Rare Apple Macintosh Prototype From 1983 Could Break Auction Records

[ThomasJL]

For all of the Tim Cook supporters reading this on a Mac, just know that if he was Apple's CEO in 1983, the Mac would've never existed because his main concern would've been maximizing profits to please shareholders. If Cook were CEO back then, probably still be using computers with a command prompt and no GUI, and reading this thread on an all-text based BBS.

Oh, if you don't know what a BBS is, that's precisely because someone as clueless as Tim Cook was not the CEO of Apple in 1983. The person who was Apple's CEO in early 1983, Mike Markkula, was willing to let a visionary like Steve Jobs attempt to create something that benefitted customers a lot more than it beneffitted shareholders.

 

[growlf]

Is anyone else bothered by the photo with the keyboard wiring going to the back of the computer, where it /doesn't/ plug in?

 

[SFjohn]

I remember the uproar over the 3.5” discs. Everyone claimed they were incompatible with the existing technology at the time. That and a real computer didn’t use cartoon pictures (icons) with a pointing device that would just slow real users dow… 😂

 

[CarAnalogy]

I personally find this a lot more interesting than one of those unopened first gen iPhones, way rarer and cooler and you can at least use it! And yes, for some reason both can go for over $100,000 these days which is quite absurd either way.

It’s way too soon for the original iPhone to be that valuable. Maybe one day.

I totally agree though, this era in technology was a special time.

 

[redheeler]

For all of the Tim Cook supporters reading this on a Mac, just know that if he was Apple's CEO in 1983, the Mac would've never existed because his main concern would've been maximizing profits to please shareholders. If Cook were CEO back then, probably still be using computers with a command prompt and no GUI, and reading this thread on an all-text based BBS.

Oh, if you don't know what a BBS is, that's precisely because someone as clueless as Tim Cook was not the CEO of Apple in 1983. The person who was Apple's CEO in early 1983, Mike Markkula, was willing to let a visionary like Steve Jobs attempt to create something that benefitted customers a lot more than it beneffitted shareholders.

You should take some time to learn more about Steve Jobs and the history of the Macintosh. Xerox invented most of this, not Apple. Steve Jobs, along with Bill Gates, were good at mainly one thing: taking advantage of and credit for the ideas and hard work of other people.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

You should take some time to learn more about Steve Jobs and the history of the Macintosh. Xerox invented most of this, not Apple. Steve Jobs, along with Bill Gates, were good at mainly one thing: taking advantage of and credit for the ideas and hard work of other people.

Just like Emilio Estefan and Elektra Records and many more?

 

[Nermal]

I remember the uproar over the 3.5” discs. Everyone claimed they were incompatible with the existing technology at the time. That and a real computer didn’t use cartoon pictures (icons) with a pointing device that would just slow real users dow… 😂

Speaking of icons, despite (presumably) residing on a Twiggy disk, the OS is using a 3.5" disk icon. The software must be newer than the hardware.

 

[svish]

Definitely expecting this to sell for a huge amount!!

 

[sunapple]

It’s way too soon for the original iPhone to be that valuable. Maybe one day.

I totally agree though, this era in technology was a special time.

Rare 4GB Original iPhone Sells for Record $190,000 at Auction

 

[opeter]

Don't you dare.

But I can't stand that yellowish tone.

 

[tenthousandthings]

Speaking of icons, despite (presumably) residing on a Twiggy disk, the OS is using a 3.5" disk icon. The software must be newer than the hardware.

That screen photo is from the 2019 auction listing. That one was owned by Randy Wiggington ("Encore Systems"), Employee #6 and the developer of MacWrite.

Bonhams : APPLE MACINTOSH PROTOTYPE. Prototype of the Macintosh Personal Computer, with 5-1/4 inch "Twiggy" disk drive,

Prototype of the Macintosh Personal Computer, with 5-1/4 inch "Twiggy" disk drive, Cupertino, CA, 1983, electronic components contained in pre-production plastic molded housing, 330 x 245 x 250 mm (excluding keyboard and mouse); with various disks. Slight yellowing of plastic components...

www.bonhams.com

There are five screen photos. It looks like they used the "<Anonymous>" startup disk to boot, then ejected it and inserted the "MacStuff" disk? But there might be an external drive involved. It's running the earliest system/finder I've ever seen, love those System and Finder icons, but those are probably just Wiggington or someone else having some fun, you can see the standard early System and Finder icons (also found on the first Guided Tour disks that came with the Macintosh) in two of the other screen photos.

