CUSA makes the BBC news site

[takemehomegrandma]

I hate to add to this, 'cause I also think it's kind of a pointless tragedy.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/07/commodore-64-computer-lives-vintage/?test=faces

A friend sent me that link, since he knows I'm an Amiga fan.  Although I never was a C64 fan, I thought they were piles of crap  Atari 8-Bit fan here.

Then again, the spiritual ancestor of the Amiga was the Atari 8-Bit anyhow...

slaapliedje

BBC, LA Times, Guardian, Fox...

Wow, some great media coverage there!

And that tells us, in black on white, how much all those grumpy "but who's gonna be interested in this when it's just a PC in a custom case" kind of comments was worth, hehe! :p

 

[runequester]

BBC, LA Times, Guardian, Fox...

Wow, some great media coverage there!

And that tells us, in black on white, how much all those grumpy "but who's gonna be interested in this when it's just a PC in a custom case" kind of comments was worth, hehe! :p

 

I'll see you a news story and raise you the comments of pretty much every single person who's seen the price and specs

[toRus]

Yippie, a PC in a C64 case.  Why does anyone care about such a $600 gimmick?  I don't get it.

Because it's retro!  People have great childhood memories of the C64 and this is a great tribute to this;  A modern usable machine with retro styling.

This is not retro. Retro is having a working C64. Having a lame Atom-based PC in a C64 case just sucks.

[mdwh2]

They're also planning Amiga models:

http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_Amiga.aspx

http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_Amiga2000.aspx

http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_Amiga3000.aspx

And some more: http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_FutureModels.aspx

Today's "Macs" are just PCs in an Apple branded box. But no one moans about that. Yes it's unlikely to be of interest to people using the later generations of Amigas, but that doesn't mean other people won't be interested. And surely anything that keeps the brand alive, and stops the Amiga being forgotten to history, is a good thing?

Plus here's the thing: if Commodore hadn't gone bust, today's Amigas would likely have little in common the classic Amigas. Whilst even AmigaOS 4 is a derivative of the classic Amiga 3.x, like Apple, they may well have switched OS completely (I'm sure in the late days of Commodore, they talked about Windows NT Amigas running on HP Risc machines). Post AGA chipsets would have broken compatibility. And again like Apple, they may well have eventually switched to x86. The reality is that these "PCs in a custom case" are probably far closer to what we'd have had if Commodore had never gone bust, than these various derivatives of the classic Amiga that we've instead got.

Also of interest is that the Commodore 64 version will have emulation as standard. If they do this for their Amiga models, that will be cool. Yes, you can run WinUAE yourself, but having it plugged in as standard would be a good thing for bringing it to a wider audience (and makes it even closer to a "true" Amiga than if Commodore have ever gone bust - I doubt their HP Risc Windows NT Amigas would have had emulation for backwards compatibility). People seemed to love Amithlon - no one care that that was running on just a PC.

One thing I'm curious of though - do they actually have the rights to the "Amiga"? I've lost track of what the latest in Amiga ownership has, but I presumed Amiga the company were still around - have they licensed the name? (In which case good for them.) Or have the new Commodore mistakenly thought that since they own the rights to Commodore, they also have the rights to the Amiga name? (In which case, I fear that a great idea will end up dying in a crappy legal battle. Again.)

ETA: http://www.twice.com/article/466478-Rejuvenated_Commodore_64_Back_On_Sale.php claims they bought rights to the name.

[vidarh]

Today's "Macs" are just PCs in an Apple branded box. But no one moans about that.

Well, plenty of people moan about that. But those people aside, most people are happy with that because what you pay for is superior build quality coupled with the "total package" of getting an OS that is reasonably well thought out, as well as a lifestyle brand (it's no different than people picking clothes brands etc.)

I have a cheap Acer laptop with pretty much the same specs as my wife's Macbook. It cost 1/3 of the Mac. But it's easy to see why (though perhaps not the *whole* price difference): It's lighter, it doesn't creak and give if you lift it by one edge. It's got all kinds of little touches like a backlit keyboard. Its keyboard isn't falling to pieces after a few months, the battery still holds the charge far better, and so on. If you want "just a PC" without the Apple brand of similar quality, you do actually end up paying pretty much the same as for the Macbook, and  there aren't many alternatives around. Attention to detail places Apple product pretty close to the top in terms of PC manufacturers if you are to rank by quality.

