IS THE AMIGA OVERPRICED ?
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Remember  when  Escom  finally took over the Amiga ?  Remember how joyous
and  ecstatic  we all were ?  Recall the way all the birds sang and every
morning it was a marvel just to get out of bed and sniff the fragrant and
crisp air.  How even a Pot Noodle could taste good ?

Then  we  read  that  the Miggy was to return to the shops, the A1200 and
A4000T  was  going back into production.  Quick, get out the flags, buy a
six-pack  on  the  way  home,  order  a  curry,  jump  the  wife twice in
succession.   (Well,  maybe  forget  the wife bit).  The point was IT WAS
BACK !

Then  you  wander  into a shop that sells Miggys.  (If you can find one).
You  marvel  at the bright and shiny box.  You gag at the software that's
in  the  bundle.  ( It is excellent).  You're not that surprised that the
shop couldn't be arsed to set one up.  You look at the price tag......

Like  everyone  else  who  already owns an Amiga I thought that Escom had
blown  it.   £400  for  a basic Miggy.  £500 for a Miggy with a small HD.
Even  with the excellent bundle it's still overpriced.  We all know that,
why  don't  these German gits ?  "They're in it for a quick buck," we all
shouted, and our dreams of world peace fall quicker than Princess Diana's
knickers to rugby players.

Anyway,  I  was  at  work  and  a couple of the guys there said they were
thinking  about  getting  a  computer  for  Christmas.  Knowing I owned a
computer they asked if I could bring something in.  I took them a Special
Reserve  catalogue.   (Plug  time,  join  now,  cheap  software, reliable
service,  try  and  cop off with the good looking blonde who works in the
Sawbridgeworth shop, etc.).

They  looked  through  it  and  saw that the basic entry level PC, DX100,
4MbRAM,  1.2Gb  HD, Multimedia etc.  started at about £1200.  Prices went
up  to  about £1800 for a Pentium and 16Mb RAM.  "Which one do we need to
get ?" they said.  "Do you want it to be out of date in a year ?" I said.
"No,"  they  said.  "Buy the £1800 one then," I said.  "Fuck off, I'm not
spending that on something I wanna play a game on and write a few letters
on." they said.

I  turned  the pages of the catalogue and, ever the optimist, said, "What
about  this  one then." Then looked at the page.  It showed a 1200 hooked
up  to  a  monitor.  "Where's the box that goes with the keyboard ?" they
said.   "Don't  need  one," I said.  "Oh.  err, what about soundcards and
graphics  cards ?" "Don't need any, custom chips built in." "Oh, err only
2  Mb  RAM  that's  a bit small isn't it, don't you need 16Mb ?" "Not for
most  things  no, it can allocate it's RAM properly and the OS don't take
up  8Mb."  "Ah,  Does  it come with a monitor?" "Err, no, you can plug it
into     a     TV     if    you    want."    "Really,    can    you    do
WP/Graphics/Music/Spreadsheets/Games  etc.   etc.  etc.  than a PC can do
?"  "Yes,  and it's better at it a lot of them." "Oh right, what software
do you get with it ?" "Look at the bundle." "That's great."

I  then  went  on  to explain about Workbench Vs Win'95, Lightwave, MIDI,
Multitasking,  PD,  fanatical  and  kewl user base and the fact that they
weren't going to run a business with it and have to do accounts to Inland
Revenue and HM Customs standards.

"How  much  is  it  then  ?" they asked.  Oh shit, here we go, I thought.
"£500  for  one with a hard drive." "Wow, that's good," they said.  "It's
overpriced," I said.  "It's not bloody £1800," they said.

The  point is, is that computers are the must have executive toy for this
and  probably next year.  Microsoft are very good at the advertising game
and  have the fact that no home can do without a computer at the front of
everyone's  mind.   It is up to us, the current Amiga community to ensure
that  new  entrants to computers are aware that they do not have to spend
shitloads of cash, just a small bucket load of cash.

Are  Amigas  overpriced  ?  Yes, the A4000T is horrendous.  The A1200 too
expensive.   If  you've  got  an A500 or A600 and want to upgrade you can
feel hard- done by.  If you've got an A1200 and want to go up to an A4000
buy  a  tower  case and an accelerator.  We all know that, but those with
the  real  spending power, i.e..  the uninitiated public don't and it's a
massive  influx of new users that will give the Miggy the shot in the arm
it so richly deserves.

The Duty Man.
e-mail - Smoker@draught.demon.co.uk

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