Commodore adverts

"Four Calculators in One - The Complete Computer!"

From back in the day when a calculator could cost a week or two's wages comes this US advert for the Commodore 4109 calculator. Whilst its functions might seem basic by modern standards, its compact s...

Commodore 884D Calculator: Electric Fun for $24.95!

At about half the price of the contemporary Commodore 4109 calculator, the basic four-function 884D, released in 1974, could be considered to be quite the bargain, retailing at $24.95, or about &pound...

"Britain's fastest-selling calculators have The CBM Touch - more counting power for your money."

Commodore was at this point primarily a calculator manufacturer (along with LED watches and Chess machines, amongst other sidelines), having evolved from the office furniture and typewriter-repair bus...

"CBM Scientifics - the best value in Britain"

This advert, from the year of the long, hot, summer of 1976, features another one of Commodore's famous "button monster" calculators - the 49-button SR4190R. The face-value price hasn't changed since ...

Commodore's philosophy: Computer PET 2001

This is a nice little 8-page A5 booklet produced for the launch of the Commodore PET, which made its debut at the Chicago Consumer Electronics Show in January 1977, months before its contemporaries th...

"Introducing the Pedigree PET - 8K only £499"

The PET was the result of a project by MOS Technology of Pennsylvania to develop its 6500 series of microprocessors, which had been designed as drop-in replacements for Motorola's 6800 by ex-Motorola ...

"Britain is a nation of PET lovers - the No. 1 computer in the UK"

An advert showing the original Chiclet-style 4K PET, retailing for £520 inclusive - about £3,350 in 2023 terms. At around this time, the newer 4000 series (16K and 32K models, with a proper keyboard) ...

"Chessmate Electronic Chess Opponent - a player you'll find hard to beat at a price that's impossible to beat"

As well as the PET/CBM range of computers and the continuation of the calculator line, which had survived the Calculator Wars of the mid 1970s, Commodore wasn't averse to putting out the odd sideline ...

"If you want what's best for your PET, choose Commodore software"

An advert for Commodore's own software tentacle, which was placed in many Commodore magazines of the day and which ran for at least six months. It features the legendary Kit Spencer, Commodore UK's to...

"Thanks to Commodore Computer we now use computer simulation to test heat pump and solar design applications"

So says Cristoph Sobotta, R&D Director of Stiebel Eltron, in this US advert. It employs a blatantly faked screen-shot on the PET, as it was unable to produce such hi-res graphics, and possiby a pr...

"The Commodore PET offers you a safe passage through the primeval swamp of computerisation"

The advert had a point - there were seeminlgy hundreds of different manufactures around at this point all producing different systems with different CPUs on different architectures, and having (by now...

"Buy a wordprocessor for under £3,500 - and get a microcomputer for free"

Well, perhaps software was a bit more expensive in the early 80s, but word processing software for £3,500 (or £16,800 in 2023 terms) seems a little steep. However, that's what the advert states - word...

You're Never Alone With A Commodore PET

In the year that the VIC 20 would be released comes an advert for the Commodore PET, or rather not for any particular PET but for the support network that Commodore had built up - training, dealershi...

"Vic 20: The Waiting is Over. The Rush has Begun"

The advert that kicked off Commodore's marketing campaign in the UK for the VIC 20 - the 6502-based colour computer which went on to sell around 2.5 million units, before being discontinued in 1985. T...

Commodore PET: Choosing a Computer Made Simple

The PET had been around for nearly five years by the time this advert is published, and so it's less of a case of advertising the hardware (which hasn't really changed much, apart from a bigger screen...