derSammler Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 Saw that price also today when I got the mail saying that pre-orders are now open. What a bummer. I loved the project from the beginning and wanted to get one, but almost 800€ is completely nuts. If they don't find a way to lower costs, this will not sell well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 I suppose selling the first batch of 400 machines will be possible, but if the second batch of 1000 machines will be filled, market demand will tell. Perhaps there are more people with a generous retro computing budget than one would think, and who will compare it to the market value of a genuine Commodore 65. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sm3 Posted September 30, 2021 Author Share Posted September 30, 2021 Seems to be $778.53 + $68.49 to US for UPS shipping so that is $847.02 in total. It says "0" in stock of course. Those 400 probably sold out already. I do see this note: Please note: Orders are possible even if the stock level shows "0" and in the shopping cart the note "This item is currently out of stock, but can still be (pre)ordered. (0 of 1 available)." is issued. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youxia Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 2 hours ago, derSammler said: If they don't find a way to lower costs, this will not sell well. It will sell out no problem, these days everybody want to be an investor or speculector. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 2 hours ago, carlsson said: 666 Euros + VAT = 793 Euros before shipping. https://shop.trenz-electronic.de/en/detail/index/sArticle/3426/sCategory/564 Whatever that becomes in USD after shipping is added is left as an exercise for the reader. I think you are exempt of VAT outside of the EU. Right now that is US$771 before shipping. Yeah, we are VAT-exempt on this side of the pond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 I've been saving for the last couple of years to buy one but I just can't pull the trigger. We have import and GST charges here in Australia which will push the final price up to somewhere around $1400AU+. I spent around $800-$900 getting a miniPet + custom keyboard pcb+cherry switches for my birthday which I haven't yet really used as I currently spend most of my time coding stuff for the 7800. But I do want to learn more 6502 assembly and the miniPet will be a great tool for that. I love the concept and the potential for future cores but I just can't see what I'll use it for... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 10 minutes ago, youxia said: speculector Great word! I suppose it is meant to be a portmandeau of speculator + collector? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sm3 Posted September 30, 2021 Author Share Posted September 30, 2021 Someone from lemon64 said they had 1400 units at one point. I'm wondering if they are just taking orders for the whole lot at this point but only the lucky first 400 get theirs this year! Update: OK yes, seems initial 400 are sold. You can still place an order for one of the remaining 1000 to be shipped next March if you like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cawley1 Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 Got my order in, one of the first 400! It’s certainly much cheaper than a real C65! Roll on 2022 for this and my Spectrum Next Issue 2! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnuphis Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 (edited) $800+ dollars basically(without taxes and including shipping). No thanks. Way to expensive for what it is. Thanks for testing it for us though! Those with deeper pockets (and maybe less sense?) can iron out all the bugs for the rest of us. If they ramp up production on a Version 2 and sell it for $499 I am in. Otherwise I can always get one from someone with buyers remorse. Edited October 1, 2021 by Arnuphis 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 (edited) Not sure if the price is a nod to the Apple I or if they are Satan worshipers. ? The Spectrum Next is less than half that, and this is about what I built a modern PC for. It's cool, but not that cool. Edited October 1, 2021 by JamesD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 (edited) Yes, I also noticed the nod to Apple 1. It makes me wonder if the MEGA65 creators expect to be as important in the future of computer history as Wozniak & Jobs were. Several people have remarked that this computer has a really big FPGA, much larger than most other products and that the cost of the chip itself makes up for 1/4 of the sales price. I don't know how much of volume discounts they can obtain on that, but if the chip is $200, it means they would have to halve their costs/profits for everything else in order to meet the $499 price point. Assuming that the margins already are quite small, I think it is more likely that the 2022Q1 batch of up to 1000 computers will be the last one with the price reasonably stable, than producing tenfold number of computers and be able to sell those greatly discounted. On another note, I was informed about a VAT change that took place on July 1 this year. From now on, any country within the EU which sells goods or services for more than 10,000 Euros per year to other EU countries, must charge the recipient's VAT rate instead of the seller's VAT rate. Previously each country had their own limit when "domestic VAT" was to be charged. I understand that the reseller is a large