Getting a C64 up and running?

[recidivist]

C64 should be very reasonable;the shipping is likely to be more than the 64 set.

I would suggest getting a 64C just because the case is nicer and a 1541-II disk drive ,JiffyDos chips are a big plus if installed.Jim Brain's uIEC  board and or the xe1541 device that allows  direct cable connection to a PC for file transfer would be good add-ons.

[recidivist]

In order to get the disk speedup JiffyDos must be installed in both the C64 and the disk drive.

I have JiffyDos in  a couple C= computers  here including a SX-64.Now that was half a day of careful work but the installation of JiffyDos and  also drive number select switches made the SX-64 even better than original.

I only commodore had made a deal with CMD and incorporated Jiffydos into production units 8-bit C=  would have persisted longer and in larger numbers.The slow disk drive was(is) the biggest problem with the C64 in its day.