Amiga 500

A500 · 1987–1991 · desktop

Specifications

Cpu: Motorola 68000, 7.14 MHz (PAL) / 7.16 MHz (NTSC)
Gpu: Original Chip Set (OCS) custom graphics/blitter chips
Ram: max: 1 MB chip RAM (1 MB Agnus) plus additional fast RAM through side expansion slot accelerators · base: 512 KB chip RAM
Ports: 2× DB9 joystick/mouse ports · RGB video out · RF modulator (composite/TV out) · Parallel port · Serial (RS-232) port · External floppy disk port · Side expansion slot · Trapdoor RAM expansion slot
Display: OCS chipset (Denise/Agnus/Paula): palette of 4,096 colors, resolutions up to 640×512 interlaced
Storage: base: Internal 3.5" floppy drive, 880 KB per disk · options: External 3.5" floppy drive · Third-party hard disk interfaces via the side expansion port
Os Support: latest: AmigaOS 3.1 (Kickstart/Workbench 3.1) via ROM and Workbench upgrade · shipped: AmigaOS 1.2 (Kickstart 1.2, Workbench 1.2)
Release Price: $699

Variants

Revisions

A500A5001987 original release

A500+A500+ · A5011991, ECS chipset, Kickstart 2.04, 1MB RAM

A500 Batman PackA500 Batman Pack1990 bundle: Batman, F/A-18 Interceptor, New Zealand Story

A500 Screen Gems PackA500 Screen Gems Pack1991 bundle: Days of Thunder, Back to the Future II, Shadow of the Beast II

Upgrade paths

RAM

512 KB to 1 MB chip RAM via a trapdoor expansion, plus fast RAM through side-slot accelerator boards · The trapdoor slot under the case is a tool-free clip-in expansion, a big reason A500 upgrades were so common.

~$50-$100 for a trapdoor 512 KB expansion at the time

EASY

CPU

68020/68030 accelerator boards through the side expansion slot · Third-party accelerators (e.g. GVP, Commodore A501/A590) add CPU speed and SCSI hard disk support.

MODERATE