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Amiga 1200 - What to look for?

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Smack2k

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I am about to start looking into the Amiga 1200 for possible purchase, and I see all kinds of different descriptions / add-ons online for various prices (Ebay US / UK)..

So, when looking to buy one of these, what aspects in the machine should I focus on? What extras should I look for? Anything in particular I should avoid?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
 
Failing / leaky caps are an issue with Amiga 1200 so any untested model should probably be avoided unless you're happy with SMD cap soldering.

From my own experience at least, I've found 1D1 / 1D4 motherboards are most compatible with accelerators etc and seem to give me the least fuss. I would personally avoid the later (non-Commodore) A1200s as others have reported issues.

Just be aware when buying on eBay there is one fellow who bids high on all (literally, all) of the Amiga 1200s to re-sell on auction, so you might be better trying to pounce on a Buy It Now rather than an auction, or even try Amibay.

I do have a couple of A1200s spare which I will eventually sell but they don't have working floppy drives :-(
 
I went the route of getting a PAL 1200 from the UK, and it requires either a RGB monitor, (I use a 1084s), or the use of a PAL compatible TV or a scan converter (Expensive). Of all the LCD TV's I've tested, only 32" and larger have been able to take the PAL composite video signal.

There are much more PAL games/demos than NTSC which is the reason I went this route.


Recapping your 1200 is a given, if they haven't failed yet, they will, and sometimes they damage the motherboard.

The base 1200 can't do much, unless you stick with floppy games, and now that the gotek floppy emulators work with them, this is the cheapest mass storage option.

You will want (need) and accelerator / ram upgrade if you want the use whdload games.

Head over to Amibay and the English Amiga Board for much more info, and I recommend buying off the members at either of these sites.

Later,
dabone
 
Thanks for the information…..I want to get a PAL one as well as I have an RGB Monitor and a World Wide VCR that I can run anything through and then to NTSC TV….

I definitely want the accelerator and the RAM Upgrade with the setup, thanks for mentioning that…

I will head over to those boards to start looking as well….I know I am gonna drop some coin on it, so I want it right...
 
Do NTSC A1200 actually exist? I haven't seen one with a US ANSI keyboard layout either. Mass storage on them is easy, they have IDE and PC Card slots.
 
Hm, interesting to read about the issue with caps. I've had three 1200's of which I have recapped neither and .. cross my thumbs .. so far none has showed any signs of failure, but of course one doesn't observe it until it is too late. One of them I've used regularly since 1996 or so.
 
The first failures usually show in the audio, and just flaky quirks.
When you change the bad caps they smell like old fish.


Later,
dabone
 
The A1200 has a VERY slow IDE bus which is the primary reason I got rid of mine. Picking up one of the accelerators with SCSI makes it a whole lot more bearable.

Other than that its a good machine. My personal favourite is the A3000 for SCSI and good performance out of the box. Definitely look for a later revision, mine was an ESCOM 1200 so I was very lucky that nothing went bad.
 
Get an A1200 if you're in Europe where they are plentiful. Otherwise if you're in North America, you might as well hold out for an A4000 if you want an AGA Amiga. Just watch out for ones whose motherboard has been destroyed due to leaking battery acid, and even on a well-kept machine, be prepared to replace the capacitors. A common sign of capacitor failure is weak or no audio in one or both channels.
 
The PAL 1200 with the accelerator is what I will be trying to find…..what do you consider a good price for both buyer and seller for a 1200 with the accelerator in it?
 
There are several different accelerators, but if we consider a rather standard A1230, 40-50 MHz 68030 with a SIMM slot... well, if it should be fair both to seller and buyer I would start around $220 but perhaps that is on the low end, more likely $250. Actually accelerators tend to be even more desired than the Amiga 1200's itself, at least to my experience.
 
I'll second the accelerators being more desired than the computer.. especially once you pass the 68030 plain. Try bidding on a 68040, or especially a 68060/PPC and be prepared to shell out at least a grand, usually quite a bit more.

I'm quite happy with my 50mhz 68030 M-TEC 1230XA. Runs fast and handles up to 128mb of RAM. Though one of these days, I'll get the Blizzard 1230 and SCSI+ up and running with 256mb....

Also, 2 complete A1200's, 1 spare motherboard, none recapped, and *cross fingers* no problems yet.

I can solder SMT caps fine... I just get kind've antsy when removing the old ones. Those traces tend to lift easily for me, even when you do the "safe" snip and clip with flush-mount pliers...
 
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