Retro Computing UK

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The ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro and any other old computing technology or games from a UK perspective.

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My undying love for the painfully uncool Amiga (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 7 months ago by Emperor to c/retrocomputing

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People loved the ZX Spectrum. They loved the Mega Drive. If you talk to an owner of any Nintendo machine, from a Game Boy to a Switch OLED they sound like Romeo talking about Juliet, Meredith Grey talking about Derek Shepherd, or Elon Musk talking about himself.

As someone who was actually there for the 80s and 90s, the Amiga just didn’t enjoy that kind of love. Why? Because it looked uncool. The Game Boy looked like an alien artefact from a trendy 70s sci-fi show; the PlayStation was what you’d get if a high-end record turntable had mated with the sexiest sandwich maker imaginable. The curved lines of the Xbox 360 were the definition of allure. It was one of those rare machines that looked as good lying down as it did standing up. Today I still run my fingers along its curves if I see one in the wild.

The Amiga looked like something you’d see a bank teller use. And not for the cool bank stuff, like foiling a robbery.

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[–] ilovecheese 3 points 7 months ago

Ahh.. I still miss my Amiga500. The 1200 was much better but it's the 500 that sticks with me!

[–] hydroptic@sopuli.xyz 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wasn't Amiga the cool one? From what I remember, it was IBM PCs and their clones which were the uncool ones

[–] leavemealone@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I don't remember anyone care really much for designs at the time, we were to busy having anything to play on. Amiga was fantastic and had great games.

[–] best_username_ever@sh.itjust.works 2 points 7 months ago

And amazing software to make music. It was definitely cool, and OP is drunk.

[–] hydroptic@sopuli.xyz 1 points 7 months ago

Oh yeah I don't think most gave a shit about looks, I remember Amiga being the cool one because it has better graphics and sound than PCs

[–] Digestive_Biscuit 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I wish I still had my Amiga. 500+ with a memory upgrade. I had a midi interface and a sound sampler. It was really ahead of it's time.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 1 points 7 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

I read the reviews and was surprised at the appearance of two words I never associated with the original Amiga: cool, and love.

But people use things every day that they don’t love: electric shavers, patience, door handles, the train.

The Game Boy looked like an alien artefact from a trendy 70s sci-fi show; the PlayStation was what you’d get if a high-end record turntable had mated with the sexiest sandwich maker imaginable.

The Atari ST was no great looker either, but at least they angled the top row of function buttons to make it look like they considered its aesthetics.

Like the Spectrum before it, the Amiga allowed people who couldn’t afford a PC to play games on a computer.

Then the PC killed it: microchips got cheaper, Amiga didn’t move fast enough, and it seemed to die really quickly.

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