The New Commodore 64

An anonymous reader writes "After nearly 30 years, the Commodore brand has taken on new management and is re-releasing its flagship computer, this time with all the amenities of a modern-day computer packed inside. From the article: 'The new Commodore 64, which will begin shipping at the end of the month, has been souped-up for the modern age. It comes with 1.8 gigahertz dual processors, an optional Blu-ray player and built-in ethernet and HDMI ports. The new Commodore is priced between $250 to $900.'"

So the question is...

[dskzero]

... Why would I buy one?

Alternate headline

[elrous0]

"Yet Another Company Sells Retro Computer Case"

Re:No numpad? FAIL

[Tumbleweed]

I think that unless it comes with a seperate numpad, this is going to fall flat on its face. The tactile response of the keyboard may be nice (assuming they use individual switches for each key), but the lack of keys will make it close to useless.

What part of 'Comodore 64' did you not get?

Not laughing

[dleemaas]

Did they just decide to completely ignore the fact that almost every major PC builder has been making media center and all-in-one PCs for a number of years? They act like having a computer built into the keyboard is something that's going to revolutionize the market. The Commodore 64 keyboard layout is a joke, and the "Pro" and "Slim" versions are a joke because there are already plenty of alternatives from the big names (HP, Dell, etc.) that have better specs and sell for around the same price, if not less for what you get in these pieces of junk. Maybe this is their April Fool's Month joke.

Re:No numpad? FAIL

[MBGMorden]

I think that unless it comes with a seperate numpad, this is going to fall flat on its face. The tactile response of the keyboard may be nice (assuming they use individual switches for each key), but the lack of keys will make it close to useless.

The market for this thing is nostalgic people interested in a retro looking computer. Adding a numeric keypad (which the original C64 did not have) would probably negatively impact the machine in that market segment.

It looks interesting for what it is.

Funny story: once upon a time as a Commodore 64 equipped kid I had no concept that a keyboard wasn't a whole computer. I remember being in a store (I believe it was a Service Merchandise, if anyone remembers those) and seeing what I now know was a standalone keyboard for an IBM computer. Price tag was $35, and I thought that was unbelievable for a computer (remember - to my mind back then keyboard = computer). I begged my mom to buy that for me. Thankfully, she didn't. I'd have been mighty disappointed to get home and discover that that keyboard was useless to me :).

Re:So the question is...

[jandrese]

It's more expensive than a lot of laptops, and almost all netbooks.

Re:Alternate headline

[jandrese]

The problem is that they're missing the entire point of the Commie-64. Every one should come with a full copy of LiveCode or something that lets kids mess around with building their own apps right out of the box, without the training overhead that comes from so many modern IDEs. ROM Basic is too primitive to be of much interest anymore (even with the sprite generator and SID chip), but there are lots of products that are similar and could engage a whole new generation. It needs to be simple enough that clever kids can figure it out by reading the (always available) source in existing programs, and powerful enough to be able to do something interesting.

Re:So the question is...

[cayenne8]

Does it run linux?

Re:Everyone under 35 should STFU

[SharpFang]

I think you set the age bar far too high.
I'm below 33, I fondly recall my Atari 65XE and later Amiga 600, I think I could afford such a toy, I have some spare time and no, you are the one who is stupid.

Re:So the question is...

[LWATCDR]

1. It is too expensive for Nostalgia.
2. It is too thick to be comfortable to type on.

I really think they are blowing this. I would love to see a modern C-64 but this isn't it. If I was building one I would start with one of the new AMD fusion chips. Put that into a a thin all in one keyboard that is no thicker than a Notebook. Include an HDMI port so you can hook it to a TV. Install a small Flash drive and no hard drives or CD/DVD. Include few USB 3 ports and maybe a Firewire port for people to add mass storage, and throw on a network port and possibly include wifi.
Put A good Linux on it and a price of $100 to $200.

If you want a DVD and or windows that will be extra.
Schools would love it because it is cheap and should have no moving parts. Kids could use it with a TV in their room and it would actually work out. Of course many people could live with just a monitor anyway since cable boxes have HDMI out anyway. Don't make a copy of the C-64 make an new C-64. A cheap computer that will do what most people want it to do.

Re:Could have been great...

[mijelh]

OS in ROM - no Virus worries or update hell
BASIC (replaced with something modern) in ROM - make it easy and attractive to program.
Applications in ROM - Build in OpenOffice, FireFox

AKA permanently vulnerable. Back in the days of the Commodore 64 virus were practically non existent, and they were made only to show off how 133t the coders were. Today Malware is a huge business, a large industry, and with the population increasingly using the computers for stuff like buying online, checking the bank account, etc. this can only go worse. I do think that we need to figure out how to make things easy again, but just locking ourselves to vulnerable software is almost suicidal.

Re:1st april?

[mwvdlee]

It's still mostly a 90's Geocities-style website with 3D renders of products and lacking any real information.
For something as simple as a box to hold standard components, they are taking a long time to release it.