New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

The VIC-20 was the first computer of any kind in history to sell more than one million units. That's a heck of a milestone in 1980. It was then followed up by the best selling computer of all time - the Commodore 64.

Carcenomy wrote:The VIC-20 was the first computer of any kind in history to sell more than one million units. That's a heck of a milestone in 1980. It was then followed up by the best selling computer of all time - the Commodore 64.

Still trolling the Apple II vs Commodore flame bait eh? I'm happy to debate it, but let's start a new thread for it.

Yes, It's a good milestone.. but by that same token, I wouldn't call it rare... I'm not sure what the total number of original 1977 Pet 2001's produced was, but if I had to pick a commodore to fetch a premium collectors price, The VIC20 and C64 wouldn't be my first guess, any more than a bog standard Apple II+ or IIe would be for Apple.

(Despite the apple II line being both prominent and numerous, there were only 600ish 1977 "REV0" Apple II's made and less than 8000 1978 "REV1" Apple II's... Consequently as a collector's item, they're expensive.)

Gibsaw wrote:

Carcenomy wrote:The VIC-20 was the first computer of any kind in history to sell more than one million units. That's a heck of a milestone in 1980. It was then followed up by the best selling computer of all time - the Commodore 64.

Still trolling the Apple II vs Commodore flame bait eh? I'm happy to debate it, but let's start a new thread for it.

Yes, It's a good milestone.. but by that same token, I wouldn't call it rare... I'm not sure what the total number of original 1977 Pet 2001's produced was, but if I had to pick a commodore to fetch a premium collectors price, The VIC20 and C64 wouldn't be my first guess, any more than a bog standard Apple II+ or IIe would be for Apple.

(Despite the apple II line being both prominent and numerous, there were only 600ish 1977 "REV0" Apple II's made and less than 8000 1978 "REV1" Apple II's... Consequently as a collector's item, they're expensive.)

Heh, the thing with the VIC and C64 is that the historic milestones they set, are the things that make them a low priority collectible really. What was the final production number for the C64, 15 million units? Versus the early Apple gear which was super low volume, they just aren't a rarity and can't hold high values the same way. There are Commodores that do (C65 anyone?) but the famous models like the VIC and C64? They're not it.

Carcenomy wrote:Heh, the thing with the VIC and C64 is that the historic milestones they set, are the things that make them a low priority collectible really. What was the final production number for the C64, 15 million units? Versus the early Apple gear which was super low volume, they just aren't a rarity and can't hold high values the same way. There are Commodores that do (C65 anyone?) but the famous models like the VIC and C64? They're not it.

Exactly, and it could be argued that the IIe contributed far more to the rise of Apple than the II or II+, but they were made in their millions and only command about NZ$150.

What's a IIe Platinum worth these days? 'Cause when I think of the Apple II, that's the one that springs to mind - the heavily produced one that virtually every primary school had a half dozen of and is worth bugger all

You kids are really putting me to shame, I think my maximum investment this year in new acquisitions was $12...

Carcenomy wrote:What's a IIe Platinum worth these days? 'Cause when I think of the Apple II, that's the one that springs to mind - the heavily produced one that virtually every primary school had a half dozen of and is worth bugger all

You kids are really putting me to shame, I think my maximum investment this year in new acquisitions was $12...

Not really any distinction between IIe models that I've noticed price-wise. (So, about $150)

Are you after a IIe? YetiSeti has 3 now and may be willing to part with one.

From an investment perspective, old 8-bit Apples may always have some value, at least in the medium term. The Apple brand is still around and is highly successful. It is the only hardware-origins company I can think of from that era that is still flying high. I think this widens the scope of collectors from diehard vintage freaks to those who may be interested in simply having an old Apple machine because it's Apple and represents early products from a very successful corporate. Even if it's just to show off to their friends or the centrepiece of some kind of retro-display.

tezza wrote:

Gibsaw wrote:You're not alone... Apple lost my love when they closed the architecture with the Mac.. They lost even more of my love when they closed the door and put bars and a bouncer on it with the "appstore".

Steve is a charismatic man. He's the double edged sword that damages Apple and keeps it alive. Without his stubbornness and bad cockups, Apple might have been bigger sooner. Without his drive and his polarising, cult-of-mac rabble rousing, Apple might have been dead.. Who knows.

Yes, this echos my own assessment of Jobs and the direction he took Apple.

Where I think Jobs should be given due credit was in the direction he drove the original Mac; he did take Raskin's early concepts about consumer appliance, and Xerox PARC's ideas about user interfaces, and made something marketable out of them. I also have to applaud his vision at NeXT, despite the gloriously over the top cost of the Cube.

Yeh, it was me, I wanted a 2 prong vic20 and the 1540, the mags, the funky datasette and the printer.
I could have got a 1540 from U.S. but it costs a bucket to ship due to the tranformer in it, and i don't really trust the USA sales that much. I might have been also a little miffed an aussie was poaching our stuff too! All in all I saw, I liked and I bought.

Cool, post some good pics Matson!

lizardb0y wrote:

YetiSeti wrote: I really thought that what looked equally like a roll of loo paper in the photo might have detracted from the value of the auction. Not the best look.

The "roll of loo paper" is actually printer paper for the 1520 in the auction.

I did say equally. Positioning of the paper away from the printer where it should have been placed did invite other interpretations. Poor marketing.

*sigh* I don't like explaining the magic away on boards/facebook etc. Reminds me too much of SW: The Phantom Menace and that midichlorians claptrap.

Heh, there goes another $430 on Vic20 bits! But I do have a soft spot for them. I would have like the Electron if it wasn't pick-up only.

Congrats on (surely?!!?) having the most awesome Vic-20 collection around NZ, along with the other auction and whatever else Vic-20 you might have there can't be a lot more to have? This auction was well worth the ticket price.

$100CAD+post to buy a mega-cart. $40US is about the cheapest modem you can bring in from ebay. At $10/cart conservative there's nearly $400. This type of collection would take years to buy from smaller auctions off trademe (i.e. it's way more than my 5 years of buying VIc stuff), so the savings are in postage alone could easily justify the spend.

Did the extra pics help?

I hope to see a BBS up and running soon.

I can see the point of maybe a C64 being collected, but a Vic for more than $20 is an insult to intelligence as with any 16k computer that is the little brother to the 48k or 64k big brother

I see that on E-bay both C64's andAtari's are going for stupid money even when faulty.

I wouldn't call the VIC the little brother, it's the elder of the two...