[triangle.general] Need info about Amiga

unccab@uncmed.med.unc.edu (01/06/90)

 Hi there.  I have a friend who wants to buy a computer for his business.
 He wants to be able to do Accounts Payable/Receivable, Word Processing,
 Spreadsheeting, Graphics (like specs for carpentry/electrical work) and
 to have some fun as well.  He will need between 40-80 megs HD, but speed
 isnt that important to him.  I will be advising him and helping him make
 his purchase since this is his first experience with computers!

 I use a 386 ibm-clone at work, but I teach and prefer the Macintosh.  I _had_ been
 steering him toward Mac because of his less then *wizardly* ability with
 computers, typing, learning programs, etc.  He is _sorta_ afraid of being
 overwhelmed with having to learn a lot of programs at once, which is why
 I thought that a Mac would be perfect.  *THEN, I remembered the AMIGA.

 To be honest, I do not know ONE PERSON who uses an AMIGA for other than
 family/fun stuff.  I have seen an AMIGA once in person and liked the
 graphics capability and its *similarity* (that is a compliment) to the
 Mac environment.  But, I don't want to rule out this machine for my
 friend.  So, here is my question:

 Would someone please give me a rundown on 
	a) How much would a good machine run?  What are the available
	hardware for the Amiga.  No modem is needed but he might want one
	later.  He wants as much RAM as possible (how much will he need
	for most applications?) and, as I said, 40-80 meg hard disk.  Are
	there High Density and regular density diskette drives or what?
	(Please remember I am *completely* ignorant of AMIGA, but want to
	learn.)  Do most setups include monitor?

	b) What software would we look for to do the things he wants to
	do, i.e. Payroll, word Proc., spreadsheets and business graphics.
	Are AMIGA programs compatible/convertible with Mac or other
	machines?  Please NAME the software and $ if you can.

	c) What kinda printer is available for what prices?  Is there a
	good mail-order magazine for AMIGA products?  He doesn't need a
	laser printer unless a cheap :-) one can be had somewhere.   

 I do NOT really want a comparison of AMIGA to Mac/IBM/whatever but just
 want to know about AMIGA.  I KNOW what the others can do :-)

 I would appreciate any e-mailed responses.  If there is interest, I will
 post a summary.  Thanks again.


                            Charles Balan
UNCCAB@med.unc.edu   ,    UNCCAB@uncmed.uucp    ,   UNCCAB@unc.bitnet
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