I think you'll find more practical use in an A500. The ROM based kickstart means you can upgrade it to OS 3.1, and even OS3.9 if you can find an accelerator. It also can use a 1MB Agnus chip, which, in addition to providing more Chip RAM, allows to to display both PAL and NTSC screenmodes - important for compatability with the widest range of software. It can even be brought up to the 2MB Agnus chip with the approprite upgrade (fairly pricey, but still somewhat available).

Expansions for both of these machines are pretty rare these days, so it may be a while before you can get it up to the spec you want. Good luck, and enjoy!

Design-wise the A1000 is a neat machine. Most, if not all, custom-chips on it should be replaceable by A500 versions making it as good / bad as the A500.  However, it seems that for the A500 more expansions have been designed and sold. Also getting spares is easier: just buy a functional A500 for a box of beer and off you go.

That was how I thought about it until a few weeks ago. Right now, if money would be no object,  I'd consider the A1000 route with a little extra in the shape of Phoenix.

@cmvsm,

As a collector of everything Amiga, I suggest you go with the A500.  It is harder and more expensive to find working expansion parts for the A1000.  If money is not an object and you can accept having only 512k Chip RAM and what ever FAST RAM expansion you are able to find working, then the A1000 is a more elegant design, and as you said, is more nostalgic. (finding an A1000 with a Phoenix board is another possibility, but very rare)

for nastolgic reasons (my first, and second) i would recomend the 1000. having a detached keyboard can be a really good thing.
also many if not all of the expansions that plug into the cpu socket for a 500 and 2000 will work for the 1000
these include accelerators (14mhz 68000, 68020, and even a 68030 irrc) also adeide and adscsi allow ide and scsi expansions too.
with my amiga 1000s the color composite was great, it is clear and then you dont have the 520 hanging off the back of the 500.
cpu socket stuff might need a socket extender and rom switchers might need some othe hacking to work so you can use roms

@KThunder
I thought that half bright was only available on ECS?

@cmvsm
Anyway, If you are considering getting an a500 have you considered an a2000? They are basically an a500 in a big box case and with zorro slots. AFAIK they are just as compatible as an a500 and much easier to expand as zorro cards are still on retail sale and the accelerators (if you want one) are more common.

Thanks for the multiple responses guys.  Seems as if half say the A1000 and the other half the A500.  So I suppose perhaps the nostalgia facet of it all will tip the scales towards the A1000 side.

If I were to get an A1000, what upgrades would be a "must have" to get the machine to "respectable" standards.  I will mainly use it for games and such.  I'd like to give myself the time to explore the rest of the machine's capabilities as I didn't give it much of a chance in my younger years.

What significant capabilities, if any, would the A500 have over the A1000?

Thanks again for all of the input!  :-D

amiga_3k wrote:
Design-wise the A1000 is a neat machine. Most, if not all, custom-chips on it should be replaceable by A500 versions making it as good / bad as the A500.  

The A1000 uses the DIP version of the Agnus chip. It's not compatible with the PLCC version in the 500/2000. unless you find one of those phoenix boards. :-)

I've got a ROM board in my 1000, that's a handy thing to have.... autoboots from an external HD, so I don't have to worry about the broken internal floppy.
:-)