He's dreaming.... Mac collection for sale

[manuka]

I'm possibly wrong but there doesn't seem to be much there that's particularly desirable, although I haven't seen too many Newtons or IIe's on TradeMe recently. $2000 as an opening bid seems to be pushing it a tad.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/vint ... 463456.htm

[tezza]

Yes, I doubt if what he's selling will reach anywhere near the reserve. To call it optimistic would be an exaggeration.

[matsondawson]

So these prices were all triggered by steve jobs dying?
Sounds like apples pricing model has infected the vintage computer section.

[machinecoder]

After five relists the seller will come down to earth.

Its really hard to get 5 times the average selling price unless you have a zurückgeblieben german bidding on it

[caluser2000]

While the price may well be excessive there is a nice selection there. If it where broken down to individual working units what would they each go for I wonder?

[SpidersWeb]

I was thinking that.

$300ish I reckon. Most of that being the Apple IIe.
I'm not a Mac collector, so it's just guesswork on my behalf.

[caluser2000]

I hope the Mac fans chime and give their perspective. I know I've spent almost that amount over the last few years on x86 and Acorn bit n bobs.

[mrad01]

As an Apple/Mac collector, the only items of interest for me would be the Apple ][, the Quicktake 100, and the MessagePad. Maybe the IIcx, but not as much. The rest? Pretty much worthless.

$2k? No way. $750 tops.

[Gibsaw]

WAAAAAAAY off the mark on price...

None of them are rare. Even the IIe is a late model "platinum". (The one they made the most of.) $150 at most... WITH a drive+monitor.

The most interesting mac is the "wicked fast" IIcx, but they are simply not landmark models. Ballpark of $50 each item. The newton+camera are interesting, but the powermacs are undesirable for most collectors, I'm afraid... especially the "toilet seat" iBook.

It's Timaru, so no chance of viewing for most of the country, and there's waaaay too little information on what he has and whether it's working to be asking such a high price.

The most valuable item mentioned is the one he's not listing... The Apple II "Lego Kit". (cool simple robotics toy)

[manuka]

Yeah I sold an Apple camera (the less rare Quicktake 150) which was in really good order for $63. I sold a Newton ages ago - missing stylus and a bit rough for around $10, the guy wanted it for parts. If I was to put any of the other Macs up I would expect under $100 for them, unless I was lucky enough to get one of those crazy bidding wars we've had recently

[Gibsaw]

dont forget once you pay $2500 you still have to get them working, after all Macs are the
worlds most unreliable and worlds most likely to fail computers.

Apple II's are even worse

Nah.. An old mac is more likely to be dead from capacitor rot than an Apple IIe. Apple IIe's are usually working if stored dry, unless you're talking the early II/II+, in which case have a spare supply of 4116 DRAMs handy. (But fortunately an early Apple II/II+ is entirely composed of 4116 DRAM, a 6502, and chips that start with 74xxx, so they're very fixable.)

The machine most likely to be DOA is a C64 or Amiga. Those custom mask chips are REALLY moisture sensitive. They just LOOOOVE to die. Worse still, they're almost unobtainium now, so another C64 or Amiga has to die to resurrect one.

The Apple IIe has one custom IOU that can be hard to get and original ROMs can be expensive if they die, but fortunately most of the other specialist bits like the ay-3600-pro (keyboard decoder) are standard chips and not too hard to find.

[mrad01]

Pretty easy to replace the capacitors on Macs. I've just recapped 3x SE/30 motherboards. Takes about 1-2 hours per board. No drama.
I've had more problems with Commodore gear actually. But it depends what you are in the vintage gig for - for me, it's getting them going, playing games and with apps, and keeping them going. Keeps the brain working.

A Classic or SE/30 with a checkboard display should be a pretty easy job...

[Gibsaw]

Nah, can't agree. I've had only one Apple II DOA so far out 11 or so, and that was quite clearly a moisture issue. (failed IOU. mrad01 repaired that one.) There's a certain amount of likelihood of failed 4116 RAM's in the II/II+, but that extends across every machine that used them... from Apple II's to Spectrums to Commodore Pet to TRS80 + more.

Compact Mac's on the other hand seem to have reached that point where you should assume capacitor replacement, even if they're working. (Clearly a batch issue)

But nearly all the C64's on TM these days that don't say 100% working, need TLC, and it's nearly always the custom chips.

Perhaps you should stop buying Apple II's from swamps.

[Gibsaw]

He's relisted this $1000 lower... I couldn't help myself....

Q: You're not understanding the audience. This is more than most nz collectors want to buy OR pay at once. USUALLY, C64 people don't want Apple, Apple II people don't want Macs. Vintage Mac people don't want the PowerPC macs. Seriously. list all these separately. $100 reserve each. At VERY least split it up C64+Amiga / Apple IIe's / Old Macs / PPC Macs. Otherwise you won't get a bid until your price gets really low....and list the lego Apple II kit separately. You'll get more money. dsakey (187 ) 7:06 pm, Thu 23 May
Q: Failing that... if you really want to sell it all at once, then type "new zealand vintage computer forums" into google and come and talk to the local collectors community directly. dsakey (187 ) 7:09 pm, Thu 23 May
Q: Also, "I have it somewhere" is the same as saying "I can't find it yet". You'll need to FIND the rest of the lego kit if you want it to be worth more than a few dollars. dsakey (187 ) 7:18 pm, Thu 23 May

Also, Tezza, is it possible to do something about these 100,000,000 smiley post's that belong to machinecoder? They do horrible things to browsers navigating the page.

[tezza]

Sorry I thought I'd got rid of all those smiley land minds. Obviously not. It's gone now.