The Commodore 64 is Commodore's successor to the VIC20 computer. The C64 sold for $200 in 1983, a very low price for a 64k machine (Consumer Reports, p.480). The Commodore 64 was introduced in 1982.
Processor: The C64 uses the MOS 8502 microprocessor which is compatible with the 6502 and capable of addressing 64k of RAM.
RAM: The C64 has 64K of RAM.
Keyboard: The C64 uses the same keyboard as the VIC20 and C128 (with the exception of the C128's extra keys). The layout is the same as a typical computer or typewriter with a few exceptions. The Commodore keyboard has three keys between the "L" and the "Return", instead of the more typical one or two. While this doesn't present a large problem, it is sometimes is easy to miss the "Return" key. The Commodore keyboard includes most all standard ASCII characters, the only ones missing are characters 96 and 123 though 126, those characters being the back apasterphie (`), the left curly bracket ({), the bar (|), the right curly bracket (}), and the tilde (~). Although not missing, there are some keys and characters that are different from the normal ASCII characters. The backslash (\) is replace with a British pound, and the underline (_) is replace with a back arrow. The keyboard does include standard control and shift keys, as well as a "Commodore" key that generates special characters or colors.
Video: The C64 has a much better video system than it's predecessor, the VIC20. The C64 has 40 row by 25 column text display and has a composite video jack as well as a TV output. The composite jack also includes separate video (S-video) output which allows the use of a monitor that will produce sharper color than standard composite.
Storage: The Commodore 64 has an optional cassette interface connector for use with a special Commodore cassette recorder. While this interface does require a special recorder, Commodore has one of the most reliable cassette systems. Disk drives and printers are attached through a special serial interface. The drive that originally shipped with the C64, the 1541, is a single sided 35 track drive that uses GCR encoding, which makes it unreadable by any other machine. See compatibility below for more information on other disk drive options. (Commodore Business Machine Newsgroup).
NOTE: Due to similarities between Commodore machines, the following information is common to all Commodore machines listed on this site.