Quote Originally Posted by j_factor View Post
For Amiga, the 4000T is the "ultimate" model and a source of pride to anyone who owns one, but really, you don't need it. An A1200 will do almost anything you need. Even the CPU upgrades aren't exactly necessary. Another option that's great in theory is a CD32 console with appropriate additions. Be ready to spend a lot of money.
The interesting thing I find about the various Amiga models is that almost all of them are useful in their own way. The 500/600 is a good entry level system for people who just want to buy disk games and play them... the 2000/3000 are interesting for their expansion options, and work nicely with WHDLoad... the 1200 is probably the best choice, mostly due to it's price, availability of expansions, and AGA chipset... and the 4000 combines all the best features of the 1200 (except the price part!) with the expansion capabilities of the 2000/3000 line. Even the CDTV and CD32 are interesting and useful in their own ways.

For someone just starting out though, I always recommend the 1200. The only major downside I find with the 1200 is lack of RAM. The built-in RAM isn't enough to run WHDLoad well (some games work, but many need more RAM, and having even more would allow you to pre-load stuff), and you can't expand the RAM without some sort of expansion card.

The Power Macs had a backwards-compatibility mode to run the 68k-based software, so you may not want to bother at all.
How reliable is this? I currently have a Mac Centris 610 that I've upgraded quite a bit (Full 68040, ethernet card, CD-ROM, video ram, etc)... I had always planned to "round out" my old Mac setup with a PowerPC machine (probably an iMac). But is there even any point in this, or would it just be easier all around to get an iMac and dump my Centris?

Quote Originally Posted by Jorpho View Post
Without a serial port, you are pretty much limited to whatever disks you can find "in the wild". A serial port can be used to transfer data from a PC.
Well, there are always other ways. Personally, I use my above-mentioned Mac to write Apple II disks.

As for the original topic... I highly recommend the C-128 over any other model of C-64. They're a good bit harder to find, but they have a huge amount of built in features that can't really be done so well on the C-64 (at least, not without tons of add-ons)... CP/M mode, 80 column mode, built-in machine language monitor, improved drive access when combined with a 1571. The only downside I've ever really heard against the 128 is that people claim the SID chip in it is inferior to the regular 64... but honestly, I can't tell the difference, and unless you're a serious audiophile, I don't think you will either.

As for the Atari 8-bit line, I've always been partial to the XEGS myself. It's basically a 65XE in a different case, but it makes all the difference as far as I'm concerned. I've always liked the styling of the case, and the detachable keyboard means that you can essentially use the machine as a console if you prefer (I always present this option to console people who otherwise ignore the A8's as "computers"). As far as I know, the XEGS still has all the expansion ports you'd expect from an A8 computer. Ultimately, the 130XE is probably the better machine, but I think you'd be hard pressed to actually put it's advantages to good use.

--Zero