Mega 65 now available for preorder

[CosmicCruncher]

This is a project I’ve had a keen interest in during its development. Based on the Commodore 65 which itself only ever reached prototype stage. The Mega 65 is a modern FPGA based version complete with new case and keyboard based on the original Commodore 65 design.

When the dev kits were launched last year priced at €999 eyebrows were raised. It looks like the final product is now available for preorder but priced around €800 from what I can see. I think it’s amazing what this project has achieved but the price is a little too steep for me. Let’s see how this pans out though it should be interesting.

MEGA65

The 21st century realization of the Commodore™ 65 heritage: a complete 8-bit computer running more than 40x faster than a C64 while being…

shop.trenz-electronic.de

 

[Retro]

£800 is taking the mickey, especially as it’s only emulating an 8-bit computer.

 

[CosmicCruncher]

I think a lot of the price is down to production of scale. They have engineered a completely new case mould, new keyboard with real cherry mx switches and the custom motherboard. They even sourced new old stock floppy drives to make it as close to the C65 as they could. I think all their manufacturing is being done in Germany as well.

I was expecting something in the region of £400-500 myself. However the FPGA core is open source so you can run it on some other FPGA boards. Admittedly I think the most attractive part for me is the new case and keyboard.

 

[Retro]

You’re likely right about the price. A lot of the challenge in creating a new product is to keep the price down to an acceptable level by using cheap enough parts and manufacturing and assembly processes.