With that said, I'd like to quibble a bit with calling the A1000 "The First Perfect Computer." First, let me clarify that I find "First Perfect Computer" too broad a term to debate as needs for business and consumers differ so greatly. So I'll narrow it down to "First Perfect Home Computer", defined as: Excelling at games, graphics, sound, music and productivity.
I owned an A1000 which I dearly loved. In fact, I lusted over every page of issue #1 of AmigaWorld magazine for months until the first A1000s were available to mere mortals. And when it finally launched I managed to get one despite it costing far more than I could afford at the time. It was my main computer over the years until the A2000 shipped.
So, yes. The A1000 is unquestionably a legend and it was far ahead of its time. It was also the first, "The OG", Amiga. A unique honor nothing can replace. BUT... as great as it was, the machine felt rushed out the door. The lack of a finished OS ROM requiring the expensive WCS internal mod board and requiring an extensive floppy load and swap on each boot was awkward. The front 256K RAM expansion board also felt messy since there wasn't much the computer could really do without it. Also, the lack of a slot for an internal second drive felt like a big miss for a computer clearly designed to sit under your monitor. It was powerful but pricey at launch (the WCS having pushed the MSRP above $995 to $1295). In the first months there was very little software beyond Commodore's own Graphicraft, Musicraft and a few others, which were still labeled "beta". The Boing Ball and RoboCity demos were wildly impressive but grew old quickly. Finally, although we didn't know it at the time, the A1000's limit of 512K chip RAM was a lurking limitation destined to wall A1000s off from compatibility with the future of the product family.
What would I propose as an alternative for "The First Perfect Home Computer?" I think the Amiga 1200 is a strong contender, although it didn't ship until 1992. Had it shipped in 1989 or 90, it would have been a world beater. Even late as it was, it was still impressively powerful while also feeling mature and complete. The 020 CPU provided full 32-bit glory, it came with sufficient memory to be immediately useful, room for an internal hard drive and a conveniently accessible bottom port for flexible internal RAM, CPU, etc expansions. The price at launch was also more reasonable for consumers to afford compared to its current competition, especially considering it's completeness. Even though by the time the A1200 was announced I already had a hugely expanded A2000 with 50Mhz 030 accelerator, fast RAM, 16-bit sound card and a Video Toaster - I got an A1200 too. Mostly because when I first saw the announcement I thought, "Wow, Commodore finally nailed a perfect Amiga for everyone." Right features, right packaging, complete, expandable and for a good price. And I never even used that A1200 as a daily driver because my other Amiga's were already so fully loaded (though I did put a hard drive and ram expansion in it).
While all of this is, of course, based on subjective and contextual judgements, that's how I see it. The A1000 will always hold a special status as the first and as an historic breakthrough but it's shortcomings, rushed nature and incompleteness became clear within just a couple years. Whereas the A1200 has aged very well as the world's moved on. It still feels like an especially well-realized, complete and compelling form of a certain kind of vision for what a home computer could be.
Interestingly, due to the eminent rise of the 'actually usable by anyone Windows PC' with Windows 3.1, the A1200 might also be regarded as "The LAST Perfect Home Computer" as well! I say this because during the mid-90s the low-cost PC juggernaut basically turned all consumer computing into a cross-over utility like a car. There was no such thing as a "work car" or "home car." It was just a car and you used it for whatever you needed wherever you were. While computers continued to grow ever more useful and powerful, they also became commonplace and lost that sense of having a unique personality. After the early 90s, having a uniquely powerful and capable computer of your very own at home would never again feel special in quite the same way.
I guess the thing about the A1000, for me, was the initial impact. I had never seen anything like that before; the gap between what I thought computers could do and what I saw before my eyes was significant.
I also guess that because I never actually owned one, I had the external perspective, and I didn't experience the flaws you mentioned. Also, I think I learned about it after the WCS flop; on PAL versions Kickstart was on ROM already and they came with the 512Kb stock, and there was more software available.
Good, I wouldn't want you to. Making a bold claim can keep things interesting and give readers a clear proposition to engage. Much better than a muddled mess of equivocation! It's a subjective opinion anyway, so there's no right or wrong.
> the thing about the A1000, for me, was the initial impact.
I definitely agree. I recently pulled out my copy of the launch issue of AmigaWorld Magazine and the pages still give off an almost magical vibe as I read them. From today's perspective it's hard to recall the sheer impact of just how revolutionary the Amiga 1000 was in Summer 1985. Computers were mostly text. If there was color it was four or eight shades from a fixed palette and used as a highlight or accent. Any color graphics were little more than stick figures. From that context, the capabilities promised by the Amiga were quite literally shocking.
> I had the external perspective, and I didn't experience...
That makes sense. As they say, the pioneers get the arrows. And I don't mean to single out the Amiga here, being an early adopter of any new platform back then was a lonely leap into the unknown. I think that's why user's groups naturally formed in any large enough city. We huddled together to share what we learned. Choosing to be an early adopter of an expensive, yet unrealized vision of such a compelling technology was quite a filter. It required a special mix of vision, exuberance and naivete. And 40 years later, I still have several good friends from my Amiga user's group days.
Enjoy your A1000! It's a great machine and it's wonderful that you've restored, rejuvenated and made it even better.