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I recently sold a defective Amiga 1000 on Ebay for over $300. I'm going to list my old Amiga 1200 and expect to get over $1000 for it since its working and "souped up". This made me wonder: Besides pure nostalgia, what are people using Amigas for today? In its day it was unbeatable but the CGI I managed to create on a Windows 10 computer now makes anything I did with the Amiga 30 years ago seem laughable. I respect my buyers privacy and am reluctant to ask them.

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    While I can imagine a few people out there still just like the workflow and software they got used to in the 80s and 90s, I'm pretty sure almost all of the price is a reflection of the collector market, not for replacements of working tools.
    – RETRAC
    Jan 17, 2021 at 18:09
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    Pure Nostalgia - the same reason good money is payed for old cars or toasters. Not wanting to be negative, but you might need to curb your enthusiasm. For one, working/non working is a temporary difference, not making a huge difference in price. Even more relevant, prices are not related to functionality, but how 'great' a machine is, here a 1000 is way more desirable than a 1200. Much like a 1950 VW bug is more liked than a 1972 with tripple the power and a working heating system :))
    – Raffzahn
    Jan 17, 2021 at 18:31
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    Speaking of toasters, I've heard out-of-production Amigas were once valued for video editing (using a Video Toaster). But that's probably long past -- wikipedia says not since 2012
    – Owen Reynolds
    Jan 18, 2021 at 5:17
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    I don't see any harm in asking buyers in a nonintrusive way: This is a great machine! I'd love to hear about your plans for it if you don't mind sharing--no worries if you'd rather keep it to yourself.
    – zedmelon
    Jan 18, 2021 at 22:15

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I think your expectation of the price you might get is wildly overoptimistic.

The A1000 was an unusual machine, the first model in a new range. It did not sell in very high numbers and was discontinued in 1987 after just two years on the market.

The A1200 was a fairly common high-end home computer, stayed in production for over four years, from Commodore then from Escom. It went off sale in 1996, nearly a decade more recently. It's also much easier to expand -- for instance it accepts IDE hard disks (or CF cards) and PCMCIA cards directly.

An A1000 is more desirable to most collectors than an A1200, I would expect.

What do people use them for? Well, hardcore Amiga fans who did art and so forth on the machines probably kept theirs. Someone looking for one now is probably just a collector. Most collectors don't do anything with the machines: they clean them up and put them on a shelf. Maybe it might get tested then used to play a few games.

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  • New hardware, such as the Vampire accelerator, or new software, is what brings Amigas back down from the shelves. Even "nostalgic people" are always looking for a new experience.
    – Brian H
    Jan 17, 2021 at 19:03
  • Liam, the price estimate I cited is based on recent sales of Amiga 1200s on Ebay. I think your right about collectibility, but since new hardware is still being developed, at least some people must be putting them to a practice use.
    – Walter
    Jan 17, 2021 at 20:43
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    @Walter There's plenty of retrocomputing hobbyists out there, for whom "just because" is a perfectly acceptably reason to hack on horribly obsolete hardware. Sure, there might still be the occasional industrial control system running on something from the 1980s, but most of the new hardware you see is aimed at hobbyists and weekend hackers who just want to do something cool.
    – Sebastian Lenartowicz
    Jan 18, 2021 at 9:15
  • Agree the price feels high (at least at time of writing). Also I might add that models such as A1000/A2000/A3000 ('Desktops') seemed more popular in the US, while in Europe the A500/A600 and A1200 models were more popular (A500plus and A2500 not even sold in the US iirc). An A1000 may be somewhat cheaper in the US relative to an A1200, and vice versa in Europe where A1000 are hens teeth comapred to A500/A600/A1200.
    – lfgtm
    Jan 18, 2021 at 23:55
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Your question seems to assume that there must be some practical need for owning a classic Amiga computer today, and that the price of the machine in the marketplace should be reflective of this practical need.

For practical use, the only technically sound cases are Amiga hardware development and Amiga emulator development.

New hardware releases occur periodically. Those who develop new Amiga hardware need an accurate test-bed, and that likely means acquiring a real Amiga. They at least need testers with access to Amigas to perform the testing.

