Originally released in 1982, the Commodore 64 is probably the first computer for a lot of people born before 1994. If that year sounds familiar, it’s because Commodore originally went out of business in 1994. Fast forward to 2025 and the new Commodore International has announced they’re bringing the C64 back, and they’re making it better than ever along the way.
The Commodore 64 Ultimate is the latest endeavor to bring back the older system, and they’re doing it in three different tiers. Basic Beige for $299, Starlight for $349, and the Founders Edition for $499. At least those are the pre-order prices, expected to rise after the company ships its first batches of units between October and November of 2025. After that, prices rise by $50 for each tier. With that in mind, what are you actually paying for to get all of this?
- CPU: AMD Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA
- Memory: 128mb DDR2 Ram, 16mb NOR Flash
- HDMI Out for 1080p at 50 or 60hz
- Analog Video via DIN-8: CVBS, S-Video, or RGB
- Audio via 2x SID (6581/8580)
- Storage Compatibility with USB Drives and Original Cartridges
- 66-Key Mechanical Keyboard using Gateron Pro 3.0 55g switches
While not shown in the pictures, the assumption is that the Gateron switches they’re going to be something that really brings back the clack a lot of C64 users remember from their youths in black and white. And paired with that, hopefully, nostalgic keyboard comes the ability to use all of your original cartridges on the C64 Ultimate. Whether or not they still work will be up to your long-term care. While the basic edition comes in Beige, stepping up to the Starlight or Founders Edition gives you a transparent casing that can really show off the RGB that’s hidden beneath. Albeit slightly off color in the case of the Founders Edition transparent yellow case.
If you’re looking to pick up a Commodore 64 Ultimate, you can find it over on their website, Commodore.net, for pre-order, the Basic unit is displaying how many units are left available in the first batch of units, and at the time of writing that’s just over 8000 units remaining in batch one. As always, though, be careful with pre-orders as even they mention the times might not be 100% accurate depending on supply and construction situations at the time. But until we see what comes of it, the best thing to do is hope it’ll fill your nostalgic itch, especially at the price listed.
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