Peter Corlett <ab...@cabal.org.uk> writes: > Commodore UK also released the A1500 which was an A2000 without hard > disk but with an extra floppy drive, i.e. the same spec as a typical > A500 gaming rig. It apparently flew off the shelves, although I'm not > sure why given it cost somewhat more than the A500 equivalent.
Looking at the prices in Amiga Shopper issue 1 (May 1991), the A1500 was a reasonable deal *if* you wanted a machine with expansion slots. Evesham Micros were selling the A1500 bundle with a 1084 monitor for £949, when the A500 "Screen Gems" bundle with 1MB and an extra drive -- but no monitor -- was £419. Add the £239 for a Philips monitor and £199 for a Checkmate A1500 expansion box (or £350 for a Bodega Bay), and you were in nearly the same ballpark with a much less tidy system. It was definitely worth a look if what you really wanted was an A2000 with a hard disk, since you could buy a non-Commodore hard disk controller, many of which were faster and/or cheaper than the A2090. That said, though, the A1500 definitely wasn't flying off the shelves anything like as fast as the A500. I saw lots of A500s in the early 90s in Kent, but only one A1500 (with an accelerator, KCS PC emulator, and various other expansions, which eventually meant it remained in use long after the rest of us had upgraded to A1200s). Cheers, -- Adam Sampson <a...@offog.org> <http://offog.org/>