6 ms·

Apple 1 Motherboard Sold for $905,000

49 points by tilt 12y ago

vblord 12y ago
That's a crazy amount of money. But I'll be honest... if I had a ton of money I would buy it too. IMO, this is a part of computing history that is very important. I think having a collection of the history of computers would be awesome.
- kenrikm 12y ago
  The Computer History Museum in Mountain View has exactly that. http://www.computerhistory.org http://www.computerhistory.org It's a pretty cool place to spend an afternoon.
  - VonGuard 12y ago
    Fry's in Santa Clara used to have one on display on their floor, bur it's gone now. My friends and I would fantasize about Hudson Hawking in at night and stealing the thing, but it was removed from display before we could ever attempt it.
    - Fuzzwah 12y ago
      Thanks for the 90's flashback. It sounds so much better as a verb than Mission Impossibling.
ooz 12y ago
I hope that was a charity auction otherwise that outcome is quite ridiculous and quite sad. $900k could be better spent.
- ToastyMallows 12y ago
  I could say that about most things that people spend money on, but it's not my money to spend.
  - ooz 12y ago
    You're right it's not your money to spend. But if someone threw $900k at crack and whores then I'm sure you'd have a moral judgement to make? This is no different to my opinion.
    - DonHopkins 12y ago
      Are you anti-drug and anti-prostitution, or do you think drugs and sex should be given away for free?
- colinramsay 12y ago
  Maybe it could, but it's not your place to decide. The person who purchased this could have bought it for some sentimental value, because they think it's an important piece of computing history which should be preserved - or perhaps both. Are you to be the judge of the validity of those things?
  - ooz 12y ago
    I'm certainly allowed an opinion and yes I will quite happily judge the validity of those things. Why shouldn't I? The item has no inherent value to anyone other than the status of aquiring it. This is a fine example of why the majority of people live in poverty, nothing more. As I said elsewhere in the replies, if someone spent $900k on crack and whores, I'm sure you'd be right up there judging the purchaser and drawing arbitrary comparisons againt "you could have done X or Y with it" and I bet none of them were "buy an Apple 1 assembly"
    - smackfu 12y ago
      Everyone who spends money beyond the ascetic-level can be judged by others. Many of us buy new $650 phones every two years, which I'm sure seems incredibly wasteful to people in third-world poverty.
      - ooz 12y ago
        I agree entirely. Perhaps they should be seen as wasteful here and it certainly shouldn't be beyond judgement. For reference, I do practice such things. My entire computing and mobile outlay has been about $250 in the last 5 years.
        icebraining 12y ago
        My entire computing and mobile outlay has been about $250 in the last 5 years. That's more than some people make in a year.
        rodly 12y ago
- DonHopkins 12y ago
  I wish my mom could auction off the Apple ][+ she bought for me in 1980 for $2000 for $900k. Who are you to decide she doesn't deserve such a good return on her investment? That's up to the buyer to judge, not you.
- phurley 12y ago
  It was sold to a (wonderful) museum, The Henry Ford (http://www.thehenryford.org/ http://www.thehenryford.org/), which every geek should visit at least once. As an artist walks through an art museum and can see the progression of ideas from antiquity to the present. As an engineer you can walk through the history of technology at The Henry Ford, from a black smithy to a tour of a modern assembly line and most all stops in between. You would be hard pressed to think of a better home for this machine. 900k is a lot of money, but I am glad it will be in a great museum, rather than at a private collector's home.
LandoCalrissian 12y ago
If I had a completely unreasonable amount of money I would buy this, quite a bit out of my price range.
cmiller1 12y ago
Did anyone notice this link on that site? http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21652/lot/188/ http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21652/lot/188/ How cool, I wish they had put it into production.
- salgernon 12y ago
  It looks a lot like a Macintosh color classic.
  - DerekL 12y ago
