Commodore Amiga 600

Commodore released the Amiga 600 as an entry-level personal computer with 1MB of RAM, a Motorola 68000 processor, and built-in video outputs

The Amiga 600 emerged not as a technical leap, but as a consolidation. Commodore’s attempt to streamline the aging Amiga line into a slimmer, more accessible form is evident in its design and market positioning¹³. Marketed explicitly for the novice, it replaced the Amiga 500 and omitted the advanced chip sets then appearing in higher-end models². Its compact, low-profile case utilized surface mount technology, a design choice touted for reliability, though the machine’s internal architecture remained rooted in the original Amiga chipset, now retrofitted to support up to 2MB of chip memory¹²¹⁶. This backward-looking foundation defined the A600: capable of running the full library of existing Amiga software and games, but lacking the accelerated processors and AGA graphics that would soon define the platform’s future².

Priced at £199 in the UK, the A600 targeted budget-conscious buyers while still including amenities like RGB analog, composite, and RF video outputs, a built-in TV modulator, and four-channel stereo sound²¹³. Storage options varied significantly by region and configuration: standard equipment included a 3.5" floppy drive, but hard drives were offered as factory-installed options, including a 30MB model priced at 529,-, a 65MB Seagate unit, and a 210MB Seagate HD in certain configurations⁴⁶⁷. The inclusion of a PCMCIA slot and a dedicated smart card slot, accepting ROM or RAM cards from 1MB to 4MB, hinted at modern expandability, though real-world support for these features remained limited¹³¹⁶.

Software bundles reflected its role as both a productivity tool and a gaming machine. Some units shipped with Kindwords: Maxiplan 4, Infofile, Theme Park Mystery, and a selection of public domain software⁴. The machine included Workbench 2.0 and Kickstart/Workbench v2.05, ensuring compatibility with the broader Amiga ecosystem²¹⁶. Notably, the A600 could interface with the A670 CD-ROM drive, granting access to CDTV titles and audio CDs, a rare multimedia bridge in its class¹⁶. It also supported A64 emulator packages, allowing users to run Commodore 64 software when connected to legacy disk drives like the 1541¹. Memory expansion was possible via the Baseboard 601, which added 1MB of chip RAM and maintained full compatibility with existing software¹.

Despite its positioning as the new entry point to the Amiga family, the A600 arrived late. Mentioned alongside the Amiga 4000 and Amiga 1200 in a Winter 1993 newsletter, it suggests the model was already being overshadowed by newer systems even as production continued¹³. Its hardware, while serviceable, felt like a retread: the same chipset limitations, repackaged in a smaller case. The surviving documentation is silent on exact release timing, clock speed, physical dimensions, and total sales, but the machine’s footprint in period literature (priced, bundled, and reviewed) confirms its role as a transitional placeholder, not a reinvention²⁴⁶.

References

1. TheEverythingBookForCommodoreAndAmigaComputersmid-winter1994 (1994)
2. CUAmiga 046 Dec 1993 (1993)
3. Amiga Computing Issue 105 Nov 96
4. Amiga Joker 1993 12 (1993)
5. Amiga Joker 1993 12 (1993)
6. cocug-gazette-vol-03-03-1993-winter (1993)
7. Computer Video Games Issue 132 1992-11 EMAP Publishing GB (1992)