If these guys were to product Commodore or Amiga products that were "just a PC" of similar kind of build quality and design, and with a similarly polished OS experience, then a lot fewer people would complain (though some still would, no matter what, as long as there's an x86 in there and it doesn't run AmigaOS or a variation)

Personally I'm not too bothered. If they come up with a sufficiently stylish box with an Amiga logo on it, and it's not too outrageously priced, then perhaps I'll buy one for my next Linux or AROS box. But I'm also under no illusion that these boxes live up to the Amiga legacy.

(The name Commodore brand, on the other hand, I have much fewer qualms about - after all Commodore did sell a lot of mediocre PC's and a lot of people only remember them for that)

[mdwh2]

Yes indeed - it's still possible to sell just a "PC in a case" by adding value to them and differentiating them; as this company are doing.

I have a cheap Acer laptop with pretty much the same specs as my wife's Macbook. It cost 1/3 of the Mac. But it's easy to see why (though perhaps not the *whole* price difference): It's lighter, it doesn't creak and give if you lift it by one edge. It's got all kinds of little touches like a backlit keyboard. Its keyboard isn't falling to pieces after a few months, the battery still holds the charge far better, and so on. If you want "just a PC" without the Apple brand of similar quality, you do actually end up paying pretty much the same as for the Macbook, and  there aren't many alternatives around. Attention to detail places Apple product pretty close to the top in terms of PC manufacturers if you are to rank by quality.

Yes this is the thing, you get what you pay for. Apple PCs are still PCs - there are other higher end brands such as Sony and Dell laptops too, so there's still nothing special about them. Sounds like you got a very crappy Acer though, I've not had those kinds of issues with any non-Apple PCs I've had. Different models have different areas where they are better - my Samsung N220 is cheap, as light as an Apple laptop, and smaller, with decent keyboard, and longer battery life. Of course it has lower specs - PCs (including Apple) are just built using the same kind of components, no one manufacturer can magically make their PCs better or cheaper without sacrificing something.

No one dismisses these as PCs; PC hardware is what most people want these days, and why these new Amigas - whether we like it or not - have better chance of sales then the various continuations of the classic Amiga technology.

[vidarh]

Yes this is the thing, you get what you pay for. Apple PCs are still PCs - there are other higher end brands such as Sony and Dell laptops too, so there's still nothing special about them. Sounds like you got a very crappy Acer though,

Yes, I did - I intentionally chose pretty much the cheapest model available with those specs on the assumption that I'll be upgrading it much more regularly without ever shelling out a huge amount, while my wife just wanted something where she didn't have to ever worry about the quality. It's a tradeoff.

No one dismisses these as PCs; PC hardware is what most people want these days, and why these new Amigas - whether we like it or not - have better chance of sales then the various continuations of the classic Amiga technology.

... and that is another reason why a lot of people dislike this. It will means that pretty soon a sizable chunk of people will associate Amiga with PC's - quite possibly far more than have any significant memories of the real thing.

I'm ambivalent about it - not sure it matters all that much as long as they don't overrun our forums, and perhaps some few ones will get curious and look at the real thing. But it's still a bit sad.

[Piru]

Well, plenty of people moan about that. But those people aside, most people are happy with that because what you pay for is superior build quality coupled with the "total package" of getting an OS that is reasonably well thought out, as well as a lifestyle brand (it's no different than people picking clothes brands etc.)

I have a cheap Acer laptop with pretty much the same specs as my wife's Macbook. It cost 1/3 of the Mac. But it's easy to see why (though perhaps not the *whole* price difference): It's lighter, it doesn't creak and give if you lift it by one edge. It's got all kinds of little touches like a backlit keyboard. Its keyboard isn't falling to pieces after a few months, the battery still holds the charge far better, and so on. If you want "just a PC" without the Apple brand of similar quality, you do actually end up paying pretty much the same as for the Macbook, and  there aren't many alternatives around. Attention to detail places Apple product pretty close to the top in terms of PC manufacturers if you are to rank by quality.

Amen.

It's all those small things indeed, such as:

• enough grunt to actually be usable, unlike those crappy sub-notebooks with win7 basic. eow...
• backlit keyboard even in the 13" model
• environment adaptive backlighting
• cooling system that doesn't melt the laptop if you place the system on a soft surface
• magnetic power connector that prevents disasters (has saved 2 different macbook pros for me already)
• aluminum body that actually can take a beating.

No other "normal" laptop would have survived the beating this one received: busted_macbook_pro.jpg (here's the same machine after some rework: mended_macbook_pro.jpg). The machine was involved in a blading accident and the guy carrying it fared worse than the laptop...