Contrary to what the New Atlas article claims, this one does not appear to be the same one that was auctioned in 2019 — the serial numbers are different, and this one has a prototype mouse. So these screen photos don’t show what’s on the “Mac Word” disk that is included in the 2024 auction.

You have to wonder if this one comes from a Microsoft source, someone who worked on Word early on.

Also, I don’t see any evidence that this machine works. That would affect its value at auction, but maybe not all that much — these are profoundly rare, this is one of only three known examples (the third one appeared on eBay in 2012, it was from Apple Canada, it was working but they didn’t have any disks).

 

[JitteryJimmy]

Hardly anyone owned a Hard Drive (10 MB Winchester); way too expensive for the regular user.

10 MB? Insane! That is twice as big as my 5 MB hard drive. The first 1 GB desktop-class hard drive we had at work cost $4000, but it had 100x the storage of a 10 MB model (full height 5.25"). That's about $9000 in today's dollar. Today's drives can cost less than 2¢ per GB.

 

[BornAgainMac]

This Mac image makes a great wallpaper.

 

[BornAgainMac]

No escape key so using this with "vim" is going to be a pain.

 

[webkit]

10 MB? Insane! That is twice as big as my 5 MB hard drive. The first 1 GB desktop-class hard drive we had at work cost $4000, but it had 100x the storage of a 10 MB model (full height 5.25"). That's about $9000 in today's dollar. Today's drives can cost less than 2¢ per GB.

Apple had brought out its "powerhouse" 20 MB Hard Disk 20 in 1985 with a retail price of $1,495 which is around $4,400 in today's dollars.

The Macintosh 512K computer was typically selling for less than $2,000 (around $5,800 in today's dollars) at the time.

 

[Nermal]

Apple had brought out its "powerhouse" 20 MB Hard Disk 20 in 1985 with a retail price of $1,495 which is around $4,400 in today's dollars.

And it didn't last long: if I'm not mistaken, the Hard Disk 20 was supported on the 512K, 512Ke, and Plus. Later machines got rid of the floppy port that it connected to.

 

[Acep]

For those who don't remember, the Twiggy drive was double sided, with the drive heads on opposite ends and opposite sides of the drive, instead of facing each other, one head faced up and the other faced down. These were developed for, and used in, the early Lisa, but were unreliable and were overtaken by newer tech.

 

[webkit]

And it didn't last long: if I'm not mistaken, the Hard Disk 20 was supported on the 512K, 512Ke, and Plus. Later machines got rid of the floppy port that it connected to.

A couple of years, perhaps, as far as being produced by Apple.

The Hard Disk 20SC came out about a year later but I think both remained available at Apple dealers, even if not still being produced by Apple, until at least the late 1980s.

 

[dmw7]

I bet Steve Jobs would be the most surprised out of anyone, that there would be enough people in the world interested in this old junk for it to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2024.

Junk indeed. A fool and his money are easily parted.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Junk indeed. A fool and his money are easily parted.

One man's junk is another man's treasure.
The second group of men are called Collectors.
And places that gather a lot of "old junk" are usually called Museums.

 

[tenthousandthings]

It sold for $83,050. The description was expanded to add a description of 26 additional disks also included. I’m going to post it here for posterity. It’s different from the other two known examples:

“Macintosh Personal Computer, Apple Computers Inc, Cupertino, CA, [1983], with 5-1/4 inch "Twiggy" disk drive with corresponding slot in front panel, prototype mouse, prototype keyboard. Includes logic board 820-0086-00, copyrighted 1983, featuring Jean-Michel Folon "Mac Man" (Mr. Macintosh) on the edge, with 512 EPROM Adapter board also featuring "Mac Man," contained in pre-production plastic molded case, 330 x 245 x 250 mm, with smooth plastic front panel and with textured plastic case that bears Macintosh team signature molded to interior, but with only Apple logo on back panel and with Apple logo and Macintosh logo in reversed locations as seen only on prototypes, 3 of 4 Trend Plastics rubber feet with Apple logo. Includes prototype keyboard that bears handwritten serial number on label on lower panel and 3 of 4 Trend Plastics rubber feet with Apple logo; prototype M01000 mouse that bears serial number label, but with prototype connector. includes dual density "Twiggy" diskette labeled "Mac Word." WITH: 26 additional rare 5 1/4 floppy disks, including a complete set of MacPaint, MacWrite, MacSketch (MacDraw) and MacTerminal for the Twiggy Mac, Mac demonstration software written by an early software developer and LISA disks used in the development of Mac software. A RARE SUITE OF DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE FROM THE EARLIEST DAYS OF MACINTOSH – A rare snapshot into the development of the Mac GUI (graphical user interface) that would inalterably change the shape of our lives.”