The Amiga Models
From the time that the Amiga project started, until the end of the time that this museum deals with, there was quite a number of various models of the Amiga designed, produced and sold to the public.
There were models that were specific to particular markets, based on existing models, such as the Amiga 1500 and Amiga 2500 (both based on the Amiga 2000), which will be covered on the pages dedicated to the models they were based on.
There was also a number of prototype machines that were not sold to the public, but instead used by software developers.
Finally, in what seemed to have become a Commodore tradition, there were models that were never completed, usually because of Management cancelling the project.
First of all, we have the original Lorraine (Big Book of Amiga Hardware) Prototype (Secret Weapons of Commodore) (links open in new tabs)
After that, we have one of the very early development systems here (link opens in a new tab)
Next, we have the Commodore “Velvet” Amiga Development Machine (link opens in a new tab)
Then, in 1985, the Commodore Amiga was unveiled to the world. It was later renamed the Amiga 1000.
In 1987, the Amiga 1000 was joined by two new models, the Amiga 2000, and the Amiga 500. Both were very much like the 1000 internally, however the 2000 was in a bigger case with a large number of expansion slots, whereas the 500 was in the “keyboard wedge” shape that Commodore were so well known for by this point, which was so suitable for the home computer market..
In 1990, the Amiga 3000 (considered by many to be the best Amiga model) was released.
In 1991, the Amiga 3000T was released, which was basically an Amiga 3000 in a tower style case, with much more internal room for drives and expansions. The CDTV also came out this year, as did the Amiga 500 plus.
In 1992, the Amiga 4000/040, the Amiga 600 and the Amiga 1200 were all released. The Amiga 600 was the smallest Amiga ever, while the Amiga 4000/040 was the fastest Amiga up until this point, with a blisteringly fast (for the time) 68040 CPU running at 25Mhz and the new AGA Chipset. The Amiga 1200 was said to be 4 times the speed of the Amiga 500, in a similar package, but with 2Mb of Chip RAM and the new AGA Chipset.
In 1993, the CD32 was released, which was much like the Amiga 1200 internally, but with a few changes, and was designed as a games console, using CD-ROMs as the storage medium for the games. At the time, the 650MB of space on a CD seemed HUGE, when most peoples computers had maybe a 120MB hard disk.
In 1994, the Amiga 4000T was released in very limited numbers, this was basically an Amiga 4000 in a tower case, much like the Amiga 3000T, only with an Amiga 4000 at the heart instead of an Amiga 3000.