Adverts featuring the Commodore C64

Commodore's C64 was the sequel to the successful VIC-20, with the two micros even sharing the same "bread bin" case and hostile Microsoft BASIC.

However, with its improved CPU in the shape of MOS Technology's 6510, Al Charpentier and Charles Winterble's vastly-improved VIC-II display chip, and the new SID sound chip, designed by Bob Yannes, the C64 was streets ahead technologically - not only of the VIC-20, but of most other 8-bit micros on the scene at the time.

Dominating the home computer market in the US, and doing well in Europe, at its peak the C64 was being manufactured at a rate of 400,000 machines a month - comfortably outselling the Apple II and even the IBM PC - eventually shifting between 12.5 and 17 million units. It remains the best-selling desktop computer of all time.