The value of old electronics ?

Ratboy

Recently, an original Apple 1 computer sold for stupid money, even though it was just a motherboard. The news stated that it was from 1976, but transisterised items were not made public until 1978, in computers. So question.

A recent TV program about 'Now that's that we call Music', having reached a milestone, says ye olde ones are worth a fortune! I've got one half of a double album number 11, lost the other CD...

But origional worth £5k ! upto issue 34 worth £500..?

Who is buying this stuff? Why does it have this value?

I have a Commodore games console, with a tag on it that says 'repaired in 1979', still working, first transistorised computer/console apparently?

I collect ye olde computers, have most of the range that most would remember from their childhood, but most have faults because of storage, Sega - dirty slots, Commodore/Sinclair/Amstrad, dirty heads, BBC, monitor fails, computer fails to boot, B&O TV from the 70's (working!)..someone has to preserve this..even video recorders; everyone has an extensive collection of tapes; but as DVD/Bluray takes over, they are obsolete. And DVD as a medium is pretty useless, one scratch, media gone. A VHS tape can be pretty mauled up, and still play; that old adage analogue/digital.

I've recently received a dilemma; my Mother's computer failed. Do I format it to fix it? Or mess about trying to fix it?

I messed about, did a Windows repair; no joy; put a new HD in, and the fault remains, so new HD, to save the data..new HD says motherboard fault.

Are we losing technology that invented technology that we use today?

All I mainly see is quick go; and ignore; due to people listening to music...if you take the time to read this, are we uninventing things? And making it harder to fix things, especially in society?

System

http://www.cashinyourgadgets.co.uk/

neilwoods

IS there an actual question here or just some form of rant or spam

isofa

It's no more "stupid money" than someone paying 20 million for a painting, if a collector wants it, either to enjoy or appreciate in value, it's worth it to them. The Apple I is an amazing historic achievement in the life of the personal computer, Jobs' vision with Woz's technical know-how. The rarity brings the value.

I think you also need to read into the subject more, the Apple I, complete with ICs, was created in the spring of 1976, demoed at the Homebrew Computer Club and then out for retail summer 1976. Why do you think "transistorised items" weren't made "public" until 1978? In the late1950s and early 1960s millions of transistor radios were sold. The Apple I has a 40 pin CPU!

Walter Isaacson's bio on Jobs (which I'm just reading), has some great detail about the early Apple computers and setup.

Fifer

Ratboy wrote: »

Recently, an original Apple 1 computer sold for stupid money, even though it was just a motherboard. The news stated that it was from 1976, but transisterised items were not made public until 1978, in computers.

Not true. IBM, Xerox, Altair, Commodore and others had such products on general release years before 1978.

Ratboy

neilwoods wrote: »

IS there an actual question here or just some form of rant or spam

I think the question was 'the worth of old electronics', then my issue with preserving them',

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