Editing Commodore 64 (section)

=== Reception ===
In July 1983, ''[[Byte (magazine)|BYTE]]'' magazine stated that "the 64 retails for {{US$|long=no|595}}. At that price it promises to be one of the hottest contenders in the under-{{US$|long=no|1000}} personal computer market." It described the SID as "a true music synthesizer&nbsp;... the quality of the sound has to be heard to be believed", while criticizing the use of Commodore BASIC&nbsp;2.0, the floppy disk performance which is "even slower than the [[Atari 810]] drive", and Commodore's quality control. ''BYTE'' gave more details, saying the C64 had "inadequate Commodore BASIC 2.0. An 8K-byte interpreted BASIC" which they assumed was because "Obviously, Commodore feels that most home users will be running prepackaged software - there is no provision for using graphics (or sound as mentioned above) from within a BASIC program except by means of POKE commands." This was one of very few warnings about C64 BASIC published in any computer magazines.<ref name="wszola198307">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-07/1983_07_BYTE_08-07_Videotex#page/n231/mode/2up | title=Commodore 64 | work=BYTE | date=July 1983 | access-date=October 20, 2013 | author=Wszola, Stan | page=232}}</ref> ''Creative Computing'' said in December 1984 that the C64 was "the overwhelming winner" in the category of home computers under {{US$|long=no|500}}. Despite criticizing its "slow disk drive, only two cursor directional keys, zero manufacturer support, non-standard interfaces, etc.", the magazine said that at the C64's price of less than {{US$|long=no|200}} "you can't get another system with the same features: 64K, color, sprite graphics, and barrels of available software". The [[TRS-80 Color Computer|Tandy Color Computer]] was the runner up. The [[Apple II]] was the winner in the category of home computer over {{US$|long=no|500}}, which was the category the Commodore 64 was in when it was first released at the price of {{US$|long=no|595}}.<ref name="ahl198412">{{Cite magazine |last=Ahl |first=David H. |author-link=David H. Ahl |date=December 1984 |title=Top 12 computers of 1984 |url=https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n12/10_Top_12_computers_of_1984.php |magazine=Creative Computing |access-date=March 16, 2019}}</ref>