Street value for Apple IIc in December 2018?

[sixsevenco]

Hey Everyone,

I'm in the market for an Apple IIc.  I'm wondering what your general thoughts are as to fair prices for Apple IIc's in USD.  I understand a "thing's" value is only truly measured when buyer and seller agree on a price.  I'm looking for your opinion on actuals.    Condition should be working, minor scuffs, all keys, and all cables.  I'm not concerned about yellowing or dirt.  (I will clean and retrobrite as needed.)  I'm also willing to do minor repair, but that should be reflected in the price.

Here's what I'm thinking. Am I close to the mark?  Too low? high?

• Computer & power brick: $100
  
• Green display with stand: $50
  
• Mouse: $20
  
• Joystick: $20
  
• External floppy: $30
  

As a buyer, is there anything I should look for, or avoid?

Thanks,

sixsevenco

 

[Johnnya101]

Sounds about right to me.

 

[Dog Cow]

I'm in the market for an Apple IIc.  I'm wondering what your general thoughts are as to fair prices for Apple IIc's in USD. 

[...]

As a buyer, is there anything I should look for, or avoid?

In 2011 I won an Apple IIc auction for just over $100, including shipping cost. It came with the carry case, power supply, IIc itself, and some manuals. I purchased the matching mouse for around $25 to $30 or so. It was in good working condition, the plastic case not too yellowed, still very much Fog colored.

Seven years later, I see the ending prices have not risen too much, though they have risen.

I would avoid the ROM 255 Apple IIc, but that will be tricky as the non-savvy sellers won't know how to distinguish it, and the savvy sellers won't want to disclose that information if it is a ROM 255.

 

[Gorgonops]

Ebay prices seem to be in the $150-$250 ballpark for a working computer/monitor combo; of course, what people are actually paying will be all over the map, as the amount of accessories that come along with the ride. I paid about $100 not long ago for mine *with* the 9" monitor, a mouse, and a joystick, but that was a local deal and it's a pretty "ridden hard and put away wet" system. (Well, maybe that's not fair, it could be way worse and everything works, but it's definitely not a museum piece.) You'll probably get a better deal if you can find a "whole system" than trying to piecemeal it. In particular it might be hard to find the specific IIc-styled external floppy drive ala carte at a good price. (It will work fine with the more common IIe drives if you don't care.)

The IIc-specific mouse is also pretty rare. *Most* of the mice that work with the original 128k-Plus Macs will work, though. (Supposedly the very earliest mice are missing some resistors or something needed to signal the joystick port to switch to mouse mode, but all three of the 9-pin Mac mice I have lying around work on my IIc.)
 

I would avoid the ROM 255 Apple IIc, but that will be tricky as the non-savvy sellers won't know how to distinguish it, and the savvy sellers won't want to disclose that information if it is a ROM 255.

A thing to note about the "255"'s: you can update these to a ROM0 with UniDisk/SmartPort support with a simple trace cut/solder point and a 32K EPROM. This makes these machines functionally identical with a ROM0 and is really cheap to do if you can find someone to burn the ROM for you.

The really desirable ones are the ROM3/4 that have the header on the motherboard for a RAM expansion. They're also very rare compared to the earlier versions, so unless you really plan to make use of that extra RAM it's probably not worth your time to explicitly seek them out. (It would be nice if these guys could actually keep this in stock, it handily solves the RAM upgrade issue for the earlier machines. But, really, there's not that much IIe/c software that really *needs* extra RAM.)

Beware of "untested because I don't have any disks" IIcs that have that "Check floppy disk" message on the screen. It's *probably* fine, but apparently there's a not terribly uncommon fault for those machines that involves the floppy controller.

 

[sixsevenco]

You guys are awesome!  Thanks for the fast replies.  Looking for the IIc to round out my collection of PCs I had when I was a kid.  Got my TI-99/4A and Macintosh Classic II up and running the way I want... 

There are lots of options on ebay, but they are either being sold as parts (i.e. not working), or they are wanting premium collector's pricing, which I'm not willing to pay.  This might be a slow process for me to find the right one.  Nothing locally on craigslist or facebook marketplace.  There's one guy in a neighboring town that has a run of the mill IIc for $600.  I tried to politely tell him his pricing was way too high without being insulting.  He had the CPU, 9" screen, joystick, and some floppies.  There's also a case and printer that I don't want.  I would have offered $150 and paid as much as $200, but he was completely inflexible on the price.  Oh well, I've waited about 18 years for this, so I can wait a little longer.

 

[sixsevenco]

(It would be nice if these guys could actually keep this in stock, it handily solves the RAM upgrade issue for the earlier machines. But, really, there's not that much IIe/c software that really *needs* extra RAM.)

Beware of "untested because I don't have any disks" IIcs that have that "Check floppy disk" message on the screen. It's *probably* fine, but apparently there's a not terribly uncommon fault for those machines that involves the floppy controller.

I'm more interested in the IIc VGA adapter over at a2heaven.com than the RAM upgrade.

Thanks for the tip on the floppy controller.  Not going to get much done with a non-functioning floppy drive.

 

[Solvalou]

There is a "Mockingboard 4c" for about £85 (~$125?) as well which is something you might like, it's certainly on my wishlist!

I can vouch for the A2H VGA adapter. I can't stand just having a green phosphor display, no matter how 'A E S T H E T I C' it may be (though i'm glad I have it for the looks, just need a stand for it!).

 

[Gorgonops]

There are lots of options on ebay, but they are either being sold as parts (i.e. not working), or they are wanting premium collector's pricing, which I'm not willing to pay.

Obviously this link will go stale fast, but its BIN is right in the ball park you suggested as reasonable and it apparently boots, at least:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Apple-IIc-computer-with-Monitor/173656588507

 

[sixsevenco]

Obviously this link will go stale fast, but its BIN is right in the ball park you suggested as reasonable and it apparently boots, at least:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Apple-IIc-computer-with-Monitor/173656588507

Ooof.  Shipping for Egypt is a killer.  Thanks for posting this.  I'll need to be patient. 

 

[Gorgonops]

Oof, I didn't notice it was in Egypt. I'm kind of curious what the story is behind that.

 

[maceffects]

Watch those keyboard, they are tricky because they can be sticky from sitting as well as storage conditions.  I've seen some that were near unusable. 

 

[sixsevenco]

The ROM for the A2S4100 should be ok, right? (not ROM 255?)