Macintosh Pro ~1986

[FinScot]

I am a scout leader in Canada. We were running an electronic waste fundraiser today and someone dropped of an old Macintosh Pro. We plugged it in and the display came on with a floppy disc icon. There is obviously a power cord but no mouse. There may be a keyboard but if there is its cord was cut.

I couldn't bare to see it thrown in with the other waste so I'm trying to find out what to so with it. Ideally we'd sell it to someone in order to raise funds for our scouts to go camping and do adventures. Bug worst case I'd prefer it go to a museum or something useful.

Any suggestions on what to do with it? If we sell it, what is the best way and how much should we ask? .

 

[MacTech68]

A few pictures will help to identify what you actually have, and how best to proceed.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Agreed. A "1986 Macintosh Pro" could be one of two things - either a Macintosh Plus, or a Macintosh XL - aka a rebadged Apple Lisa running MacOS instead of LisaOS.

If it's a Macintosh XL (is the floppy drive to the side of the screen, or below it?) it's worth a decent amount.

 

[FinScot]

Heres a couple of photos.

Sorry, I just realised I wrote Pro instead of Plus .

 

[MacTech68]

Firstly, I'd hope that somebody here on the forums in or near Ottawa might want it or know of a local Mac group that would like to purchase it as is.

Shipping these things without a lot of protection can be a disaster due to the large, heavy glass tube (although that often does more damage to the case than the tube itself.

Since you're a "newbie" here, you can't access the "Marketplace" on this forum, but you may find somebody able to make contact locally.

Otherwise, eBay and/or your local equivalent - pickup-only.

And finally, you may also familiarize yourself with the "68k Macintosh Liberation Army".

Don't expect too much for it, a couple of hundred would probably be TOP dollar, sight-unseen.

Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[mduser63]

The Mac Plus is very common. Apple sold it for four years, and it was the first model where the Mac kind of graduated from being a groundbreaking but severely limited device to being a solid, capable machine for a lot of people, so it sold in large quantities.

That said, it's also a great first compact Mac for a hobbyist or collector precisely because it's early but very capable. They're also solidly reliable. The most common problem with them is actually a cracked solder joint that causes the screen to not come on (easily fixable, but still a good sign if yours doesn't have that problem).

Anyway, $100 is in the right ballpark for a price. If it was in pristine shape with the original extended keyboard, the mouse, software, maybe the original box, etc., it'd be worth more, but as I said working Mac Pluses aren't rare. (I have 3 of them, and two of those I got free.)

MacTech68 is right about shipping them. You absolutely can ship it. You just need to wrap it in lots and lots and lots of bubble wrap. Like the volume of the machine should approximately triple or quadruple with all the bubble wrap wrapped around it. Packing peanuts, newspaper, makeshift packing, etc. will *not* work, and it will end up broken in transit. You must wrap it *very* well in bubble wrap (or possibly Instapak or another expanding foam).