>Commodore didnt bother to build fast ram memory controller into the thing. You couldnt just slap some simms or ram chips on a card, you needed additional logic. Cheapest contemporary Fast Ram cards were ~100 pounds + ~30 pounds a meg, half the cost of 270 pound Amiga A1200 in 1994.
You most likely remember bare Amiga 500 price versus loaded brand name system. Here a comparison from 1994: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37851056 :
>Commodore didnt bother to build fast ram memory controller into the thing. You couldnt just slap some simms or ram chips on a card, you needed additional logic. Cheapest contemporary Fast Ram cards were ~100 pounds + ~30 pounds a meg, half the cost of 270 pound Amiga A1200 in 1994.
>A1200 bare system £276 https://archive.org/details/cuamiga-magazine-050/page/n28/mo...
>4-8MB fast ram £200-400 https://archive.org/details/cuamiga-magazine-050/page/n49/mo...
>340MB £380 pounds https://archive.org/details/cuamiga-magazine-050/page/n28/mo...
>14 multisync monitor ~£320 https://archive.org/details/cuamiga-magazine-050/page/n52/mo...
>~£1200-1400. 1994 £/$ exchange rate 1.55 = $1860-2170.
>Now compare to 1994 PC https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/7235w0/the_sp...
>486dx2-66mhz, 256KB cache, 8MB, 1.44MB fdd, 350MB HDD, SVGA monitor/card, keyboard/mouse. $1840