Yes, it's "retrocomputing on easy mode": an ARM Linux computer running VICE and preloaded with a carousel of C64 games. But it can be set to boot into BASIC just like a real C64, and it gets you about 80% of the way to the experience of the real thing without needing to recap mainboards or track down a missing pulled SID on eBay. And it hooks straight into modern TVs and uses modern peripherals (game pads, etc.). It can be programmed in BASIC or any other language/environment for the C64 that's sideloaded onto it.
If she wants to mess with more modern paradigms of computing, get her a Raspberry Pi 400 or something also. Old laptops with Linux are good for this use case also -- a used ThinkPad will work wonderfully. With modern tools, she can even more easily write 6502 programs to sideload onto her THEC64!
Yes, it's "retrocomputing on easy mode": an ARM Linux computer running VICE and preloaded with a carousel of C64 games. But it can be set to boot into BASIC just like a real C64, and it gets you about 80% of the way to the experience of the real thing without needing to recap mainboards or track down a missing pulled SID on eBay. And it hooks straight into modern TVs and uses modern peripherals (game pads, etc.). It can be programmed in BASIC or any other language/environment for the C64 that's sideloaded onto it.
If she wants to mess with more modern paradigms of computing, get her a Raspberry Pi 400 or something also. Old laptops with Linux are good for this use case also -- a used ThinkPad will work wonderfully. With modern tools, she can even more easily write 6502 programs to sideload onto her THEC64!