For $595, you get what nobody else can give you for twice the price (1982) [pdf]

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Nostalgia and the ‘magic’ of early tech

  • Many recall the 80s/90s as a “golden” era: first email, BBSs, early Internet searches and MUDs felt mind‑blowing.
  • Some say nothing since 8‑bit machines has matched that sense of discovery; others argue later waves (web, smartphones, modern games, VR/AR, even AI) have been just as magical.
  • A few cite recent VR/AR headsets as the first “wow” since things like Shazam.

Ad copy, slogan, and positioning

  • The headline “For $595, you get what nobody else can give you for twice the price” initially confuses some readers; parsing it as “others can’t match this even at double the cost” makes sense only after seeing the comparison table.
  • Several note that the table cherry‑picks pricier competitors (Apple II+, Atari 800, IBM PC, TRS‑80 Model III) and omits cheaper home machines (TI‑99/4A, Atari 400, later ZX Spectrum/Timex variants).
  • The comparison leans heavily into “workhorse” framing—RAM, text, peripherals—while the machine was, in practice, also a major games platform.

Technical comparisons and marketing spin

  • Some matrix items are seen as fair (e.g., Apple II+ uppercase‑only), others as “hinky”:
    • CP/M option on the C64 existed but was slow and constrained by the 1541 drive format.
    • “TV output” is counted as a C64 plus versus the TRS‑80 Model III, which already had an integrated monitor.
    • “Smart peripherals” meant drives/printers with their own CPUs; impressive, but also cost‑ and speed‑penalizing.

Drives, buses, and rival designs

  • Long sub‑thread on the 1541 drive: powerful (its own 6502, RAM, autonomous operation) but famously slow.
  • Explanations range from hardware bugs and bus design to simply poor ROM routines; fastload cartridges and custom serial code could make it much faster.
  • The Apple II Disk II is held up as an extremely elegant, cheap, and much faster alternative, credited to unusually clever engineering.

CP/M, co‑processors, and system architecture

  • CP/M on the C64 used a Z80 cartridge; on the C128 it was more practical but still sluggish.
  • Discussion on whether co‑processors would have helped versus simply having a faster CPU; later Amiga designs are cited as the “co‑processor” path that actually happened.
  • BBC Micro’s second‑processor interface and later GPU‑heavy modern systems are mentioned as echoes of those ideas.

Learning to program: BASIC and beyond

  • Experiences diverge:
    • Some say Commodore BASIC (with heavy reliance on PEEK/POKE for graphics/sound) was so frustrating it delayed their programming careers.
    • Others found it sufficient as a stepping stone to assembly, helped by unusually detailed Commodore manuals (memory maps, opcodes, schematics).
  • Comparisons are made with richer ROM BASICs (e.g., Color Computer, Spectrum, BBC) that had higher‑level graphics/sound commands and sometimes built‑in assemblers, which some feel were better for beginners.
  • Several note that lack of drives or advanced hardware inadvertently pushed them toward coding rather than just gaming.

Company context and pricing

  • Commodore is remembered as a juggernaut whose ownership of MOS Technology let it undercut rivals on price and integrate custom chips.
  • Poor later management, product fragmentation, and slow response to the IBM/Microsoft ecosystem are blamed for its decline.
  • $595 is noted as roughly $2,000 in today’s money, yet still cheaper than many competitors at the time; comparisons to modern Mac prices highlight how much more capability that money now buys.