Is owning a Neo Geo arcade cabinet difficult?

After seeing the pic of Super Spy's Neo Geo arcade cab in the topic below, I'm kind of interested in Neo cabs myself. But I have one main concern, are they hard to keep up if you know absolutely nothing about arcade machines? Is it easy to change the MVS carts without harming the cab? Any info from Neo Geo cab owners would be greatly appreciated.

Switching carts is super easy, if you can switch a home cart, you can switch an mvs cart. As for the cab, my advice is find one in the best working condition you can find. Good controls, clear picture, etc. A good machine that is not abused will have few problems.

Agreed.

I did a lot of tech work when I was ASM at my local arcade, and even with all the fucking punks pounding the shit out of the fighters, they still held up fairly well. If you get a cab that's in good working order and you don't kick the fucking thing or hang off the joystick, you should be all set.

Yeah, they are easy to own and work on, other than the monitors and the PCBs themselves. Pick one up, learning about how they work is half the fun.

Thanks for the responses! Now all I need to do is master my AES joystick and I'll be all set. By the way, how much do one of these babies go for? I prefer the tall cab like the one Super Spy has over the smaller candy cab versions.

In general, a cab is an easy thing to own. Be warned, however, that when (if) the shit hits the fan it can be quite overwhelming (and expensive) for the technically challenged. You should read up on many of the basic operations of a cab, especially a Neo-oriented cab if that's all you're interested in.

Look for a Neo standup in your area first. You may be able to find one at your local arcade, an auction or maybe even the newspaper/Pennysaver. Many local operators don't know the true value of the cab so you could walk off with a complete system for as little as $150 - $200 or so. If it comes down to it, you coulld always purchase a complete system online (retailer/eBay) for around $400 - $500 plus shipping.