”Early” 128k Macintosh Values?

[Unknown_K]

What do you mean by useless? you can Write and Paint, run BASIC and Pascal

You have 128KB of RAM and one 400KB floppy drive with no HD. You can run the very earliest versions of a few apps and swap floppies back and forth to do that, sounds useless to me (and most people who had 128K macs upgraded to 512K to get anything done.

 

[Byrd]

It just takes one "collector" to infer that an early Mac is more sought after from date codes to artificially inflate their asking price. Other collectors read this then also believe they're on a gold mine as word gets around. I've seen this a lot lately especially on social media.

Frankly if a 128K works (that is, it is restored and the usual dodgy RAM modules all replaced), CRT is sound and not burnt in, properly recapped, that means far more to me than an early or boxed unit. Enjoy it over putting it on a shelf to degrade further.

 

[Juror22]

I wasn't going to comment on this one, but yes there is something inherently perfect about the original Mac (in spite of its shortcomings) and they do command a premium for an original, un-upgraded one, because more people want one than there are available examples. Some folks might luck into finding one, but locating a pristine unaltered example is getting increasingly difficult to find. (for my purposes, unaltered means matching original RAM, no recapping, etc., but still running would be a bonus).

I have a really nice original Mac, upgraded to 512k and an 800k drive (sort of a daily driver version), but would love to have another one (in original unaltered condition, working or not), so I keep my eyes open.

 

[PB145B]

It really depends on the who's looking and what they're willing to pay. As far as general 128k value, I see them go for $150 to over $1000 depending on condition, functionality and completeness (box, accessories etc). For me, an untouched 128k is a must have for a Mac collection. I got lucky and found mine in non-working shape pretty cheap listed as a "Macintosh Plus." Mine just needed about 4 memory chips replaced and the disk drive serviced and it's good-as-new now. I could definitely sell it for far more than I got it for, but I will never sell it, way too special to me. I do use my 512k more, but I love pulling out the 128k every now and then and having some fun. Such a cool machine.

As far as early serial numbers, I would love to have a super early one, but I wouldn't pay a lot more for an early one, maybe a little. Some collectors may be willing to pay quite a bit more though for an early one if it's all original. Again, it all depends on what someone is willing to pay, which is the case with most old things.

 

[imactheknife]

I wasn't going to comment on this one, but yes there is something inherently perfect about the original Mac (in spite of its shortcomings) and they do command a premium for an original, un-upgraded one, because more people want one than there are available examples. Some folks might luck into finding one, but locating a pristine unaltered example is getting increasingly difficult to find. (for my purposes, unaltered means matching original RAM, no recapping, etc., but still running would be a bonus).

I have a really nice original Mac, upgraded to 512k and an 800k drive (sort of a daily driver version), but would love to have another one (in original unaltered condition, working or not), so I keep my eyes open.

I have two 128k unaltered except i did replace the rifa’s with original looking ones. Didn’t want the chance to have nasty explosion. Also lucked into the first serial hard drive for the 128k, tecmar 5 meg i believe. So that makes the 128k even more productive