Anyone else noticed the rise in value of compact Macs?

[Unknown_K]

Just because something sells for quite a bit now doesn't mean those high prices are permanent. But I would think anything that sells for quite a bit now won't ber super cheap a week from now, it would take a while to drop in price.

The few items I sold off over the years were things I hated and got tired of tripping over (not that many) and I have no intention of getting replacements. Some items (840av/IIfx/Amigas) I would never sell because I would miss them and prices will probably just keep going up making them too expensive to repurchase down the road.

Probably should have snagged a color classic years ago.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

I know I need to liquidate some of my collection in the near future, but I could never part with things like the BeBox, the TAM or the Luxo G4. And they're so notable they would be extremely expensive to repurchase (I learned this the hard way with my A1200, which I sold as a starving student for $200 and as configured would probably cost me half again as much or more today).

Plus, there are many units no one will ever preserve except the true believers. No one even remembers Alpha Micro or Solbourne except me, and no one wants a boat anchor like my ANSes despite what they are capable of and their rarity. And then there's Homer, the HP 9000 I have in storage. Homer needs to see the light again. That is a fun machine to hack on (it's a 68020 running HP/sUX 9), but people who collect HPs find them strange, and they are probably worth more as scrap.

 

[Unknown_K]

We all have stuff we collect others could care less about. How many people do you know who collect DOS and Windows 3.1 Apps (most people just collect games). I also have a huge Mac Apps collection.

I also have a huge Thinkpad laptop collection, just something about them I think is cool.

Some machines are just too expensive to ship (ANS), so if one is out in the middle of nowhere good luck finding a buyer. Very few people will have CRT monitors that match their machines. Some machines have chips with decent gold content (most 486 , early pentiums, and Pentium Pros will be rare as hell in a decade).

I have noticed just because something is rare in computing doesn't mean it is valuable. There are plenty of old rare 1970's designs that was not worth what a much more common Apple II is. You need rarity and a brand people love plus it has to be known to casual collectors as well.

 

[mcdermd]

And then there's Homer, the HP 9000 I have in storage. Homer needs to see the light again. That is a fun machine to hack on (it's a 68020 running HP/sUX 9), but people who collect HPs find them strange, and they are probably worth more as scrap.

My brother was just mentioning the other day how he'd like to get an early 68k-powered 9k someday. I worked with the later PA-RISC-powered K class for a number of years (after I worked on HP3000s running MPE). BTW, I always thought there was a second, silent "H" in HP/hUX? }

 

[ClassicHasClass]

Yeah, I did my time on a K-class initially, then an L-class and a C3700 (3750?) that the biology department used for visualization. The K and Ls were big iron, but the C3700 was a graceful machine and I'd like to find one. We ran Informix on 10.20 and later 11i. I don't know if they're still in operation anymore (they're probably on generic x86 these days).

At least PA-RISC lives on in Itanic, sort of.

If he ever gets bored and feels like driving to So Cal to pick one up, let me know. I intend to get it back up and running one of these days, but I probably won't do it the justice a fine old machine like that deserves. It will take up most of a passenger car -- he should be warned about that, it's not small.

 

[JDW]

Just spotted yet another Mac 128k today, this one going for $2400. Again, nothing really special about this one either.

I'm rather surprised the seller didn't instead opt for a price of $2495, pitching it as the "authentic, January 1984 retail price." :

 

[ClassicHasClass]

I have noticed just because something is rare in computing doesn't mean it is valuable. There are plenty of old rare 1970's designs that was not worth what a much more common Apple II is.

Which is sad. There are some really innovative designs from that era which are now lost to present generations.

I'm proud (though a little chagrined to say) that obscure systems can suddenly become very interesting. Tomy Tutors, which are sentimental favourites of mine because my first computer as a child was a Tomy Tutor, fetch decent money for an obscure computer (eBay prices average around $60-$70 for a working unit). It appears to be a combination of a rabid fanbase and a small number of extant systems. Yes, I have a hoard of them personally -- but my original Tutor still works!

Then again, systems like the Alpha Micro, which were for a period of time very popular in certain vertical markets because they were minicomputer power at a microcomputer price, are all but forgotten about and they are probably worth more as scrap. If people are still running current apps on AMOS, they're almost certainly doing it on a USB Cardinal, which is an Alpha Micro CPU and support glue in a dongle connected to a PC. The old 68K AMs are dying and they have lots of tempting high-grade metals in their cases and mo'bos. I have great affection for the Alpha Micros because an AM-2000 was the first computer I ever broke into. } The sysadmin discovered it, but said I could keep the account if I showed her the security hole I exploited. My personal E300 still serves my Alpha Micro fan web site.

 

[macquarium]

I've recently started thinking about adding to my vintage Apple collection after a few years of more or less forgetting about it. The change from 5-10 years ago is incredible, at least as far as eBay is concerned anyway.

Once upon a time a Classic was worth just a few bucks so you could use the case for a MacQuarium - that was the only thing it was good for. Now I'm seeing them on sale for US$200-$500. For a Classic! These aren't mint examples either; one didn't even come with a keyboard and mouse and the seller wanted US$250!

I'm pretty confident it is just a temporary blip post-Steve Jobs' passing, and eBay simply being its capitalistic self. Other sources like LEM list, etc. have far more reasonable prices and the in-the-know people will continue to shop there and let the fools spend up on eBay.

Either way, I'm pretty sure the market for US$500 Classics is quite small and will be saturated momentarily.

Cheers, Ben.