±33    Go buy yourself an Amiga 1200

±12By Dolphin/Stone Arts

±41I've  been wondering why only a little
part  of  the scene has updated to AGA
machines  so far, well with "little" I
mean only about 50% or so.

The  Amiga 1200 and the Amiga 4000 has
been on the marked for a long time now
and  the  price  has gone down a great
deal!  The times when you had to be an
excentric  millioneer  to  purchase an
Advanced  Graphics  Architecture Amiga
has passed.

When I bought my A500 in 1988 I had to
pay  550  GBP  for  it  (including the
RF-modulator),  and  now it's possible
to  buy  the  Amiga 1200 for under 300
GBP.   Actually,  I  bought  myself  a
A1200    with    an   internal   120Mb
harddrive,  fully  guaranteed, for 650
GBP.    Now   this  shouldn't  be  too
expensive!   (Lately,  I've  even seen
this package for less than 600 GBP.)

I  think  that  a lot of scene-members
haven't realized how wonderful the AGA
machines are.  Maybe they think it was
a  pitty that Commodore didn't include
8  channels  of  sound  and  a  faster
blitter,  but they should consider the
other facts too.

2Mb   of   pure   chip  RAM  is  quite
convinient,  not  to mention the cache
memory  and the improved Workbench and
Kickstart.   (Compared  to  a standard
A500  with  Kick  1.3) If you're still
not   convinced,   check  out  a  good
digitized  picture  in 256.000 colours
in   super-high-resolution-laced.   It
looks  like  the  same  quality  as on
television!  (Only better perhaps?)

Those who complain about the speed the
A1200  has  to  offer  - check out the
possibilities   you   have  with  some
32-bit  real fast RAM.  I've heard you
speed  it up more than 70% this way...
You  could  of  course  try  buying  a
Blizzard-card with a 68EC030 and space
for  a  math-processor and up to 128MB
fast  RAM.   This  sure ±42kicks ass±41 when
raytracing is concerned.

I  think  it's  time  for the scene to
update  those  old  -87 machines, to a
machine   worthy   of  the  nineteens,
namely  the A1200 (or the A4000 if you
have enough money!).  At the same time
you could invest in a harddrive!

So,  the conclusion of this article is
this:    Don't  make  AGA  productions
±43"downwards-compatible"±41.     Use    the
strenght  the  1200  has to offer.  If
some  A500  owners  can't  watch those
productions  - SO WHAT!  Maybe they'll
go and buy themselves a better Amiga.
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