AmigaLove

Just got the little notification blip from YouTube that Dan Wood (one of the top Amiga YouTubers!) just released a new video on another big box Amiga: the Amiga 3000, which he got as a wedding gift and now has done a video overview of!

I've almost never seen the Amiga 3000 in the wild before, so seeing this one is quite the treat, as I've become quite interested in the big box Amiga line and what can be done with them.

Oh nice - I'll have to check that out. I like his stuff.

I always thought the 3000 was a nice looking machine with solid specs. A little cramped on the inside, but if you don't need to fiddle too much it's really nice. It's basically what most 2000's seem to aspire to become technically speaking.

If I ever had one I'd probably run 1.3 on it and keep it mostly stock. It's got a nice slim form factor.

I've never had a 3000, so I've never seen one opened up like that. Just 3 screws? And how it all slid off in one piece (sorta like the 2000) without any dangly wires is pretty slick. Also pretty sweet how it has a built-in scan doubler although that kind of stuff I feel like I'd not use much these days. BITD I could see an argument for it in an office environment and if I was trying to do creative work. But simple usage these days not as much. But it would be fun to geek out on from a hardware perspective just to goof around with it.

Cool machine.

It's only one screw more than the Amiga 4000; two screws hold the A4000 case top to the frame, then it just slides back and right off!

Actually *getting* to the motherboard, on the other hand, involves basically having to tear down the entire machine. Anthony Becker of The Guru Meditation did a presentation on Amiga repairs, demonstrating with his A4000, at Vintage Computer Fest East back in 2016. Watch as he has to basically take almost everything out of the case to get at the board!

That's the way the 2000 is, too. Four screws on the sides (2 on each) then one in the back, then Woosh!

But to get to the board you have to remove the floppy bay as well as the PSU. Then you have to unscrew a bunch of additional screws that hold the board to the bottom case. It's kind of a PITA, honestly, if you need to remove it.

But I've seen way worse in the old PC clone days.

So which is better the A3000 or A4000?

So which is better the A3000 or A4000?

That probably all depends on the person and what he/she plans to do with the machine. Right?

The question is probably more, "which is better for ... X?" (and you fill in the X)

Lorfarius wrote:So which is better the A3000 or A4000?

I've always loved the look of the 3000 desktop. Speaking of the 3000...some guy on Facebook is making a new 3000-like desktop case for the A500. He is the original designer of the Checkmake 1500 case from back in the day. It looks like a neat project.

I saw that as well. It does look pretty cool; reminds me of how people used to get tower cases for the A1200 and then throw some crazy expansions into them!

This might be a fun little project to watch. I may not go that route with the A500, but if there's one thing I would absolutely love to see for the 500s (and even the 600s!), it would have to be brand spanking new cases similar to the Amiga 1200 case project. Every fiber of me would loooooooove to have a dark blue Amiga 500.