In addition, for those involved in creating either a hardware (e.g. FPGA) or software emulation for the Amiga, the only definitive test of the emulation accuracy is to compare it with the behavior of the actual hardware. For this reason, emulation development benefits from being able to conduct such testing, and those developers have a practical need for the classic hardware.

Those developing games or other content (new releases still occur regularly) may desire to test or enjoy their creations on an actual Amiga. This because they are "enthusiasts" who want to capture an "authentic" experience. The authenticity of using the original hardware is not easily replicated through emulation. But, this content is still quite functional in an emulator, and that is enough for many of the creators.

So, practical use-cases for a classic Amiga are quite "niche". As @Raffzahn noted, those really needing an Amiga for development reasons probably already have one or more. This puts them firmly in the group of "those not selling Amigas", rather than in the group that might be bidding on one for auction today.

The majority of those wanting to buy the machines are viewing them as collectibles, and for them the price is not related to the practical utility of the Amiga itself. Rather, the price is a function of the rarity and the importance attached to the item by the buyer. This is essentially what sets the prices for all collectibles.

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    Amiga development is a valid point, but then it may be useful to add (already early on) that anyone doing serious Amiga hardware development not only has already floating around several machines, but they are at the same time well networked to get more at a considerable lower level than random spiking Ebay prices.
    – Raffzahn
    Jan 17, 2021 at 20:22
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Besides pure nostalgia, what are people using Amigas for today?

The same things I was using it for in 1997 - writing programs in 68k assembler, browsing the Net and downloading the latest stuff from Aminet, listening to music, playing games... You see, for me it's not nostalgia, it's just continuing to do what I have always done.

In its day it was unbeatable but the CGI I managed to create on a Windows 10 computer now makes anything I did with the Amiga 30 years ago seem laughable.

CGI was never my thing, so I have no need for the latest hardware. I don't even own a Windows 10 PC and probably never will (why pay for an OS you hate?). But what advantages does an ancient Amiga have for me over a modern PC?

I enjoy designing and building electronic devices, both for work and as a hobby. I want to know exactly what I am doing down to individual component level, which is practically impossible in a modern PC. The Amiga has relatively simple hardware and OS that is easy to poke around in. It can also be programmed 'bare metal' for games or hardware interfacing. I have 34 years of experience with it (and still learning!). At 63 years old there's no way I could get anywhere near that depth of knowledge on a modern PC, even if I wanted to.

For many of us who have owned an Amiga or still do, the scene is better today than it ever was. New hardware addons are being designed that take advantage of modern technology at very low cost. Now anybody can design a PCB and have it manufactured to professional standards, and even sell finished products on eBay for a small profit. There also several online shops that specialize in Amiga hardware.

On the software side, most titles are now abandonware that is free to download. The OS source code was leaked (for 'personal study' only!) and there is an open-source replacement. Cross development is much easier and cheaper now. New games are being produced that are showing what can be done when developers with real talent apply themselves (rather than just quickly porting stuff from other platforms), and games that never made it to the Amiga before are getting new life. The move towards open-source has also made it easier to keep up with modern standards, and official development of the OS was recently restarted.

An Amiga might not be the best computer for productivity today, but as entertainment it is still a good choice. Few would consider building and configuring a new PC to be anything but a chore, while tinkering with old computers is still fun. With Covid running rampant and many people having unexpected spare time on their hands, some are returning to hobbies like computing. That is why Amiga prices are going up.

I'm going to list my old Amiga 1200 and expect to get over $1000 for it since its working and "souped up".

Right now that price is probably a bit steep (unless it has an 060 or PPC accelerator in it), but leave it there long enough and you just might get a buyer eventually. Then again, you might change your mind and decide to keep it!

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  • My Amiga 1200 does have an accelerator board and a HDD. I'm not going to start bidding at $1000, But recent sales show that its possible. I'll take whatever the market will bear.
    – Walter
    Jan 18, 2021 at 20:27
  • Which accelerator card, how much RAM, and what size is the HDD?
    – Bruce Abbott
    Jan 18, 2021 at 20:41
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Allegedly hosting a mirror of netbsd.org.

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