute to the Amiga! They could unveil it on the first night of their farewell Las Vegas residency!

[@vix_in_japan]

Yep, there's only a handful. I don't think the other Amigas have codenames but I have a feeling some of the expansion cards besides the A590 may but I don't know off hand.

[@vix_in_japan]

I didn't realize Party Mix was a remix album, I must admit I am more of a fan of the earliest era of B52s 1979/1980, though Rock Lobster was a track from their debut album; with Wild Planet being my favorite album of theirs but I've more of a New Wave girl.

[@MarkDale]

I'm recently getting back into the Amiga scene. My dream machine in the Amiga range would have been the A4000T but I could never afford one at the time. So had to settle for the A500 then progressing onto the A500+ for the extra chip memory. I then progressed onto the A1200, infact I own 2 A1200's, one is in a Tower with Blizzard PPC603e/040/Bvision/scsi and the other one is An 1200 with Blizzard 1230mkIV 50mhz, but currently waiting for the PiStorm32 to really push the A1200 to it's limits. I Can guess that you're going to say the A1200 is you're personal No1. Great videos, been watching all of them and you're very good pixel Artist, keep up the great work with one of the greatest computers ever invented.

[@vix_in_japan]

Thank you that's most kind, I wish I could do more pixel art but time doesn't permit, as I have focused on my Japanese and manga as that's more where my heart is, but one day I'll get back to pixel art as I've always wanted to make a GameBoy game, and a pixel art "short" for my manga. We'll see what no. 1 is soon and enjoy your Amigas!

[@Leofwine]

The Amiga 500 - a worthy successor to the Commodore 64, and the one Amiga I could actually get my hands on in 2019. I got mine by chance (my cousin married the right person), and after a year's worth of following the footsteps of Victor Frankenstein, my Amiga 500 was resurrected (it's still yellow). After two decades of changing hands, this Amiga will stay with its third owner. I mostly type my short stories on it, but there's also a video script in the making (about exactly that machine), and I've dabbled in Deluxe Paint IV to create some graphics (for future projects). I am very happy with mine (it's downright a Pygmalion story).

[@vix_in_japan]

What a great story and I hope you continue to enjoy your resurrected Amiga :) Sounds like a great project!

[@nneeerrrd]

Can't wait for the #1 !

[@sacredbanana]

I just asked ChatGPT to give its own ranking but it said it doesn't have personal opinions so I asked it to rank them from least to most popular and here is the response: "Amiga 4000: The Amiga 4000 was the last model of the Amiga computer line and was released in 1992. While it featured some notable upgrades over the Amiga 3000, such as a faster processor and improved graphics capabilities, it was not as successful commercially as earlier Amiga models due to its high price point and the declining popularity of the Amiga brand. Amiga 3000: The Amiga 3000 was released in 1990 and was a more powerful and feature-rich version of the Amiga 2000. It featured a faster processor, improved graphics and sound capabilities, and a more advanced operating system. However, it was also more expensive than previous Amiga models, which limited its appeal to a smaller audience of professionals and enthusiasts. Amiga 600: The Amiga 600 was released in 1992 and was a more compact and affordable version of the Amiga 500. It featured a built-in IDE hard drive and some other improvements over the Amiga 500, but it was also criticized for its lack of expansion slots and limited compatibility with some older Amiga software. Amiga 1200: The Amiga 1200 was released in 1992 and was a more powerful and advanced version of the Amiga 600. It featured a faster processor, improved graphics and sound capabilities, and more expansion options, making it a popular choice among both home users and professionals. However, it was also released at a time when the Amiga brand was struggling to compete with newer, more powerful personal computers, which limited its commercial success. Amiga 2000: The Amiga 2000 was released in 1987 and was a more powerful and expandable version of the Amiga 500. It featured a more advanced operating system and more expansion options, which made it a popular choice among professionals and enthusiasts. However, it was also more expensive than the Amiga 500, which limited its appeal to a smaller audience. Amiga 500: The Amiga 500 was released in 1987 and was the most successful and iconic Amiga model. It was affordable, accessible, and had a huge library of games and software available for it. Its advanced graphics and sound capabilities, combined with its custom chips and easy-to-use interface, made it a popular choice among home users and hobbyists. Amiga 1000: The Amiga 1000 was the first Amiga computer and was released in 1985. It introduced the advanced multimedia capabilities that would later become synonymous with the Amiga brand, such as 16-bit graphics and stereo sound. It also featured a more advanced operating system than other personal computers of the time, which made it a popular choice among professionals in fields such as video editing and music production. While it was not as commercially successful as later Amiga models, it laid the foundation for the Amiga brand and remains an important part of computing history."

