Commodore Amiga 500
Hacker ApprovedRanked 5 of 16 home computers by recommenders
Recommended for responsive multitasking, a large software library and good value in its era, with many fond memories. Critics say windows redraw slowly and the 50Hz display flickers.
Recommended for responsive multitasking, a large software library and good value in its era, with many fond memories. Critics say windows redraw slowly and the 50Hz display flickers.
25 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 20
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 38 years
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 20 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fond memories and learning
“I had fun times around 1985 with zx81, ZX spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amiga 500.”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Childhood Computing” “I really learnt a lot about computers using that”
Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Commodore 64 released September 1, 1982” “fond memories of my Amiga 500+ (full meg, woo!)”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “200 MB RAM FreeBSD Desktop” - Comment from 2 Jun 2026 in “Fidonet: Technology, Use, Tools, and History”
Fast, responsive multitasking
“I still remember the day teenage me got an Amiga 500 with a whopping 512K of RAM, and witnessed the power of multitasking”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “System 7 natively boots on the Mac mini G4” “Even a powerful 9800x3d doesn't feel as tight as my pretty basic Amiga 500 does.”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” “could resize windows without lag on a ~7.1 mhz 68000 and 512K of RAM”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold” Large software library, good value
“You could do a lot with an Amiga, and there was a lot of software available to do all of it”
Comment from 17 May 2026 in “Playing Atari ST Music on the Amiga with Zero CPU” “Amigas gave great value for money between the mid 80s and early 90s”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” Usable for work and home
“a plain Amiga 500 would be good enough for what many folks do at home”
Comment from 3 Feb 2026 in “Floppinux – An Embedded Linux on a Single Floppy, 2025 Edition” “It was very usable for work.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Tiny Core Linux: a 23 MB Linux distro with graphical desktop”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow performance when moving windows
“it takes a second just to redraw a moved window”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Make macOS consistently bad (unironically)” “You could really feel the slow performance”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Amiga Screens: A Primer”
Other home computers people recommend
The four most recommended other home computers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commodore 64 | 121 | 18 | 87% | 12 | 41 yrs18 owners | Approved |
| Commodore Amiga | 60 | 14 | 81% | 11 | — | Approved |
| ZX Spectrum | 31 | 8 | 79% | 10 | — | Approved |
| TI-99/4A | 26 | 8 | 76% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Commodore Amiga 500This page | 20 | 5 | 80% | 11 | 38 yrs4 owners | Approved |
What people said
25 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It was a pretty decent Amiga setup.”
“You could really feel the slow performance”
“I still kick myself to this day for that.”
“amigas were way ahead of their time”
“I really learnt a lot about computers using that”
“Had the taken some money in hand and all-in-one Amiga 500 SoC that had some sales potential left”
“they were wonderful machines”
“I got a lot of mileage out of that system”
“Amigas gave great value for money between the mid 80s and early 90s”
“Even a powerful 9800x3d doesn't feel as tight as my pretty basic Amiga 500 does.”
“when I watch videos of the two these days, I rfealise just how much better the Amiga was”
“brings back such fond memories”
“I had fun times around 1985 with zx81, ZX spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amiga 500.”
“I'd do everything on my Amiga except play Sundog”
“You could do a lot with an Amiga, and there was a lot of software available to do all of it”
“could resize windows without lag on a ~7.1 mhz 68000 and 512K of RAM”
“it takes a second just to redraw a moved window”
“Like, Amiga, even 500 models.”
“That was for my wonderful brand new Amiga 500.”
“I was amazed with going from C64 datasette to Amiga 500 floppy.”
“a plain Amiga 500 would be good enough for what many folks do at home”
“fond memories of my Amiga 500+ (full meg, woo!)”
“It was very usable for work.”
“I still remember the day teenage me got an Amiga 500 with a whopping 512K of RAM, and witnessed the power of multitasking”
“got immediate motion sickness from the 50Hz monitor flicker”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.