If
Amiga retailers and OS developers are to be believed, there is a surge of interest in the platform from people without proper OS 4.1 hardware. As of mid-September 2022, the only viable option to jump on the modern Amiga train is to buy an Amiga X5000. However, with a price tag of over €2,000, that is far from realistic for the potential user base.
Enter the
SAM 460LE and the Amiga A1222. While the latter has been delayed on several occasions and while its developer - British A-EON -
refuses to update the A1222 homepage - the former is expected to hit store shelves within a matter of weeks. The advent of an entry-level Amiga system should bust the OS 4 door wide open - right?
Well, that all comes down to how deep your pockets are. Unlike the Amiga 1222 - which has a lot of its sub-systems on board its motherboard - the SAM460LE is cost reduced for a reason. Apart from the SAM460LE motherboard, its users will have to bring a SATA controller for the hard drive, a graphics card and a sound card to the table (filling up all available three PCI slots in the process).
A complete SAM460LE
is around €900, including sales tax. It's a lot of money - but just how much money is it? Is a seat onboard the Amiga bullet train in 2022 too high? At the end of the day, that's a question every budding or returning Amiga user will have to ask themselves. When they do, they are well advised to know that the Amiga 500
was introduced to the US market for an asking price of $699 USD in 1987 - equivalent of around €1,670/$1,670 USD today.
If you are currently on a Legacy Amiga or on foreign operating system but want a slice of the Release 4 cake - what do you think a reasonable price tag is? Will A-EON be able to launch the A1222 at a lower price than what the SAM460LE is expected to cost? Any thoughts and comments are most welcome!
Edited by FirstNinja on 2022/9/14 18:40:31