Rare Fully Functional Apple-1 Computer Fetches Over $450,000 at Auction - MacRumors
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Rare Fully Functional Apple-1 Computer Fetches Over $450,000 at Auction

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A rare fully functional Apple-1 computer has sold for $458,711 at auction this week, according to Boston-based RR Auction.

RR Auction says the computer was acquired by Michigan computer store SoftWarehouse in the 1980s as part of a trade for a newer IBM machine. It was subsequently displayed in the store in a custom-made museum style case, before being placed into storage. The computer was restored to its original, operational state in June 2019 by "Apple-1 expert" Corey Cohen, who evaluated the current condition of the unit as 8/10.

apple 1 auction 2020
"The Apple-1 is not only a marvel of early computing ingenuity but the product that launched what is today one of the most valuable and successful companies in the world," said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction, adding that early Apple products continue to attract interest from passionate fans of the company worldwide.

The computer was sold with all components and accessories required for operation and proved to be fully functional for around eight hours in a comprehensive test.

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It is believed that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak built 200 of the Apple-1 computers and sold 175 of them, making it a rare collector's item. The computer was originally conceived as a bare circuit board to be sold as a kit and completed by electronics hobbyists, but Steve Jobs later sold 50 fully assembled units of the computer to The Byte Shop in California.

Another fully functional Apple-1 computer sold for $905,000 back in 2014.

Tag: Apple-1

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Top Rated Comments

jlocker Avatar
jlocker
80 months ago
I remember this machine quite well, I know the owners of the software house. And I was the first local computer store. I was the first Apple level II repair technician in the town, was trained in Chicago for repair of the II, III Lisa and printers in 1982 :)

Ahh the memories, I think i threw out two apple I logic boards that I could not get to work and sold them a Apple IIe replacement.

I am still a IT person working in my home town where I fixed all those computers over the years. Just today I put in more memory in a Apple iMac system. Wow were did those 40 some years go :)

Here i am in 1982 just about the time Software house opened for business.



Attachment Image
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Juicy Box Avatar
Juicy Box
80 months ago
This is pretty cool.

I have a collection of older Macs, but I doubt I will ever have one of these.


RR Auction says the computer was acquired by Michigan computer store SoftWarehouse in the 1980s as part of a trade for a newer IBM machine. It was subsequently displayed in the store in a custom-made museum style case, before being placed into storage. The computer was restored to its original, operational state in June 2019 by "Apple-1 expert" Corey Cohen, who evaluated the current condition of the unit as 8/10.
I wonder if one day, maybe 40 years from now, there will be auctions for MBPs with fully-functional butterfly keyboard.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rpmurray Avatar
rpmurray
80 months ago

Very nice find, but that would buy a lot of Coronavirus test kits.
I see you still have the computer you wrote this comment with. Why don't you sell it to buy some Coronavirus test kits.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
P
project_2501
80 months ago
that keyboard is better than the butterfly keyboard
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
CarlJ
80 months ago

No expansion slots, soldered on RAM. Hold on though... no dongles.

Suddenly interested in knowing more about how this operated...
It'll make you wish for dongles - hooking up anything external involves soldering and other hardware hackery and writing your own driver software. The follow-on Apple ][ at least had slots (beyond the cassette I/O and NTSC video out) - but you needed a circuit board (read 3" by 6" dongle covered in exposed electronic parts) to connect to anything.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D.T. Avatar
D.T.
80 months ago

(1) can it play Doom?
Yes! Well, it plays the precursor to Doom called Asterisk Demons


>*<

_^_


Above you can see the player has the BFG, and is ready to shoot a cacodemon - exciting!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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