    But the most distinctive feature is the monitor in portrait orientation. Apple never shipped an all-in-one like that.
- joezydeco 12y ago
  There are other books full of photos of prototype devices, especially from the mid to late 1980s. http://twistedsifter.com/2014/06/apple-prototypes-from-the-1980s/ http://twistedsifter.com/2014/06/apple-prototypes-from-the-1...
- wazoox 12y ago
  The LC with the portrait black and white display was quite common among text-writers in the 90s.
Siecje 12y ago
The Apple 1 is open source so you could create this yourself.
- treehau5 12y ago
  And gold is available everywhere, so you could create your own vintage coins.
- oddgodd 12y ago
  A modern clone of the PCB has been done: http://www.willegal.net/appleii/apple1.htm http://www.willegal.net/appleii/apple1.htm Sourcing all the required components is likely to be difficult.
smackfu 12y ago
Rare + unmodified + working = $$$$$
_nickwhite 12y ago
I'm not sure who won the auction, but this should be in a museum somewhere. Hopefully it will find its way to one.
- smackfu 12y ago
  It was bought by the Henry Ford museum, which seems about right. http://www.cultofmac.com/300624/museum-pays-record-breaking-905000-apple-1/ http://www.cultofmac.com/300624/museum-pays-record-breaking-... For a museum, it's especially nice that it's not just the motherboard, but a whole setup including home-built power supply, vintage monitor, and home-built keyboard. That really makes you appreciate the time.
annnnd 12y ago
> Indeed, the story is perhaps just as famous now as the one that inspired the company name: Newton theorizing gravity under the apple tree. This is incorrect according to Jobs biography - apparently the name was given in reference to Steve Jobs' eating preferences. :)
rhapsodyv 12y ago
My old MSX dont worth anything... maybe someday :-/
mutagen 12y ago
Don't miss the video of it in operation. http://www.bonhams.com/video/17458/ http://www.bonhams.com/video/17458/
- hudey123 12y ago
  Oh man.... 10 print "Hello "; 20 goto 10; run what memories
mrb 12y ago
This is why, if you own one of the first FPGA/ASIC Bitcoin miners, you should keep it. They could become historical artifacts of a technology that may end up changing day-to-day trade & finance... Personally I kept my Ngzhang Icarus units, Enterpoint Cairnsmore1 units (one of them is serial# 3), Ztex 1.15y units, Avalon gen1 units (the first commercially available Bitcoin ASIC), and our TAV 105 Gh/s units. Most of them were extremely small production runs: less than 1000 units ever built. Back in 1976, very few people understood how the Apple 1 and personal computers were about to change day-to-day communication.
andyjohnson0 12y ago
I wonder what kind of condition those large electrolytic capacitors are in after 38 years? They don't last forever.
ommunist 12y ago
I always wondered what a fantastic resale value Apple gear has and always had.
- Tyrannosaurs 12y ago
  I've got an old MacBook kicking about somewhere. If an Apple I is worth that much I should get at least a million for a MacBook, it's way more powerful.
ChuckMcM 12y ago
I've always enjoyed the Apple 1 auctions. I probably should have bought the one at the Vintage Computer Festival in 2000 for $5,000 but I couldn't see its value :-). Somewhere out there is my home built Digital Group machine (also with bodged together keyboard and converted tv for a monitor) but Dr. Suding didn't go on to create an influential computer company. But he did have the coolest dual cassette tape system that tried to be a DECTape equivalent.
HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago
Hmmm. I have a set of original IBM 5150 (PC/XT I think) technical and operator manuals. Wonder if they're worth anything. Doubt I'd sell them, there's something about opening a computer manual and seeing actual schematics!
ezolotko 12y ago
Two months ago I ordered an original ZX Spectrum 48K, on board series 3B for about $200. It is the same I had as my first computer when I was a kid. I knew I could have it all on the emulator, and, I didn't expect how much excitement and inspiration I had after loading several games from a cassette recorder and playing on a pixel-crawly TV. In fact, had to take sleeping pills after the first time. Now I am thinking to buy myself a C64, a separate small TV, and an Apple ][ with a monitor... will have to buy a separate table for that.

