Australians will be able to buy the new Commodore C64 online with a limited production run set to go on sale this week.One of the first ever computers, the new Commodore 64 looks like the original complete with keyboard and original coffee coloured casing.

Commodore said the new dual-core Atom PC is due to ship this week.

The system starts out at prices much closer to those of the C64 in its heyday. A Barebones version is now available at $250 for those wanting to install their own components. A realistic, complete Basic version starts off at $595 with a 1.8GHz Atom, NVIDIA Ion graphics, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and no optical drive. At its most expensive, the $895 ultimate model has a Blu-ray drive, 4GB of RAM, a 1TB hard drive and Wi-Fi.

Every model has multi-format card reading and modern video out and expansion. Ubuntu Linux 10.10 comes with the system. Soon after launch, though, Commodore plans to give buyers a copy of Commodore OS that replicates the original C64’s environment and software support. No plans exist so far to ship the system with Windows.