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For this price, couldn't you just buy an actual Apple II computer?

Hm. That's neat but odd. Obviously someone out there is going for it though.
3h 37m 56s (Oct 25, 2012 14:09:05 PDT)
Current bid:
US $585.00 [ 9 bids ]

To be honest I'm not sure what it's doing though. It really looks a hell of a lot like an Apple II motherboard without the keyboard and it's just using the Commodore as a keyboard/terminal. I think it's neat though with systems that can emulate others. I wonder if the difference was the cost of the equipment back then.
 
Uh...exactly what "expanded hardware and software features of the Apple II+" are they talking about? Unless they were expecting you to pay hundreds of dollars to be able to run The Oregon Trail on your C64, I'd take the C64 anyday for specs...
 
Uh...exactly what "expanded hardware and software features of the Apple II+" are they talking about? Unless they were expecting you to pay hundreds of dollars to be able to run The Oregon Trail on your C64, I'd take the C64 anyday for specs...
LMAO! That's what I was thinking. Now if I had the ability to run c64 titles on my Apple II, that's different. :) I guess I could see the benefits of the hardware expandability options and networking possibilities of an Apple II, but weren't 99% of c64s just used for gaming? I can see why this is rare because nobody would have bought it!
 
weren't 99% of c64s just used for gaming? I can see why this is rare because nobody would have bought it!
And those that weren't were the glorified typewriters/checkbooks of people who figured it was cheaper than an IBM PC. Certainly I doubt anybody ever used them in anything like a network environment.
 
I can see why this is rare because nobody would have bought it!

Key point of irony in today's collectibles. Agreed though, not sure why one would want to dumb down their Commodore but I'm sure Apple (corporate) was thrilled with the idea of the device. I never realized that Apple was really considered a competitor at the time but I was a kid so unless they aired commercials during Saturday morning cartoons I didn't know much other than IBM compatibles existed at the time.

It wasn't until an old episode of Computer Chronicles when they made it sound like Apple was the giant in the home market that Atari and Commodore were trying so desperately to compete and catch up.
 
I never realized that Apple was really considered a competitor at the time...
That's because they weren't. This Frankenstein monster came out in 1985. By then, I don't really think they were much of a competitor in the computer gaming market or even home computer market in general, but in fairness, Apple didn't care. It was still using technology from 1977. They were still found aplenty in schools though. Now from around 78-83, I think they were a competitor. But alas, technology outgrew the venerable computer. Still my favorite though.
 
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I browsed through my collection of COMPUTE! and COMPUTE!'s Gazette and found advertisments from Mimic Systems in the following issues:

December 1984: no RRP given

January 1985
Spartan base system (including BUSS, CPU and DOS cards) $599
Additional BUSS card $299
Additional CPU or DOS card $199

Price comparison: Protecto Enterprizes sold a bare C64 for $175. Harmony Video & Computers in New York sold an Apple IIe with disk drive for $844. They were the only advertiser to publish a price.

February 1985
Spartan price list same as in January. Protecto's C64 still at $175, but Harmony's Apple IIe had been raised (!) to $859. Still no other retailer willing to let their competitors know how much they charged for Apple systems.

March 1985
Spartan price list still unchanged. Protecto still pushing C64 at $175. Harmony's Apple IIe still at $859. Rest of the retailers only offered price quotes after a phone call.

April 1985
Spartan price list still unchanged. Protecto dumped their C64 to $139! Harmony also had a price drop, Apple IIe at $809.

June 1985
Last issue that I've got that has a Spartan advertisment. Their price list still the same as in January. Two page advertisment for the Apple II series, but no RRP in that one. Anyway, Protecto's C64 still at $139 while Harmony's IIe with disk drive again had been raised to $819.95!

Now, I know the Spartan just adds II+ compatibility, not IIe and there were quite a number of advertisers who might have offered better prices upon a phone call, but roughly speaking it seems a C64 + Spartan initally would cost around $775 plus shipping, disk drives, monitor etc, dropping to $740 in the late spring of 1985. A true Apple IIe including a disk drive could be had for at least $860, later dropped to $810 at best. So yes, if you add in the disk drives and other equipment required to actually have use of the Spartan with a C64, the total cost would be quite a bit higher than what you could buy a real Apple for. However if you already got a C64 and just wanted to expand with an Apple II system, I suppose you could save at least $50-$100 by getting the expansion unit instead of getting a second computer.

Update: So the eBay auction just ended at $1552. Even after adjusting the $599 RRP for 27 years of inflation and taking into consideration the lot on eBay included a floppy drive you have to buy extra, I'd think it just sold for more than it once cost...
 
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Hipsters paradise. You have both an Apple II (because everyone knows Steve Jobs invented the computer and GUI) and the Commodore 64 (the best music machine ever created because, you know that chiptunes are totally hip) all in one. Add people who were dropped as children and make it into jobs they shouldn't be near and you got people with buckets of cash and no common sense.

I have seen a flyer advertising these before and yeah they were all built out on Vancouver Island. I guess if anything you're buying a really cool piece of canadian-built technology.
 
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Well then you'd want it to be compatible with the Commodore 128 so you could have the Z80 cartridge and also run cp/m as well as Commodore and Apple stuff.
 
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