49 points by tilt 12y ago

That's a crazy amount of money. But I'll be honest... if I had a ton of money I would buy it too. IMO, this is a part of computing history that is very important. I think having a collection of the history of computers would be awesome.

kenrikm 12y ago
The Computer History Museum in Mountain View has exactly that. http://www.computerhistory.org http://www.computerhistory.org It's a pretty cool place to spend an afternoon.
- VonGuard 12y ago
  Fry's in Santa Clara used to have one on display on their floor, bur it's gone now. My friends and I would fantasize about Hudson Hawking in at night and stealing the thing, but it was removed from display before we could ever attempt it.
  - Fuzzwah 12y ago
    Thanks for the 90's flashback. It sounds so much better as a verb than Mission Impossibling.

ooz 12y ago

I hope that was a charity auction otherwise that outcome is quite ridiculous and quite sad. $900k could be better spent.

ToastyMallows 12y ago
I could say that about most things that people spend money on, but it's not my money to spend.
- ooz 12y ago
  You're right it's not your money to spend. But if someone threw $900k at crack and whores then I'm sure you'd have a moral judgement to make? This is no different to my opinion.
  - DonHopkins 12y ago
    Are you anti-drug and anti-prostitution, or do you think drugs and sex should be given away for free?
colinramsay 12y ago
Maybe it could, but it's not your place to decide. The person who purchased this could have bought it for some sentimental value, because they think it's an important piece of computing history which should be preserved - or perhaps both. Are you to be the judge of the validity of those things?
- ooz 12y ago
  I'm certainly allowed an opinion and yes I will quite happily judge the validity of those things. Why shouldn't I? The item has no inherent value to anyone other than the status of aquiring it. This is a fine example of why the majority of people live in poverty, nothing more. As I said elsewhere in the replies, if someone spent $900k on crack and whores, I'm sure you'd be right up there judging the purchaser and drawing arbitrary comparisons againt "you could have done X or Y with it" and I bet none of them were "buy an Apple 1 assembly"
  - smackfu 12y ago
    Everyone who spends money beyond the ascetic-level can be judged by others. Many of us buy new $650 phones every two years, which I'm sure seems incredibly wasteful to people in third-world poverty.
    - ooz 12y ago
      I agree entirely. Perhaps they should be seen as wasteful here and it certainly shouldn't be beyond judgement. For reference, I do practice such things. My entire computing and mobile outlay has been about $250 in the last 5 years.
      - icebraining 12y ago
        My entire computing and mobile outlay has been about $250 in the last 5 years. That's more than some people make in a year.
      - rodly 12y ago
DonHopkins 12y ago
I wish my mom could auction off the Apple ][+ she bought for me in 1980 for $2000 for $900k. Who are you to decide she doesn't deserve such a good return on her investment? That's up to the buyer to judge, not you.
phurley 12y ago
It was sold to a (wonderful) museum, The Henry Ford (http://www.thehenryford.org/ http://www.thehenryford.org/), which every geek should visit at least once. As an artist walks through an art museum and can see the progression of ideas from antiquity to the present. As an engineer you can walk through the history of technology at The Henry Ford, from a black smithy to a tour of a modern assembly line and most all stops in between. You would be hard pressed to think of a better home for this machine. 900k is a lot of money, but I am glad it will be in a great museum, rather than at a private collector's home.

LandoCalrissian 12y ago

If I had a completely unreasonable amount of money I would buy this, quite a bit out of my price range.

cmiller1 12y ago

Did anyone notice this link on that site? http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21652/lot/188/ http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21652/lot/188/ How cool, I wish they had put it into production.

salgernon 12y ago
It looks a lot like a Macintosh color classic.
- DerekL 12y ago
  But the most distinctive feature is the monitor in portrait orientation. Apple never shipped an all-in-one like that.
joezydeco 12y ago
There are other books full of photos of prototype devices, especially from the mid to late 1980s. http://twistedsifter.com/2014/06/apple-prototypes-from-the-1980s/ http://twistedsifter.com/2014/06/apple-prototypes-from-the-1...
wazoox 12y ago
The LC with the portrait black and white display was quite common among text-writers in the 90s.

