Original Apple I Computer Sells For Almost $500K

Some of Apple’s very first computers tend to fetch a lot of money when they’re sold now and that has been the case for this original Apple I in a briefcase. It’s one of the very few remaining units of the first computer that Apple ever built. This original from 1976 was actually hand-built by Steve Wozniak and it fetched almost $500,000 at an auction.

The Apple I computer is inside a leather briefcase which includes an integrated keyboard. It went under the hammer at Christie’s Auction and was picked up for just over $470,000. Those of you who know your Apple history will be aware that the Apple I didn’t have its own case. Customers only got a board for $666 which they could connect to a TV and keyboard.

It was left up to the customer to figure out what the enclosure for this computer was going to be. So someone eventually came up with the idea to mount the Apple I board in a briefcase. Not only did it provide protection to the board but it also made it portable in its own unique way.

Only 200 or so units of the Apple I were made back when the company just starting out and it’s believed that fewer than 70 remain in existence. The one that has been auctioned bears model number 10.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Apple, Computers