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Posted on 05/25/2013 10:32:55 AM PDT by oxcart
BERLIN (AP) -- An auctioneer says one of Apple's first computers - a functioning 1976 model - has been sold for a record 516,000 euros ($668,000).
German auction house Breker said Saturday an Asian client, who asked not to be named, bought the so-called Apple 1, which the tech company's founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built in a family garage.
Breker claims it is one of only six known remaining functioning models in the world. Breker already sold one last year for 492,000 euros.
It says the computer bears Wozniak's signature. An old business transaction letter from the late Jobs also was included.
The Apple 1, which was sold for $666 in 1976, consisted of only the circuit board.
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
LOL
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...
I have a couple old clunkers they could buy.
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?
Yeah. And they can do cool things like simultaneously letting you Tweet and Facebook while landing on the moon. /s
Can’t even get on Free Republic some days
AHA! Nobody needs more than 640k anyway!
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.
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.
“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.
bump
history stuff
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.
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!
Ping!
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
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.
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.
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