“I don't think it's for me” are the words they cringe to hear. Yet 'post-functional irrelevance' may be their biggest problem: Apart from the novelty value, why would anyone bother with their product? Unless, like the original, it's half the price of comparable systems or less.
I'd be amused to have the Commodore 64x, packaged as it is in their famous 'Brown Box' case - I still have a couple of original C64's in my closet - but how many others like me are there?
[Volkswagen had the same problem when they decided to reintroduce the Beetle: They decided against recreating the original, as they figured they'd have a wave of nostalgia buyers, then nothing. Instead, they created the worst of both worlds - a 'Beetle' with none of the advantages of the original, and three times the price. Good move, guys.]
Unless, like the original, it's half the price of comparable systems or less.
Which, unfortunately, it's not. A VIC-Slim that's actually functional (i.e. comes with the OS, hard drive, RAM, etc.) will run you $545 for the "standard" model, or $595 for the "supreme" model. That's pretty much on par with a standard desktop PC these days.
(And those Commodore 64X machines are even worse; a functional model will run you over $1000!)
I can see the VIC-Slim being useful for environments where space is at a premium, such as "internet cafes", or hotel business centers, or classrooms. If it has decent media performance and is as quiet as they suggest it is, it might make a good media PC for the living room. But I can't really see it becoming my primary desktop PC, either.
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I like the vic slim design. I don't think it's for me, but I hope they do well.
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“I don't think it's for me” are the words they cringe to hear. Yet 'post-functional irrelevance' may be their biggest problem: Apart from the novelty value, why would anyone bother with their product? Unless, like the original, it's half the price of comparable systems or less.
I'd be amused to have the Commodore 64x, packaged as it is in their famous 'Brown Box' case - I still have a couple of original C64's in my closet - but how many others like me are there?
[Volkswagen had the same problem when they decided to reintroduce the Beetle: They decided against recreating the original, as they figured they'd have a wave of nostalgia buyers, then nothing. Instead, they created the worst of both worlds - a 'Beetle' with none of the advantages of the original, and three times the price. Good move, guys.]
Reply
Which, unfortunately, it's not. A VIC-Slim that's actually functional (i.e. comes with the OS, hard drive, RAM, etc.) will run you $545 for the "standard" model, or $595 for the "supreme" model. That's pretty much on par with a standard desktop PC these days.
(And those Commodore 64X machines are even worse; a functional model will run you over $1000!)
I can see the VIC-Slim being useful for environments where space is at a premium, such as "internet cafes", or hotel business centers, or classrooms. If it has decent media performance and is as quiet as they suggest it is, it might make a good media PC for the living room. But I can't really see it becoming my primary desktop PC, either.
Reply
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