The Commodore 64 Is Back!

majestic on April 7, 2011 http://www.disinfo.com/2011/04/the-commodore-64-is-back

Ripping a move from the playbook of German auto manufacturers Volkswagen (the Beetle) and BMW (the Mini), the new owner of early home computer staple the Commodore 64 is revamping the brand but keeping the looks of the original. Nick Bilton reports for the New York Times:

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.

The company’s Web site says that the new Commodore 64 is “a modern functional PC,” and that although the guts of the device have greatly improved, the exterior is “as close to the original in design as humanly possible.” Most people would not be able to visibly tell the old or new versions apart, it says.

“The response has been completely dramatic,” Mr. Altman said. “We’ve been averaging about five registrations per second on our Web site. This is from people giving us their name and e-mail address to be kept abreast of updates on the new Commodore.”

Some may wonder why someone would want to purchase this type of computer when a world of iPads and laptops exist.

Mr. Altman says he sees two types of customers for the new computer.

“There are a lot of really young computer users who want to own a retro-looking computer,” he said. ”And of course there are those 30- to 40-year-olds who owned the original Commodore 64 and want the nostalgia of their first machine.”