[@vix_in_japan]

Well...that's me out of the job 😂 I'm sure you're aware it's got some of that quite wrong though. That said though it's done a fair stab at it. But I don't think you will find ChatGPT combining its "knowledge" with John Shuttleworth clips anytime soon lol!

[@nneeerrrd]

Love the funny intermissions :))) Can't understand what narrator says in that one with bumblebees though 😆

[@vix_in_japan]

Hah, it's a comic creation called John Shuttleworth played by Graham Fellows. The character comes from Sheffield, it became popular as a radio 4 comedy show in the 90s into the 2000s. Also appeared on TV, an acquired taste comedy wise but I like it. He's saying "Ooof, that one landed with a bang" as the character has a tendency to say "ooof" for surprise. Bit of a niche comedy reference.

[@nneeerrrd]

@@vix_in_japan Oh thank you so much Vicky! Now it makes perfect sense to me :)

[@vix_in_japan]

You're welcome :) It's something that amused me!

[@Jadensad]

I own an A500 plus,(the best ever Amiga!)😄,the 500 series i believe is the number 1 really,it kept Commodore in business when no one was buying the big box machines,out classing the Atari ST machines and edging them out in Europe by 1990,i remember my friend and his older brother had on for xmas 89,i finally got an A1200 in 1995 but i always had a secret crush on the old girl that wowed me years earlier,they just don't make them like they used to!

[@vix_in_japan]

Yep, the A500 alone did it, because both before and after it, Commodore was in the pan. Before the A500 the Commodore 64 bailed them out. Had there been no A500, Commodore would have been out of business before the end of the 80s.

[@BloodRayneUK]

Hiya Vicky ☺️ You know, two things l should have never sold; a Mini Cooper l had once and the Amiga 500. I worked so bloody hard doing a Saturday job and a paper round to buy that 500 back in the day (was the Batman pack) and l absolutely loved it. This year l will be either picking up the 500 again or what l think the No.1 will be if l can get my hands on one lol 😂. This has been such a great series and like all the channel’s content, fascinating, entertaining and informative ☺️👌🏼

[@vix_in_japan]

We all have those regrets, like the A3000 I sold in early 2001 for £125! But then, that was a long time ago and I had no need of it back then and I needed the money to pay for the PC I had bought (second hand one, but I didn't have money on the hip back then....some things never change!) But I think you will love having an A500 or my number 1 again, there's some real purity that I see in the machines, that's why I kept my A600 on its stock 68000, I just like putting that Rainbow Islands disk in and booting it!

[@herdarkshadow834]

I think prices have been softening of late. I picked up a complete Amiga 500 with psu, mouse and cables for £96. Just needed a bit of clean to make it look all shiny and new. I have to say I’d take the 500 Plus over the 500 but that’s just a personal Workbench preference of the time.

[@vix_in_japan]

That's good to hear, I'm glad prices are coming down a bit again as it's put the real stuff out of reach for so many people who would love to use such a machine. The A500 Plus is fine, honestly I put it down so low on my list because the average Jo/Joe can't repair that battery acid damage most have, meaning it's not cheap to repair, and at the time the 500 Plus was such a missed opportunity in late 1991. But yes as I said in the video, I vastly prefer an Amiga with OS 2 or later.

[@retrogenius8397]

If you want to do more than play games I would agree, you have to go for an A1200 or possibly A600 for the 2mb RAM and a HDD as it's not easy to get a HDD onto an A500. If you are on a tight budget and want to play as many of the games as possible the OCS A500 with a 512k trapdoor expansion and 1 external drive is a great system has pretty much got you covered. Almost all of the best games for the Amiga are 512k+512k original chipset anyway and my original copies of Lotus II don't work on my A1200 which for people who like driving games is a bad thing. Just for the record, I used to make 250+ frame Dpaint anims with VIDI Amiga on my 9mb A2000 so any RAM will do for that. For MOD trackers the more Chip RAM the better the quality of samples you can use.

