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If you already own an A500 Mini or are thinking about purchasing one then here are some important things to know about and consider...
As great a wee retro console as the A500 Mini is then it is not without its issues. Most issues can be helped/ rectified or at least diminished a bit by putting together a correct/ best set up of the system but sadly it has some issues that due to poor implementations in both the hardware and its kernel by Retro Games Ltd then it will still suffer from some issues...
Main and probably most well know issues are (The Cons):
The console will often not power off/ shut down correctly on many occasions. While this mainly occurs after running things like "Workbench" or "RetroArch" then it still happens while running Amiga games using the built in Amiberry emulator and stock USB game loading menu. This issue has still not been resolved fully even with the latest firmware updates, so don't expect updating the firmware to solve this issue...
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On a stock A500 Mini then you simply cannot "hot plug" controllers or keyboards otherwise it leads to all sorts of issues and freezes and strange behaviour of the console (very poor oversight/ lack of quality control by Retro Games Ltd by releasing hardware that has flawed USB port connectivity). This issue has apparently been resolved with the firmware update but updating the firmware of your A500 Mini means you cannot use "RetroAami" and more importantly you cannot re-flash your A500 Mini back to stock status if you would like to do so if further issues/ bugs crop up in the updated firmware...
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There's no excuse for Retro Games Ltd not to release a firmware update to allow the user to send their Mini back to stock status which they could easily do but choose not to. There was also no reason or excuse for them to remove the "host" features in the firmware update which prevents things like RetroAami being used and it's something they have for reasons unknown deliberately removed in the firmware update...
Thankfully though there are ways round that for those that did update the firmware and other alternatives appearing created by end users and hopefully more to come from A500 users out there who are working on fixing things so you can set your A500 Mini back to stock status or previous versions after an "official" firmware updated should you want to or indeed need to...
----------------
The lack of USB ports on the A500 mini really doesn't make any sense at all. It only has 3 USB ports so if you use a USB Drive, a keyboard and a controller then that's all of your USB ports used up leaving no space for using a mouse or adding a second joystick or controller for two player games. One more USB port on the console would have solved this issue but they clearly skimped on the number of USB ports to cut costs...
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Retro Games Ltd recommend using a USB power supply of 1Amp, this is nowhere near enough power if you want to run things like RetroArch or even a full Workbench set up as you will run into all sorts of power issues with a 1Amp power supply (mostly random crashes, freezing of the system and your USB drive, controllers, mouse, joystick and/ or keyboard powering off and on and having to unplug the power to get things working again)...
The Great Things About The A500 Mini (The Pros)...
It's simply the best Mini console around when it comes to the specs of its processing power which in turn allows it to run other console games such as the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast & Playstation better than all the other current Mini consoles available...
----------------
Simply adding a USB Power Supply Unit of at least 3Amps will allow you to run such games without issues that will be caused by using a lesser powered PSU, especially if you intend to run the likes of N64, Dreamcast games etc... which really push the consoles processors to their limits and requires a decent PSU to do so, it also gets rid of those issues of everything connected to the USB ports dropping in and out...
Basically with a correct set up you will for the most part have trouble free use of your A500 Mini but it's still not without it's flaws/ issues as described above and not even the firmware updates have fully resolved those issues...
At the end of the day whether you already own an A500 Mini or are thinking of buying one then it's always good to know what the pros & cons are of any hardware and whether you the end user think it's worth the money or not but only you can decide that for yourself...
Personally, despite its flaws and issues then I'm more than happy to own the A500 Mini which has now replaced my SNES Mini consoles (as great as they were/ are) as I can now play almost every N64 game virtually flawlessly with no frame skipping, slowdowns or audio break up which sadly on the SNES Mini some games still suffered from as it simply didn't have the processing power to handle such games.
I can also now play other games systems such as the "Dreamcast" which I'd never considered up until now and when it comes to Amiga games then if you are an Amiga user like me but unlike me you no longer own real Amiga hardware then the A500 Mini should more than satisfy your needs to once again get back to playing your favourite Amiga games (not to mention of course all those other retro games systems which you can now play better than ever on an A500 Mini compared to all other current mini consoles) as well of course as being able to run a fully fledged 040 version of Workbench...
