What goes around, comes around - so goes the saying. Many moons ago a certain computer-in-a-keyboard affectionately coined the C64 took over the world and gave a whole generation a taste of things to come. Now Commodore USA has given the keyboard computer a modern facelift, resulting in an all-in-one solution powered by an Intel Atom processor and sporting a 5 inch touchscreen display.
At the risk of giving my age away, I remember my first introduction to the wonderful Commodore 64 back in... well, let's just say the mists of time, shall we? As the name suggests, the computer-in-a-keyboard featured a whopping 64 kilobytes of memory and outperformed just about everything else at the time. It became a world dominator in the days when chunky and clunky IBM machines graced far too many a desk. Fond memories indeed.
In the years since the demise of Commodore International, desktop computing has grown up and taken over just about every aspect of our modern existence. Paint me intrigued to learn that the brand name which helped start a revolution resurfaced in March, albeit as Commodore USA and in the hands of CEO Barry S Altman. Its first all-in-one computer solution, appropriately named the Phoenix, included Intel Core 2 Duo or Quad Core processors, storage space of up to 2TB and an optical drive.
When ASUS officially announced its Eee Keyboard recently, it looked like the age of the keyboard-based computer was set to return. Now the Commodore USA Invictus is getting ready for launch.
The product page has lots of intriguing snaps of the new all-in-one, but is dramatically lacking in technical detail. Gizmag contacted Commodore USA's CEO to find out more. Altman told us that the Invictus will be powered by Intel's 64-bit Atom 330 dual core processor running at 1.6GHz on NVIDIA's MCP79 ION platform, with storage on a 250GB HDD and up to 4GB of memory. There will be a card reader, a USB threesome and 802.11b/g/n wireless networking as well as HDMI and VGA display connectivity.
Altman told Gizmag that the Invictus is "perfect for home theater... sit on the couch, keyboard entry with no need for an additional mouse, also great for just checking Instant Messaging, email etc.... I would not want to write a novel using a 5 inch screen though."
To the right of the keyboard sits the aforementioned 5 inch color TFT resistive touchscreen, which will work with either a preconfigured operating system or as the user dictates in a barebones configuration. The device will be open to various OS varieties such as Windows 7 and Ubuntu, and will contain a Li-ion battery which should give around five hours of full-on use between charges.
No word on when the Invictus will be available as yet but Altman told Gizmag, "Once we get our landed cost and currency exchange set, we will release prices for the first 5,000 units."