[@doctorsocrates4413]

A500 has always been my favourite..i still have 2 of them...the A1200 seemed the more likely successor rather than the A600...

[@monolalia]

I can’t get over how gigantic your Super Famicom looks in this view…

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

I'm too used to the size of the SNES Mini now ...

[@vix_in_japan]

Yeah it's not the smallest, compared to the AV Famicom and PC Engine (boxed up right now due to things about to happen in a week) it's pretty big! But it's my favorite console so it's always out.

[@vix_in_japan]

This is true! I have one of those too, but also boxed up right now.

[@monolalia]

@@vix_in_japan I think it’s due to the wide angle of the video?… The monitor and table also “grow” toward the right…

[@LuciRosseTV]

The 500 is THE Amiga for millions of users, I've received mine in december '90, with A501 ram expansion and 1084s monitor, later I bought A1011 external drive (very useful) and lots of joysticks, including "QuickShot wireless (infrared) joypads" I remember afternoons with friends playing Pinball Dreams, Noth and South, MOnkey Island and the other lucas adventures, Another World, Lotus challenge with my brother, IK+, and many many others In the summer of 2009 I was living in Berlin, there were celebrations for the 20th of the wall, in an exposition there was an AMIGA 500 with a printer and caption said "this computer was smuggled to the east to exchange informations...) that was crazy, but if you think it in those days it was very smart, reliable and easy to hide!

[@vix_in_japan]

I agree, for most people, a mildly upgraded (for modern utility, not Sysinfo screenshot bragging...) A500 will suit most people down to the ground. There are only a very small fraction of people who will be trying to render massive Lightwave 3D animations or creating a 50 page document in Final Writer these days so I like the "economy" of the A500, which is why it had to be as high as it is.

[@LuciRosseTV]

@@vix_in_japan later on, I also bought a (quite expensive) STAR color printer, 24 pins... I remember I sold it to buy a RC TAMYA off road :D

[@olek4182]

My first Amiga was A500 :) :) (kick 1.3 , 0.5 MB CHIP 0.5 SLOW RAM and DF1 ) , after few years my father bought external HDD with 2 MB Fast RAM :) I have a LOT of very, very nice memories about A500 :) . Countless hours spent playing civilization, railroad tycoon, megalomania :D :D :D After A500 we bought A600 ( it was disaster :/ ) then CD32 ( I love that console ) , after that A1200 :D :D :D

[@vix_in_japan]

Sounds like a lot of fun, I certainly spent many hours playing games in that vein like The Settlers, Populous 1 and 2 etc!

[@spudliet]

Good decision, it's great but just won't cover as quite as many basis as the Amiga in the number one slot, and it is a little larger and more unwieldy. Probably a safer bet if you don't want to have worry about maintenance though! I still think the A3000 is top of the list for me though, purely on looks perhaps :)

[@vix_in_japan]

I think you're following my thread of why I put a certain machine higher. The A3000 is indeed pretty but I've kinda ignore aesthetics in this series, if I had, I'm still a sucker for the A600 in that regard!

[@gunnerhoward3134]

Oooh Y reg :)

[@vix_in_japan]

Don't keep asking me why reg! By god someone got the obtuse stuff I put in this video ;)

[@gunnerhoward3134]

@@vix_in_japan Can't beat a bit of Shuttleworth Vicky. He's God like up here in Sheffield ;)

[@danielktdoranie]

IMHO the worst Amiga is MorphOS. Why? Because they charge €75 for an OS that is largely composed of FOSS AROS code! Also, they don’t seem interested in porting to an architecture/computer that is being made today. (They could port to arm, and RISC-V but they keep it on PowerPC Macs that aren’t made anymore). Second would be the AmigaOne computers, the X1000. You have to mortgage your house to get one and it arrived with glitched out USB.

[@vix_in_japan]

You're not going to find much disagreement from me, but I have absolutely zero interest in modern Amigas so I also know next to nothing about it. My interest really only extends to the Amiga of the Commodore era, beyond that, I readily embrace technology moved on. This is why I don't have particularly expanded Amigas myself (A600 is still 68000, A500 has an ACA500Plus, A1200 has the basic ACA1221 I think it is) as they capture what the Amiga was for me.