From: thecurse@newton.pconline.com (Byron Patterson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Micronik Infinitive 1300Ti tower Amiga Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.misc Date: 17 Sep 1998 18:01:47 -0400 Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 172 Sender: barrett@relativity.cs.umass.edu Message-ID: <6ts0sb$21a@relativity.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: thecurse@newton.pconline.com (Byron Patterson) Keywords: hardware, computer, A1200, commercial X-Review-Number: Volume 1998 Number 14 NNTP-Posting-Host: relativity.cs.umass.edu X-NNTP-Posting-Host: relativity.cs.umass.edu Path: rcfnews.cs.umass.edu!not-for-mail PRODUCT NAME Micronik Infinitive 1300Ti. BRIEF DESCRIPTION An Amiga 1200 in a tower case. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: MicroniK Computer Service Address: Brckenstrae 2 D-51379 Leverkusen-Opladen GERMANY Telephone: +49-02171-72 45-0 Tel.Intl : +49-02171-72 45-24 FAX: +49-02171-72 45-90 E-mail: bestellung@micronik.de World Wide Web: http://www.micronik.de/ LIST PRICE Not known. I PAID Base Micronik Infinitive 1300Ti = $599 USA PCMCIA adpater = $ 39.95 AT-BUS 4 device Adapter = $ $49.95 top case = $ $54.95 UPS ground shipping = $ $23 Total = $757 DEMO VERSION None. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS None. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Micronik Infinitive 1300Ti 2 MB Chip RAM. MBX expansion card 030/50/fpu 16 MB Fast RAM. Micronik AT-BUS 4 device adapter. Micronik top case. Micronik PCMCIA adapter. 1 internal 880K floppy. I-Card PCMCIA Network card. IBM 2.1 GB 2.5inch internal hard drive. Iomega ATAPI Zip internal drive. IDE-Fix 97 (demo version). NEC 8x ATAPI internal CDROM drive. C= 1950 monitor. AmigaDOS 3.1. INSTALLATION Installing the machine was a nightmare. The case is 100% pure plastic making it fun to completly take apart to add in the optional PCMCIA adapter and the top case adapter (needed to use a 1200 expansion card). I think the designers of the case went to Denmark and played with LEGOs (tm) for ideas on howto build the case as screws are not used to hold the all plastic case together. REVIEW After translating the AT-BUS 4 device adpater manual I figured I was all set for smoth sailing. I was wrong. I had weird keyboard problems. I tried a peecee keyboard and had the same problems. I called the distributer that I bought the system from and and it is going back so they can look at it :( DOCUMENTATION Printed out of date documentation. The documentation was for an Amiga 1200, not a Micronik tower system. The documentation for the Micronik AT-BUS 4 device adapter was in German that I ended up translating to English myself. LIKES Can add on a Zorro II expansion board. All of my hard drives/CDROM drives are internal. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS Micronik AT-BUS 4 device adapter requires third party software (ie IDE Fix 97) which is not included. Micronik AT-BUS 4 device adapter does not come with cables. I have yet to figure out how to screw in the internal ZIP and CDROM drive. I had to drill a hole to be able to use I-Card PCMCIA network card as there was no spot to access the network card otherwise. Other PCMCIA devices such as a modem or Surf Squreil will have the same problem. No out spot for an Amiga 1200 expansion card that goes though an Amiga 1200 backdoor. Hard drive not included. 100 % plastic case. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS The Micronik Infinitive 1300Ti is remarkably simular to an Amiga 1200. BUGS VENDOR SUPPORT I had to contact the distributer I ordered the system from twice so far. One time for the AT-BUS 4 device adapter manual being in German (which I ended up translating myselt), and the second time for the keyboard problem. WARRANTY Unsure. CONCLUSIONS Overall I give the Micronik Infinitive 1300Ti 6 LEGOs(tm) out of 10 LEGOs(tm). If the case was metal I would give it 8.5 stars out of 10. In both cases the rating would go up by 1 if IDE-Fix97 was included, even if it added $30 (about the cost of ordering the software myself) to the cost of the AT-BUS 4 device adapter. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1998 Byron Patterson. --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews Web site: http://math.uh.edu/~barrett/reviews.html