As great a wee retro console as the A500 Mini is then it is not without its issues. Most issues can be helped/ rectified or at least diminished a bit by putting together a correct/ best set up of the system but sadly it has some issues that due to poor implementations in both the hardware and its kernel by Retro Games Ltd then it will still suffer from some issues...
Main and probably most well know issues are (The Cons):
The console will often not power off/ shut down correctly on many occasions. While this mainly occurs after running things like "Workbench" or "RetroArch" then it still happens while running Amiga games using the built in Amiberry emulator and stock USB game loading menu. This issue has still not been resolved fully even with the latest firmware updates, so don't expect updating the firmware to solve this issue...
----------------
On a stock A500 Mini then you simply cannot "hot plug" controllers or keyboards otherwise it leads to all sorts of issues and freezes and strange behaviour of the console (very poor oversight/ lack of quality control by Retro Games Ltd by releasing hardware that has flawed USB port connectivity). This issue has apparently been resolved with the firmware update but updating the firmware of your A500 Mini means you cannot use "RetroAami" and more importantly you cannot re-flash your A500 Mini back to stock status if you would like to do so if further issues/ bugs crop up in the updated firmware...
----------------
There's no excuse for Retro Games Ltd not to release a firmware update to allow the user to send their Mini back to stock status which they could easily do but choose not to. There was also no reason or excuse for them to remove the "host" features in the firmware update which prevents things like RetroAami being used and it's something they have for reasons unknown deliberately removed in the firmware update...
Thankfully though there are ways round that for those that did update the firmware and other alternatives appearing created by end users and hopefully more to come from A500 users out there who are working on fixing things so you can set your A500 Mini back to stock status or previous versions after an "official" firmware updated should you want to or indeed need to...
----------------
The lack of USB ports on the A500 mini really doesn't make any sense at all. It only has 3 USB ports so if you use a USB Drive, a keyboard and a controller then that's all of your USB ports used up leaving no space for using a mouse or adding a second joystick or controller for two player games. One more USB port on the console would have solved this issue but they clearly skimped on the number of USB ports to cut costs...
----------------
Retro Games Ltd recommend using a USB power supply of 1Amp, this is nowhere near enough power if you want to run things like RetroArch or even a full Workbench set up as you will run into all sorts of power issues with a 1Amp power supply (mostly random crashes, freezing of the system and your USB drive, controllers, mouse, joystick and/ or keyboard powering off and on and having to unplug the power to get things working again)...
The Great Things About The A500 Mini (The Pros)...
It's simply the best Mini console around when it comes to the specs of its processing power which in turn allows it to run other console games such as the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast & Playstation better than all the other current Mini consoles available...
----------------
Simply adding a USB Power Supply Unit of at least 3Amps will allow you to run such games without issues that will be caused by using a lesser powered PSU, especially if you intend to run the likes of N64, Dreamcast games etc... which really push the consoles processors to their limits and requires a decent PSU to do so, it also gets rid of those issues of everything connected to the USB ports dropping in and out...
Basically with a correct set up you will for the most part have trouble free use of your A500 Mini but it's still not without it's flaws/ issues as described above and not even the firmware updates have fully resolved those issues...
At the end of the day whether you already own an A500 Mini or are thinking of buying one then it's always good to know what the pros & cons are of any hardware and whether you the end user think it's worth the money or not but only you can decide that for yourself...
Personally, despite its flaws and issues then I'm more than happy to own the A500 Mini which has now replaced my SNES Mini consoles (as great as they were/ are) as I can now play almost every N64 game virtually flawlessly with no frame skipping, slowdowns or audio break up which sadly on the SNES Mini some games still suffered from as it simply didn't have the processing power to handle such games.
I can also now play other games systems such as the "Dreamcast" which I'd never considered up until now and when it comes to Amiga games then if you are an Amiga user like me but unlike me you no longer own real Amiga hardware then the A500 Mini should more than satisfy your needs to once again get back to playing your favourite Amiga games (not to mention of course all those other retro games systems which you can now play better than ever on an A500 Mini compared to all other current mini consoles) as well of course as being able to run a fully fledged 040 version of Workbench...
Last edited by Amiga Mini Man on Fri 11 Nov 2022, 13:32; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : A short but honest insight into the A500 Mini and its Pros & Cons...)