Index Information have announced the prices for their new BoXeR motherboard - 479UKP inc VAT. This is just the motherboard - no CPU, no case, etc. Complete systems will be offered, one example was '040 (40MHz?), 32MB RAM, 4.3GB HD, HD Floppy (yes, HD!) along with Tower case, keyboard etc for 899UKP, or with an '060 for 100UKP extra.
At first I was rather disappointed by this price, but then again, compared to an A4000T, it is a lot better. But before I continue, let's have a look at the specifications of this board:
The specifications look excellent - maybe not as good as the promised pre-Box, but the release of this board is immenent, and offers us better than the A4000 at a cheaper price.
Yes, price. There are two considerations: Firstly, how does is compare to a PC (or Mac)? Secondly, how much better value is it compared to existing Amiga setups.
Of course, I'm not expecting it to compete with PC motherboards on price - Index just don't have the economies of scales that PC mothherboard manufacturers have. Also, a BoXeR Amiga setup has to have both 680x0 and PPC, you have to have AGA on board, and so on. Nonetheless, we're talking a price of 480UKP. Even the most expensive PC motherboards don't tend to be more than 200UKP.
On the other front, how does it compare against existing Amigas? If we want to make a computer, we need to add some bits. Let's say: Tower case (50UKP), keyboard (10UKP), disk drive (10UKP, possibly a lot more for an Amiga one), mouse (10UKP). There's also the question of the Amiga OS - a PC motherboard doesn't include Windows '95, so you have to add 60UKP or so for that - does the BoXeR include the price of the Amiga OS and ROMs? Even if it does, we still have a price of 560UKP for a base machine.
Add 4MB of RAM to that for a fiver, and you've got 565UKP, where as an A4000T with no CPU, no HD and 6MB RAM costs 1049UKP (White Knight). Even if we say an Amiga floppy costs 30UKP, and we need to add the Amiga OS (say, 60UKP), we have 645UKP, still a saving of over 400UKP!
So on this front, it is extremely good value (okay, the A4000T has SCSI2, but you could add that fairly cheaply) - if only because of the fact that the A4000 is such a rip off...
The Amiga is still extremely good value for video usage, however. Even expensive A4000Ts with slow, expensive '060 CPUs are still much better value than PCs and PowerMacs for this purpose. Now we have the BoXeR cutting the price by a few hundred pounds. This has to be a good thing. In fact, the BoXeR is significantly better than the A4000 - PPC cards will surely be cheaper than those for the A4000, it has active ISA slots. I would hope (but have no idea if this is the case) that things like serial ports would be improved, rather than being the original slow Amiga ones. And more (see the features list above).
But how would it compare against an A1200T? First, let's look at the Infinitiv 1500, because this is effectively an A4000 (it has Zorro 3 slots, and an A4000 CPU slot). This costs 600UKP, so is only slightly more expensive. But you do have all the advantages over the A4000, and possibly more (I'm not entirely sure how well a 1500 compares against an A4000T). I would have hoped that the BoXeR, being a new, modern product, compared to an old A1200 motherboard forced into a tower, with lots of bits added on, would have been rather cheaper, but there you are.
So it seems that if you want a high end Amiga, with 604e processors (or even G3), and particularly if you want to do video work, then the BoXeR is a welcome board, and better value than existing Amigas.
What about the user who wants PPC, but is happy with a 603e? At the moment, you can buy an A1200T (I will consider the Infintiv 1300 and 1400), put in a PPC card (and soon a BlizzardVision).
The point is that many would not need Zorro cards. You'll plug the BlizzardVision into the PPC card. Things like sound cards, ethernet cards and so on on Amiga Zorro cards are rather expensive, so you might prefer to live without them.
In that case, you could get a 1300 for just 330UKP, a saving of over 300UKP. Even a 1400 with Zorro slots (albeit, Zorro 2) costs 470UKP, a saving of just under 200UKP.
Okay, the BoXeR is a much better board, but if you can live wihout those features, don't need Zorro, and only want a 603e, an A1200T will be a much better choice.
The hope is that, in time, prices will fall to become worthwhile for average users, rather than dedicated Amiga enthusiasts, or those involved in video production. Certainly, the BoXeR offers systems much cheaper than the A4000T, and the pre-Box looks to be a whole lot cheaper again (1500UKP for 4 200MHz 604s looks extremely good value for late '98/ early '99).
It's sad that if you were hoping to upgrade to a PPC Amiga system, the BoXeR won't be at all as cheap as you might have hoped, and you might be stuck with A1200Ts, but it is at least a huge step forward for the high end Amiga market.