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APRIL 8, 2011, 1:27 PM ET
Commodore 64: Welcome Back, Old Friend
The Commodore 64 is back. Well, sort of.
The big beige box familiar to computer lovers in the 1980s is again available — albeit with some updated technology and a new company behind it.
Commodore USA
Commodore USA LLC, which was founded in 2010 with the express purpose of reviving the nostalgic brand, began selling the new 64 on its website Tuesday. It’s “a modern functional PC as close to the original in design as humanly possible,” according to the company, which recently acquired the license to the brand. The “new” computer was reported earlier by the Los Angeles Times.
“When Commodore met its premature demise in the mid-nineties, we believe something of great value was lost in the tech world,” Commodore CEO Barry Altman says on the Commodore site. The company is promoting the computers as an option for people who want something outside the mainstream, touting its products with a cute tagline: “I’m not a PC. I’m not a Mac. I’m a Commodore!”
The new computer combines nostalgia with real computing power. “The keys are the exact same shape as the original and are color matched. No expense has been spared,” the company says. Like the original, the new Commodore looks like a bulky keyboard, with no monitor or mouse.
And the new Commodore 64 costs $595 for a basic model — the same price as the 1982 original.
But there are some big differences. The 2011 basic Commodore 64 includes an Intel Atom 1.8 gigahertz processor, a 160 gigabyte hard drive and 2 gigabytes of memory — compared with the 64 kilobytes of memory that gave the original version its name. The high-end version of the latest Commodore includes a BluRay drive, 4 gigabytes of memory, WiFi and a 1 terabyte hard drive for $895.
The latest Commodore 64 also can run Microsoft Corp.’s Windows 7, although it comes with a lesser-known type of operating system known as Ubuntu. The company says it plans to offer its own Commodore operating system that is compatible with 8- 16- and 32-bit software.
The first crop of computers has sold out, but others will be available between mid-May and early June, the company said. The firm did not disclose the number of computers already sold.
Readers, do you have fond memories of the Commodore 64? What was your first computer, and do you still have it?