Try the same with some plasticy ACER or DELL and you end up with backbag full of laptop components. This system on the other hand works great (only dvdrw-drive ceased to function). I use it as a backup / party laptop.

[jkirk]

This is not retro. Retro is having a working C64. Having a lame Atom-based PC in a C64 case just sucks.

i guess this isn't retro either



but dang it is cool

[Daedalus]

cooling system that doesn't melt the laptop if you place the system on a soft surface

That's a key thing there. Show me any laptop from any other manufacturer, high end or otherwise, that doesn't have air vents on the bottom. I mean, it's crazy. The amount of Dell XPSs I've seen with busted motherboards because of overheating, and some of them cost more than a Macbook. Granted, they're known to have GPU cooling problems, but even so - you pay €1,300 for a laptop, you expect it to not require a motherboard replacement every year or so until the extended warranty runs out.

[vidarh]

That's a key thing there. Show me any laptop from any other manufacturer, high end or otherwise, that doesn't have air vents on the bottom. I mean, it's crazy.

But, but, it gives you that nice smell of bacon when you put it on your lap...

[mongo]

But, but, it gives you that nice smell of bacon when you put it on your lap...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/11/22/man_burns_penis_with_laptop/

[Amiga_Nut]

That's a key thing there. Show me any laptop from any other manufacturer, high end or otherwise, that doesn't have air vents on the bottom. I mean, it's crazy. The amount of Dell XPSs I've seen with busted motherboards because of overheating, and some of them cost more than a Macbook. Granted, they're known to have GPU cooling problems, but even so - you pay €1,300 for a laptop, you expect it to not require a motherboard replacement every year or so until the extended warranty runs out.

The Dell XPS 17" model and Inspiron 9400 is notorious for the GPU overheating anyway. 90% of faulty machines are due to blown GPU due to heat stress.

[persia]

I think we've pretty much done this to death.  Clearly the C64 box buys a lot of free publicity and it's almost exclusively good publicity.  There's nothing wrong with that.  Yes, it's not retro, and the primary customer is not retro, but so what?  The world doesn't revolve around retro fans.  Take your typical boomer, odds are they had a C64 in the past.  They may want to relive that past without really reliving that past, they want a modernised version of that past.  This gives them that.  I am really dreading the day a few certain people in my office actually hear about this because they will be talking about it for weeks.  Most won't care, but there are those who will and they will behave a bit like other fanboiz.

Initially Barry made a mistake, he thought that retro enthusiasts would be the market, so he came to us and of course we reacted and he learned that we are not the market. But that doesn't mean there isn't a market.  Nor does it mean we have any say in that market.  It's time to move on, let Barry fail or succeed without moaning about it.  

The same with his Amigas, they will succeed or fail based on what consumers believe about them and it has nothing to do with us.  Once again we are not the market.  But the PC market is huge and names come and go.  It wouldn't surprise me if they failed but it also wouldn't surprise me if they didn't.  And you know what?  It makes absolutely zero difference to us if they succeed or fail.  Zero, Zip, Nada.  We still have our classic machines, we still have the projects, natami, aros, etc.  Let's move on.

[jorkany]

Clearly the C64 box buys a lot of free publicity

I agree with most of your post, but the kind of publicity we're seeing is definitely not free.

I'd say some other companies could take a lesson here, but it's far too late.

[B00tDisk]

Today's "Macs" are just PCs in an Apple branded box. But no one moans about that.

Actually if you look around the mac community there's a vocal minority who do complain about just that.  They ascribe some kind of mystical magical spiritual significance to the old PPC chips.  They speak of how not being "just a PC" somehow made the mac experience better.  My mother-in-law rushed out to buy a Powermac just so she wouldn't have an intel mac - "Because of all the problems PCs have." (yes, this was her reason)

They're stupid reasons, they're meaningless, made-up reasons...but they're reasons none-the-less.

It's kind of like the arbitrary lines drawn by some raving Amiga fanatics: how a COTS PPC motherboard made by a dying-now-dead Taiwanese company was somehow magically an Amiga, but Amithlon or WinUAE which are unarguably more capable of running Amiga software weren't Amigas.

Frankly I hope CUSA provides - either through UAE/WinUAE or some other means - a method of seamlessly running Amiga apps on the new Amiga-branded hardware they sell.  Not because I give a fig (software wise, there's nothing on the Amiga of any use to me except the occasional game), but just so it can be demonstrated who actually sells an Amiga.