“Step down the stark, white stairs into Jeremy Mehrle’s basement and meet his Apple computer collection,” Betsy Taylor reports for The Associated Press.
“He’s got 99 computers. No, wait. Make that 100. He just got another last night, he said during a recent visit to his home about 35 miles west of St. Louis. Dozens of his Apple Macintosh computers are on display down here, a techie’s dream party pad,” AP reports.
AP reports, “Mehrle, 29, appears to recognize that there’s an inherent, well, geekiness to his computer collection, but he’s got a sense of humor about it. Perhaps at this level of commitment, it’s actually geek chic. His bar is made out of 30 Mac Classics arranged next to and on top of each other. Guests can drink at the bar, “but no one ever does,” he noted. (Just imagine how much technology could be destroyed with just one spilled drink.)”
“Along one wall, he’s got every color — or ‘flavor’ — of iMac. While the first one, in ‘Bondi Blue,’ sits alone, the other 12 are arranged in rows in the order they were released. They begin with the first colors, like ‘Blueberry’ and ‘Tangerine,’ to the last of the bunch, known as ‘Snow,'” AP reports. “Another wall has nine iconic Macintoshes arranged in chronological order. The computers range from the original Macintosh with 128 kilobytes of memory to the 20th-anniversary Mac from 1997.”
AP reports, “He first got into the machines by using his dad’s IBM personal computer. From there, he started collecting computers in general, Commodores and Tandys, Ataris and IBMs. He was interested in how different ones worked and how they evolved. Then he spotted an iMac G4, a computer with a rounded base and a swivel-head, flat-screen monitor. ‘As soon as I saw it, I was like, ‘I have to have this computer,”‘ he said. Mehrle hadn’t been a huge fan of Apple computers, but he became one.”
“Despite a new full-time job at an Apple store, he’s actually slowing his pace considerably when it comes to getting additional computers. His girlfriend, Katrina Bibb, is threatening to get a new pet every time he brings home another machine,” AP reports.
More in the full article, with image, here.
Jeremy Mehrle’s website has many more images here: http://jeremymehrle.com/
“His bar is made out of 30 Mac Classics . . .”
I’ll bet he serves some scuzzy guests too.
They guy’s nuts. Collectors in general are nuts. Well, except me. I collect old bulldozers. My wife is telling me that it’s the bulldozers or her, but I tell her to get rid of her streetcar collection or I’m gone.
An uneasy peace has descended.
He forgot to mention the $6,486.78 monthly electric bill. I’ll stick to collecting retired circus clowns.
What, no Lisa!?
I have a 8500, 9500, a couple of G3’s a MacIIci and a macII in my garage. Of course they’re all in a pile so… Butt hey worked when they were relagated out here.
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he just takes it to a new level and must have more room than the average person.
he’s got a lisa… believe me i’ve seen it.
his house is awesome.
Wade,
He has a Lisa. It’s on his site here.
…and to think my Wife was mad when my Mac collection got up to 8 and she made me take two of them to recycling. That is one lucky guy.
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No Lisa? This guy is such a nerd that he not only has a Lisa, he posted the unboxing photos of his Lisa:
I refuse to believe this man has a girlfriend. She must be a giant pile of marzipan he has molded into the form of woman.
Wow, 2% of Apple’s installed base all in one room.
And if a guy’s going to make up a pretend girlfriend, he could pick a better name than Katrina Bibb.
He has an Apple IIe on display as well, although an Apple IIgs would have been more in in keeping with the other computers in his collection (a GS looks more like a Mac).
The lights in his neighborhoon must dim when he turns all those Macs on at the same time!
A video blogger here in St. Louis has a great video walk through the basement — check it out here:
http://lofistl.com/2007/02/17/episode-140-mac-geek-porn/
And yes, he does have a Lisa! It is shown on the video — complete with an 8mb external hard drive. Yes, 8 megabytes!
Damn! No wonder I always get outbid on Ebay…
Nice basement! The guy has it styling aside from too many macs.
Shit… I thought that was the Virginia Tech super cluster!
Man. What a trip for Mac fans. First saw this on Bill Streeter’s video on LoFiStL–what a sight!
The link:
http://www.podtech.net/home/technology/2127/vintage-mac-collector
Look through his picture albums. There is a girlfriend on pictures of his trip to MacWorld Expo.
She looks hot to me. But don’t take my word for it, any woman under 40 looks hot to me.
I feel sorry for his girlfriend Katrina!
Way late on the info, MDN.
I heard of this guy from Shawn King at YourMacLifeshow.com OVER 2 MONTHS AGO!!
man, i thought MY collection was nerdy..!
not that you guys wanna hear it, but i have some cool old crap too. chronologically..!
mac plus, three (!) apple iigses, mac IIci (w/68040 upgrade!), classic ii (that makes bomb dropping/tea boiling sounds), performa 450/lc iii, quadra 605, powermac 7200 (in pieces), beige g3, two blue & white g3’s, and my 1.25ghz powerbook g4.
i’ve owned many more machines over the last five years, but apple’s model numbers were such a mishmash in the 90’s that i can’t remember what half of them were called!
anyhow, good for this guy. i’d be lying to say i haven’t thought about making a similar display. =)
“There is a girlfriend on pictures of his trip to MacWorld Expo.”
Two possibilities:
1) Photoshop
2) A renting or leasing arrangement.
I thought the 4 macs were pretty cool – one on top of the other, with a video of a walking, female robot on the 4 screens. Anyone know how you do that, to get a picture to split across multiple screens?
I frequently hear it said that some people have too much money. I don’t agree – I just think they don’t know how to spend their money.
10 Macs could buy a nice geeky collection. The next 90 could help a charity, install solar-panels, buy land to build a future vacation house on, etc, etc.
Of course I sit here on my chair make of Fabrege Eggs so perhaps I shouldn’t throw stones.
d
@TMF… Circus Clowns… nah, that’s old school. I go for the midgets.