Just before Christmas, Commodore teased us with an Intel Atom-based Commodore 64 -- a regular all-in-one Ubuntu PC in the shape of the classic C64 home computer, which could also boot into a game-playing C64 emulation mode. Now, finally, you can buy one, and you'll soon be able to get the C64's little brother, the VIC-20, in the shape of the VIC Pro and VIC Slim.
The C64x can be had in five confusing configurations. The Barebones model is nothing more than the case and keyboard with a card reader and costs $250. The cheapest working version is the C64x Basic at almost $600, and to get luxuries such as Wi-Fi and a DVD drive you'll need to cough up $700. If you're in for that much, then you may as well jump all the way and spend $900 on the Ultimate edition, which puts in a 1-TB hard drive, a Blu-ray drive and 4 GB RAM.
If you think that's expensive, you're dead right. Add on the price of an expensive dinner for two and you could buy a MacBook Air.
It's a cute gimmick, to be sure, and one that would surely sell well if it didn't cost so much. As it is, there must be a very limited set of customers willing to drop big money on a novelty Ubuntu box.
And anyway, the real nerds will be waiting for Commodore's next big project: The resurrection of the majestic Amiga, albeit in the shape of a DVD player. These machines will use PC hardware but run "Commodore OS," a mysterious operating system that will either be awesome or awful. I can't wait.
C64x product page [Commodore USA]
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