Amiga 500

The Amiga 500 (A500) is a 16-bit home computer developed by Commodore and released in 1987 as a cost-reduced version of the original Amiga 1000. Designed to bring the Amiga platform to the mass market, the A500 quickly became the most popular model in the Amiga line, selling millions of units worldwide.

Equipped with the same Motorola 68000 CPU as the A1000, the Amiga 500 offered advanced multimedia capabilities for its era, including hardware-assisted graphics and four-channel stereo sound. It was bundled with the custom chipset (OCS) that allowed for smooth scrolling, sprites, and impressive colour displays well beyond competing systems such as the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, and Amstrad CPC 464.

The A500 was marketed primarily as a home computer and games machine, but it also gained a following in creative fields for music, graphics, and early desktop publishing. With a competitive price point and a large software library, it became the defining Amiga model for a generation of users and cemented Commodore’s place in the late 1980s home computer market.