Amiga 500
An Amiga 500 computer system, with 1084S RGB monitor and second A1010 floppy disk drive
|
|
| Type | Home computer |
|---|---|
| Release date | April 1987 (Netherlands), October 1987 (US) |
| Introductory price | USD 699, £499 (1987) USD 1,500 (2017 equivalent) |
| Discontinued | 1991 |
| Media | 880 kB floppy disks |
| Operating system | AmigaOS v1.2 - 1.3 |
| CPU |
Motorola 68000 @ 7.16 MHz (NTSC) 7.09 MHz (PAL) |
| Memory | 512 kB 150 ns (9 MB maximum) |
| Graphics | 736×567i 4-bpp PAL (736×483i 4 bpp NTSC), 368×567i 6 bpp PAL (368×483i 6 bpp NTSC) |
| Sound | 4× 8-bit channels PCM at max 28 kHz with 6-bit volume in stereo |
| Predecessor | Amiga 1000 |
| Successor | Amiga 500 Plus |
The Amiga 500, also known as the A500 (or its code name "Rock Lobster"), is the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer. It was announced at the winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1987 - at the same time as the high-end Amiga 2000 - and competed directly against the Atari 520ST. Before Amiga 500 was shipped, Commodore suggested that the list price of the Amiga 500 was US$595.95 without a monitor. At delivery in October 1987, Commodore announced that the Amiga 500 would carry a US$699/£499 list price. In Europe, the Amiga 500 was released in May 1987. In the Netherlands, the A500 was available from April 1987 for a list price of 1499 HFL (730 USD in 1987).
The Amiga 500 represents a return to Commodore's roots by being sold in the same mass retail outlets as the Commodore 64 - to which it was a spiritual successor - as opposed to the computer-store-only Amiga 1000, as well as being another computer whose keyboard is included just above in the same case.
The original Amiga 500 proved to be Commodore’s best-selling Amiga model, enjoying particular success in Europe. Although popular with hobbyists, arguably its most widespread use was as a gaming machine, where its advanced graphics and sound were of significant benefit. Amiga 500 eventually sold 6 million units worldwide.
In October 1989, the Amiga 500 dropped its price from £499 GBP to £399 and was bundled with the Batman Pack in the United Kingdom. This price drop helped Commodore to sell more than 1 million Amiga 500s in 1989.
In late 1991, an enhanced model known as the Amiga 500+ replaced the original 500 in some markets, it was bundled with the Cartoon Classics pack in the United Kingdom at 399 GBP.
...
Wikipedia