Siecje 12y ago

The Apple 1 is open source so you could create this yourself.

treehau5 12y ago
And gold is available everywhere, so you could create your own vintage coins.
oddgodd 12y ago
A modern clone of the PCB has been done: http://www.willegal.net/appleii/apple1.htm http://www.willegal.net/appleii/apple1.htm Sourcing all the required components is likely to be difficult.

smackfu 12y ago

Rare + unmodified + working = $$$$$

_nickwhite 12y ago

I'm not sure who won the auction, but this should be in a museum somewhere. Hopefully it will find its way to one.

smackfu 12y ago
It was bought by the Henry Ford museum, which seems about right. http://www.cultofmac.com/300624/museum-pays-record-breaking-905000-apple-1/ http://www.cultofmac.com/300624/museum-pays-record-breaking-... For a museum, it's especially nice that it's not just the motherboard, but a whole setup including home-built power supply, vintage monitor, and home-built keyboard. That really makes you appreciate the time.

annnnd 12y ago

> Indeed, the story is perhaps just as famous now as the one that inspired the company name: Newton theorizing gravity under the apple tree. This is incorrect according to Jobs biography - apparently the name was given in reference to Steve Jobs' eating preferences. :)

rhapsodyv 12y ago

My old MSX dont worth anything... maybe someday :-/

mutagen 12y ago

Don't miss the video of it in operation. http://www.bonhams.com/video/17458/ http://www.bonhams.com/video/17458/

hudey123 12y ago
Oh man.... 10 print "Hello "; 20 goto 10; run what memories

mrb 12y ago

This is why, if you own one of the first FPGA/ASIC Bitcoin miners, you should keep it. They could become historical artifacts of a technology that may end up changing day-to-day trade & finance... Personally I kept my Ngzhang Icarus units, Enterpoint Cairnsmore1 units (one of them is serial# 3), Ztex 1.15y units, Avalon gen1 units (the first commercially available Bitcoin ASIC), and our TAV 105 Gh/s units. Most of them were extremely small production runs: less than 1000 units ever built. Back in 1976, very few people understood how the Apple 1 and personal computers were about to change day-to-day communication.

andyjohnson0 12y ago

I wonder what kind of condition those large electrolytic capacitors are in after 38 years? They don't last forever.

ommunist 12y ago

I always wondered what a fantastic resale value Apple gear has and always had.

Tyrannosaurs 12y ago
I've got an old MacBook kicking about somewhere. If an Apple I is worth that much I should get at least a million for a MacBook, it's way more powerful.

ChuckMcM 12y ago

I've always enjoyed the Apple 1 auctions. I probably should have bought the one at the Vintage Computer Festival in 2000 for $5,000 but I couldn't see its value :-). Somewhere out there is my home built Digital Group machine (also with bodged together keyboard and converted tv for a monitor) but Dr. Suding didn't go on to create an influential computer company. But he did have the coolest dual cassette tape system that tried to be a DECTape equivalent.

HeyLaughingBoy 12y ago

Hmmm. I have a set of original IBM 5150 (PC/XT I think) technical and operator manuals. Wonder if they're worth anything. Doubt I'd sell them, there's something about opening a computer manual and seeing actual schematics!

ezolotko 12y ago

Two months ago I ordered an original ZX Spectrum 48K, on board series 3B for about $200. It is the same I had as my first computer when I was a kid. I knew I could have it all on the emulator, and, I didn't expect how much excitement and inspiration I had after loading several games from a cassette recorder and playing on a pixel-crawly TV. In fact, had to take sleeping pills after the first time. Now I am thinking to buy myself a C64, a separate small TV, and an Apple ][ with a monitor... will have to buy a separate table for that.