“Macitynet was reporting on Tuesday that a university in Turin, Italy has brought an Apple 1 back to life,” Electronista reports.
“The Apple 1 was a limited edition computer, with about 200 made prior to Apple’s founding in 1977. After the company was founded, the original Apple 1 computers were accepted as trade-ins for the Apple II, so few survive today,” Electronista reports. “The number 82 model, bought at Christie’s auction for over $200,000 by Italian collector Marco Boglione, was the Apple restarted today.”
Electronista reports, “The restart was held at Politecnico Main Hall in Turni’s Politecnico di Torino university, and went well, despite the motherboard’s 35-year-old transistors.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Not that we needed any, but this is more proof that Apple-branded computers last a very long time!
Video anywhere?
They do last a long time: I gave my sister my “Fat Mac” 512K machine in 1990 along with my Imagewriter I (I bought them both in 1984). She stopped using them about seven years ago not because they no longer worked, but because they were obsolete.
Transistors do not stop working when they get old, electrolytic capacitors do.
I dug out my Mum’s old iBook yesterday (toilet seat design), it was a rev 1 – she got it as part of an “equip teachers with laptops” drive here in the UK.
So, it’d been sat in a cupboard for at least 6 years, and guess what – it booted up 1st time!!!
How cool is Mac OS 9!!!!
Not very.
i agree w @mrmclargehuge
I wish my original 64K Mac still with its original padded carrying case that I bought back in ’84 were worth that much! I’d even throw in the old software & Imagewriter printer for free. When Apple first launched the Mac they had a promotion where any store employee could get one at wholesale cost.
Seems like I spent about $2,000.00 for the rig. In today’s dollars I am spending less than that for the i7 3.4GHz, 8GB RAM 27″ iMac I have on order. Change is good!
Salespeople could buy an original Mac with 128k for $1000.00 at introduction. I was extremely pissed at the time because I had gone from sales to Systems Engineer weeks before they program was announced.
Salespeople could buy an original Mac with 128k for $1000.00 at introduction. I was extremely pissed at the time because I had gone from sales to Systems Engineer weeks before they program was announced.
Salespeople could buy an original Mac with 128k for $1000.00 at introduction. I was extremely pissed at the time because I had gone from sales to Systems Engineer weeks before they program was announced.
I heard you the first time… first time… first time…:)
Incredibly, the comments over at engadget about this are all “Over $200K! Macs are all overpriced and mac fans are sheep to pay it!”
Like over and over it’s basically the same thing. Incredible.
Should remind the knuckleheads that this shows the resale value of older Macs, when it is time to buy a new one.
Lol, he should call Woz for tech support…
‘boots up in Italy’…..reminds me of the joke where scientist discovered two things when found in the air increase a woman’s chance of getting pregnant…..
Good one, as usual. 🙂
An old Blueberry G3 iMac bought back when Clinton was still on the White House is still running ( OS 10.3G I think) at a cousin’s house.
I bought it, then went to a nephew, then to my Mom (switching from a PC) after he got a new Mac, then to my Aunt (her 1st computer), now to her son- a cousin- after she passed away earlier this year.
Total repairs:
1 internal battery ($5 @ Radio Shack)
1 LED Mouse ( $6 @ Wal Mart – clearance table)
1 Internal HD last year
That’s it. Still kicking.
$999 @ CompUSA- money well spent.
That’s great and all, but does it do Flash? 😉
I have been buying Apple computers for home and business since my first one, a 1987 SE. When upgrading, the old computers are usually given away to convert pc users, who eventually upgrade to newer Macs. Most of the old ones I know about are still running.
I still have my 1996 powerbook and the battery still lasts for an hour. Unfortunately it run OS8.1 so it very useless.
Will it blend?
The Apple 1 was a limited edition computer, with about 200 made prior to Apple’s founding in 1977. After the company was founded, the original Apple 1 computers were accepted…
What, I’m the first to comment on the idiocy of this statement? The Apple 1 was only built before Apple Computer itself existed?!? Where on Earth did the writer get this utterly stupid notion? So, who made the Apple 1? “Steve & Steve Co.”? I’ve seen the ads for the Apple 1 — they say “Apple Computer” (with the old-fashioned Issac Newton logo).
——RM