Amiga 1000
Hacker ApprovedRanked 7 of 10 personal computers by recommenders
Recommended for fast, responsive input handling and preemptive multitasking; critics say it was not ten years ahead of rivals and floppy setups were clunky.
Recommended for fast, responsive input handling and preemptive multitasking; critics say it was not ten years ahead of rivals and floppy setups were clunky.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 25
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 41 years
Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 25 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 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
Fondly remembered by long-time owners
“My second computer was an Amiga 1000 with a 68000, a CPU even more directly a successor to the PDP-11 than any other.”
Comment from 17 Jun 2026 in “A brief tour of the PDP-11, the most influential minicomputer of all time (2022)” “I got my A1000 in late '85 and only had prior exposure to 8-bit home computers”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “Shipping JPEG XL in Chrome” “when I got a 68000-based A1000 in 1985 and programmed it in assembly language”
Comment from 18 Apr 2026 in “Amiga Graphics” - Comment from 21 Dec 2025 in “Big GPUs don't need big PCs”
- Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time”
- Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time”
- Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time”
Fast, responsive input and mouse
“The mouse is a hardware sprite and its movement stays responsive and smooth even under heavy load”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” “I can't think of anything today that comes close to how instantly it responds to user input”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” “clicking a button, typing, or moving the mouse was as fast as it could possibly get”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” - Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time”
OS used low-level hardware well
“The special sauce of the Amiga was that the operating system actually made use of low-level hardware features”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” “AmigaOS had preemptive multitasking (in 1985!)”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Not ten years ahead of rivals
“The Amiga was a great computer when it came out, but it was not 10 years ahead of anything.”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” “Terrific, but not sure about the ten years ahead.”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” Poor management at Commodore
“10 years ahead, but for Irving motherf- Gould wasting it all out of pure greed”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” “Things could've so much better if upper management wasn't disfunctional.”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” Clunky and sluggish from floppy
“Floppy based Amigas were incredibly clunky.”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time” “Skip to ~9:50 when it gets real sluggish.”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time”
Other personal computers people recommend
The four most recommended other personal 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Mac | 453 | 292 | 61% | 12 | 15 yrs59 owners | — |
| Apple Mac Studio | 319 | 160 | 66% | 12 | 2 yrs23 owners | — |
| Apple M1 Mac | 48 | 10 | 83% | 12 | 6 yrs8 owners | Approved |
| Apple II | 46 | 12 | 79% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Amiga 1000This page | 25 | 4 | 86% | 6 | 41 yrs4 owners | Approved |
What people said
30 of the 34 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I got my A1000 in late '85 and only had prior exposure to 8-bit home computers”
“Floppy based Amigas were incredibly clunky.”
“I was an early Amiga owner, so I speak from experience!”
“Wintel is still waiting for the interlace flicker experience of an out-of-the-box Amiga.”
“The FULL experience of Wintel was definitely 10 years behind the full experience of an out-of-the-box Amiga.”
“AmigaOS had preemptive multitasking (in 1985!)”
“I'm an Amiga diehard from the start”
“The Amiga was a great computer when it came out, but it was not 10 years ahead of anything.”
“Terrific, but not sure about the ten years ahead.”
“This does not happen on a 1985 Amiga, even with a fraction of the CPU power”
“The Amiga had a design flaw where it could not be used reliably for MIDI”
“At least when the Amiga crashed it got to do some meditation.”
“the Amiga system prioritised input processing above normal tasks”
“they get damaged by leaking capacitors”
“Once kickstart + the software loaded, it was incredibly fast.”
“10 years ahead, but for Irving motherf- Gould wasting it all out of pure greed”
“The special sauce of the Amiga was that the operating system actually made use of low-level hardware features”
“The Amiga feels fast because its slowness is predictable.”
“The mouse is a hardware sprite and its movement stays responsive and smooth even under heavy load”
“clicking a button, typing, or moving the mouse was as fast as it could possibly get”
“Skip to ~9:50 when it gets real sluggish.”
“an amazing world that shaped how my brain works”
“I can't think of anything today that comes close to how instantly it responds to user input”
“I sign the sibling comment about being magical.”
“Things could've so much better if upper management wasn't disfunctional.”
“I thought I was looking at the future of computing, period.”
“My second computer was an Amiga 1000 with a 68000, a CPU even more directly a successor to the PDP-11 than any other.”
“when I got a 68000-based A1000 in 1985 and programmed it in assembly language”
“I had an Amiga 1000 back in the day - it was simply awesome.”
“the Amigas, which I am more confortable with”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.