electronics firm that probably exports a lot of goods already, but if the MEGA65 was the only item they were selling, it would mean that as soon as they had sold 150 units to customers in other EU countries, the new VAT regulations would kick in. I suppose this change was synchronized with the change that retailers outside of the EU must preemptively collect and remit VAT from their customers, a change that also took place on July 1 for EU (but already January 1 for UK which obviously no longer is part of the union). Edited October 1, 2021 by carlsson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cawley1 Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 12 hours ago, Arnuphis said: $800+ dollars basically(without taxes and including shipping). No thanks. Way to expensive for what it is. Thanks for testing it for us though! Those with deeper pockets (and maybe less sense?) can iron out all the bugs for the rest of us. If they ramp up production on a Version 2 and sell it for $499 I am in. Otherwise I can always get one from someone with buyers remorse. Hmm. I bought one because the chances of me ever owning a real Commodore 65 are non-existant, and even if I could get one, it would likely be £15,000+ like the last couple on eBay sold for. Give the cost of components, case and mechanical keyboard, it's a punt I think worth taking. I am not worried about bugs, as they have been working on this for so long, plus dev kits have been out in the open for a while now. I doubt there will be may with buyers remorse, and anyone that does suffer from it will probably be laughing all the way to the bank, as given there are only 1,400 in the first run, they will command a swift markup on the second hand market - just look at the Spectrum Next after they released in Summer 2020. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hwlngmad Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 13 hours ago, Arnuphis said: $800+ dollars basically(without taxes and including shipping). No thanks. Way to expensive for what it is. Thanks for testing it for us though! Those with deeper pockets (and maybe less sense?) can iron out all the bugs for the rest of us. If they ramp up production on a Version 2 and sell it for $499 I am in. Otherwise I can always get one from someone with buyers remorse. Agreed. Way to expensive for my blood, though I only had a passing interest at best in this. Just too many other products out there. Still sticking with my decision to get a Steam Deck over lots of other current and/or upcoming options. 12 hours ago, JamesD said: Not sure if the price is a nod to the Apple I or if they are Satan worshipers. ? The Spectrum Next is less than half that, and this is about what I built a modern PC for. It's cool, but not that cool. Yeah, the Spectrum Next was/is really slick. Was very, very tempted to get it but really couldn't justify it as I really don't have the time to mess around with something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnuphis Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 3 hours ago, cawley1 said: Hmm. I bought one because the chances of me ever owning a real Commodore 65 are non-existant, and even if I could get one, it would likely be £15,000+ like the last couple on eBay sold for. Give the cost of components, case and mechanical keyboard, it's a punt I think worth taking. I am not worried about bugs, as they have been working on this for so long, plus dev kits have been out in the open for a while now. I doubt there will be may with buyers remorse, and anyone that does suffer from it will probably be laughing all the way to the bank, as given there are only 1,400 in the first run, they will command a swift markup on the second hand market - just look at the Spectrum Next after they released in Summer 2020. Hey, your choice. To each their own. I hope you get a lot of use out of it and it doesn't just become an expensive paperweight gathering dust. Out of the people buying it, how many are actually going to use it to contribute anything apart from bragging rights? For all those boasting Dev Kits there is precious little actually being developed. The reason the C65 is so expensive is because it was a non-released prototype from 30+ years ago and only 100 exist and a lot of them are missing pieces. It's a collectable. Why you would really want one though is beyond me, because it has no practical use. It's just an object to have and then eventually sell on. Cool if you found one in a loft but otherwise not worth buying at collector price now. The Mega65 is a modern FPGA system that just happens to be in a knock off C65 case. It will never be as collectable or expensive because it has no real footnote in history. It's a copy of something with a few embellishments. It has no more practical use than a Raspberry Pi or MiSTer and those are far less expensive. And at that price its the Atari VCS of modern retro systems. Spectrum Next is a much better project IMO and less than half the price. Hurts me to say that as I am a Commodore fan. