Vintage Apple computer auctioned off for $668,000

Associated Press ^ | 05/25/13

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

LOL

[Paisan]

a functioning 1976 model - has been sold for a record 516,000 euros ($668,000).

I’ve hung onto my 2 TRS-80’s (with, the Expansion Interface and 2 5.25” Disk Drives) awaiting the day...

[bgill]

I have a couple old clunkers they could buy.

[musicman]

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[RegulatorCountry]

I’ve got an original tangerine clamshell iBook still in the box, used maybe twice, nothing ever installed on it, totally original and not a scratch. Bought it for my parents and they never “got” it. Wonder when that’ll be worth more than I paid for it?

[llevrok]

Today’s smart phones have more computing power than the Apollo. They’ve surpassed it. Faster processors and graphics abilities as well.

Yeah. And they can do cool things like simultaneously letting you Tweet and Facebook while landing on the moon. /s

[al baby]

Can’t even get on Free Republic some days

[Klemper]

AHA! Nobody needs more than 640k anyway!

[Campion]

The Apollo flight computer had 4k of RAM and a 2 MHz processor. A smartphone of today has that beat by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude.

[roadcat]

insane, how many of those are in junkyards?

Practically all of them. When the Apple II came out, Steve Jobs allowed a trade-up and junked all those turned in. A couple associates begged to keep a couple, otherwise there would be fewer than four working ones. Jobs did not like old clutter sitting around, and when he returned to Apple in the mid-90's he forced them to dump all their non-current inventory including museum-type stuff the company had kept. Fortunately, some was given to Stanford U. Jobs hated old stuff.

Be careful buying old stuff, there are scams out there.

[catnipman]

“insane, how many of those are in junkyards?”

Very few. Only 200 were ever made. The Apple I was the first single-board computer ever made, including BIOS and all onboard I/O controllers. Steve Wozniack invented both the single-board computer and BIOS. In terms of the history of computers, his feat is akin to what the Wright brothers did and owning one an original Apple I board (only six left in the world) would be like owning an original Wright brothers airplane.

[GeronL]

bump

history stuff

[roadcat]

There are more than six Apple 1’s. Article says six remaining known that function. There are many more out there, most don’t work. I had the opportunity to buy one not too long ago, cheap, and kick myself for not doing so. A guy I know that I sold a vintage Apple II to him from my collection (serial number in low 100’s), restored an Apple 1 to working condition and made a lot from the sale. Trouble is, the original chips are hard to source. If you look at the pics in post #6, the 1st is not original, while the 2nd pic shows mostly original chips (white CPU case). The more original, the higher the calue.

[Nowhere Man]

It would amaze people from the 1960s or so (think Darrin Stephens) if you were to say, "In my hand I am holding a device about the size of a deck of cards that has access to the sum total knowledge of all humanity from the beginning of time. I use it to argue with strangers, tell people when and where I am going to the restroom and look at short movies of cure cats."

Heh. Reminds me of an alternate history discussion on another forum, for that purpose, where for sake of discussion if three new "Earths" would appear in orbit with us. One from 1890, another from 1930, still another from 1970 and of course, today. They are evenly spaced around the Sun and will stay that way. One of us joked, "if we want to move from one Earth to another, we in 2013 will have to bum a ride from the 1970 Earth since NASA had a much more active space program then than today." (paraphrasing)

I can see it now:

1970 Man: "We can send man to the Moon and bring him back. Also since we were starting to work on Mars, we can go to the other Earths."

2013 Man: "Well, in my hand I have a device I can access all sort of info and porn."

1970 Man: "........" (South Park 1000 yard stare)

[Nowhere Man]

AHA! Nobody needs more than 640k anyway!

I remember thinking if I had a 16K computer, I can rule the world. B-)

[roadcat]

After reading a couple articles about the sale of that Apple 1, I suspect the seller is the fellow I know. All the information matches. He’s an entrepreneur in Texas, who bought the Apple 1 from the original owner for $40G’s. The article references Mike Willegal, another acquaintance of mine, who maintains the official Apple 1 registry. The fellow I know in Texas sources original parts and restores computers, among them an early Apple II I sold him that he restored to original working condition (early parts are rare). I’ll have to congratulate him!

[Darnright]

Ping!

[Swordmaker]

This should prove that Apple computers retain their value —PING!

Apple I Ping!

If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Swordmaker]

It's said that the typical cellphone of today has as much computing power as did the computer onboard Apollo 11.I hope this guy wasn't buying this dinosaur to do his spreadsheets or anything.

Heck, by its release in 1976, the Commodore 64, had more memory and more computing power than the AGC computers on the Moon missions. The AGCs were 16bit computers but had only 4k of memory. The Smartphones of today are FAR more powerful than even the computers that ran the Space Shuttles.

[Swordmaker]

insane, how many of those are in junkyards?

Not many. The reason these are rare is that Apple offered an aggressive trade in program program when they released the Apple II: turn in your Apple I board and get a free Apple II and $400! Most people who owned the 200 or so Apple Is that were sold accepted this generous offer. The owner of this one turned down the offer and that letter from Steve Jobs making the offer is included in the sale. Their was method in this madness. Wozniak was handling warranty service on the Apple Is at the same time as he was working on designing peripherals and other things for the Apple II. Warranty work was not a good use of his time.