Working Apple-I Computer Sells For $375,000 At Auction 

An extremely rare working Apple-I logic board from 1976 sold for $375,000 on Tuesday this week.   

The Apple-I is one of only a few fully functional models still known to exist. The Apple-I exists at a special point in history for personal computing. It was the first computer that was essentially plug-and-play (by the standards of 1976) and didn’t require assembly on the part of the users.   

The $375,000,000 is substantially more than the $666.66 retail price tag it went for in 1976

For Apple followers, the Apple-I is also somewhat special as it was hand built by the founders of Apple, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who hand built each of the original 200 or so computers. 

In an email to the BBC, Steve Wozniak said that “The Apple-I was ghastly underpowered compared to the Apple-II….But this Apple-I computer showed the world the formula for an affordable USEFUL computer.” 

There are only an estimated 60 to 70 Apple-I logic board computers that still remain from the original 200 machine production run.   

The original Apple I computers were supplied literally as was, without a power supply, monitor, keyboard or housing. To all intents and purposes, it looked more like a Raspberry Pi than it does a computer.

The Apple-I was followed up by Steve Wozniak with the Apple II. The Apple-II range, went on to sell more than 5 million units, putting Apple on its course to become the most valuable company in US history. 

In August, Apple’s value surpassed $1tn for the first time, spurred by sales of the new iPhone.