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 12 minutes ago, Arnuphis said: The Mega65 is a modern FPGA system that just happens to be in a knock off C65 case. It will never be as collectable or expensive because it has no real footnote in history. It's a copy of something with a few embellishments. It has no more practical use than a Raspberry Pi or MiSTer and those are far less expensive. And at that price its the Atari VCS of modern retro systems. Spectrum Next is a much better project IMO and less than half the price. Hurts me to say that as I am a Commodore fan. Fair point. At the same time, this represents a completed system of what could have been. Practicality is not the point of the project, nor are we (obviously) its target demo: the C65 is a curiosity for me, and I had a chance a very long time ago to grab one for a couple of hundred dollars. It was priced out of my interest then, and it still is. But, for others, I can definitely see the attraction. Like I said, this will be for people who want to contribute something to the niche ecosphere. I am just a filthy casual Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 It reminds me there are some fiberglass conversion kits to make certain regular cars look like sports cars. While putting a such fiberglass onto your VW Beetle might make it look like a Porsche, for sure the car doesn't become a Porsche. In some respect one could make the same analogy here, you have a plastic shell made to look like a very rare and thus expensive computer. If you compare with the "real deal" it seems very affordable. If you don't equate the two, it doesn't quite look like a bargain anymore. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youxia Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 2 hours ago, Arnuphis said: Out of the people buying it, how many are actually going to use it to contribute anything apart from bragging rights? For all those boasting Dev Kits there is precious little actually being developed. Yeah, that's the biggest problem with this thing for me. Like I said earlier, even with Next there's not that much happening, despite being around for longer and selling more units - very little buzz from actual users. But at least there are some games for it already and some more in developement. Here - just tumbleweed. I've been watching that thread on lemon for quite some time, and even in that hardcore Commie neck of the woods the enthusiasm is rather low. I'm pretty sure it is a good "investment" though, if you're into that sort of thing. We live in crazy times: even something as silly as VCS sells for premium, Next routinely commands high prices, and this being pretty rare probably will yield some big returns too, at least till all the grognards like us die out and the bottom will fell out of the retro market Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 1 hour ago, youxia said: We live in crazy times: even something as silly as VCS sells for premium Nah. $400... still unsold. But then, no idea what the selling price was on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 Here is a possibly even more sad statistic: Out of the 84 entries on CSDb for the C64DTV platform (*), 24 are various updates to earlier versions. Of the 60 more or less unique entries, at least 15 are various tools and kernels. Of the 45 remaining demos/games/misc, 42 (93%) were released within the first 9 years after the first joystick was launched and the remaining 3 (7%) have been released in the past 6 years. That is for a system that was fairly inexpensive and has been emulated in VICE for a number of years. TRSI made a nice demo in 2015 and Oxyron has made two top notch releases in 2017 and 2018. (*) Plus any commercial titles that haven't made it to the site. If the native (?) Commodore 65 mode will generate more interest than the DTV mode has done in the past 6 years remains to be seen, but frankly all of PET/CBM, VIC-20, Plus/4 and C128 each receive more attention... I'd dare to say that even CBM-II has had more software released for it in the last half decade than the DTV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozartpc27 Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 (edited) I put in an order, the money is out of PayPal... but I can't tell if I got a December one, a March one, or neither of these. Does anyone know how you can tell if you have even been assigned a shipping date? As I said, the money is gone... Edited October 1, 2021 by mozartpc27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cawley1 Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 16 hours ago, mozartpc27 said: I put in an order, the money is out of PayPal... but I can't tell if I got a December one, a March one, or neither of these. Does anyone know how you can tell if you have even been assigned a shipping date? As I said, the money is gone... You get sent an invoice as a PDF in an email, and that should have the shipping date on it. My order says 28th December 2021. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozartpc27 Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 1 hour ago, cawley1 said: You get sent an invoice as a PDF in an email, and that should have the shipping date on it. My order says 28th December 2021. Looks like I have not received any such email. On another forum I was told I'd probably get it Monday. Here's hoping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadir Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Very cool project. Another one that is super tempting, but I really need to cut back. Too many systems around the house that I don't use already! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pokeypy Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 On 10/1/2021 at 3:16 AM, JamesD said: The Spectrum Next is less than half that Just like in the old days: The Spectrum being a more affordable alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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