Fair price to sell non-booting MacPortable M5126

[ECJMacLearner]

Ok. Here's the story. I bought this puppy YEARS ago when Apple was blowing them out the door. I probably paid about $1500 for it, back around 1990. I did not use it much. Got the original case, owner's manual, etc. During that time, I replaced the original Conner HD. Another time I had to send it in to a 3rd party for repair. They repaired the MLB. Otherwise, it still didn't get much use. The laptop was put away in it's case, and pretty much put in storage in the garage. There it has sat for the last 22 years.

I live in Southern California, but by the end of this summer, we're moving. I've got a bunch of old Macs I would like to get rid of before we move. This is one of them. I pulled it out and took a look. In terms of cosmetics, it's in really good shape. The plastic is NOT discolored. The keyboard and trackpad look great. The carrying case could use some dusting and cleaning, but the fact that the laptop stayed in that case for all these years, definitely helped preserve it.

The problem with this little guy, is of course, it does NOT power on. Damnit. At best, the screen briefly came on with some vertical lines, then went blank. I've not been able to repeat even that.

I totally disassembled it. The MLB is pristene. No signs of corrosion. No swollen capacitors. No signs of chips showing signs of overheating. I did not take the time to look for broken traces. Don't have the time. The lead acid battery looks fine, but I'm guessing that it doesn't appear to be holding a charge, since the unit won't power on. I replaced the 9 volt battery. It most definitely was dead.

I removed the hard drive and tested it. MANY, MANY years ago, I built a custom cable that allowed me to test that internal drive which uses a custom 34 pin IDC connector, instead of the standard SCSI 50 pin. That 34 pin connector provided both data and power. I handmade a custom breakout cable that connected it a 50 pin SCSI IDC and a 4 pin Molex connector for power. That allowed me to at least power on the drive. The drive DOES power on and spin. At present, I have no means of testing if it will boot or not, but at least I can verify that this 30-35 year old drive powers on.

So, my question is, what is a fair price for this? It's in good cosmetic condition. The hard drive powers on. I'm sure the battery will need replacement. The floppy? I can't test. The MacPortable includes Apple's Modem Card, and a Computer Care brand RAM upgrade Card. Don't know the capacity of the RAM card. And of course it has the original keyboard and trackball.

All suggestions are welcome.

Thank you, everybody.

 

[finkmac]

$100 is fair

 

[Builder68]

There's no inherent "fair price" for anything. Instead, the actual price of a good is established by the dynamic interplay between what sellers are willing to offer and what buyers are willing to pay. This equilibrium point, not some abstract idea of fairness, is what ultimately determines the transaction price, be it $10 or $400

 

[ECJMacLearner]

I was checking eBay and the prices range from $400 for a dead one to $3000 for a working one. Frankly, I think those prices are nuts.

I've been repeatedly testing it, as best I can.

The charger seems to work. Putting a voltmeter to it, shows an output of 7.5 volts, so... I'm assuming it's good.

First time I plugged it in Mac Luggable (last night), I got a flashing screen and error codes like crazy. But they kept flashing, so there was no way to write them down. I disconnected the power supply, since I didn't want it "charging" overnight. I said that it didn't power on. I should've been more accurate. It doesn't boot.

This morning, I plugged it in again. NO error codes whatsoever. The screen does light up, as it is a backlit model. Again, the floppy drive makes chugging sounds, (no normal sounds as a floppy drive of that era would normally make). No sounds from the hard drive. After about 30 secs., the computer shuts down. I'll leave it alone for a few hrs., and try again. The conundrum remains.

I do thank you guys for the input.

By the way, I can always thank Tom Cruise for the film "The Firm" if I want to go back and listen to how a floppy from that era sounded like. There a several scenes where his Mac or Gene Hackman's Mac is being used, and you hear the computer working away, and it's the floppy drive making noise. Always cracked me up.

 

[sstaylor]

For quite a while, macintosh floppy drive sound effects were kind of the go-to for computer sounds. I couldn't name any names offhand, but it was always amusing to see a character working on a PC while it made sounds like a mac plus.

 

[Franklinstein]

For quite a while, macintosh floppy drive sound effects were kind of the go-to for computer sounds. I couldn't name any names offhand, but it was always amusing to see a character working on a PC while it made sounds like a mac plus.

There are few computer sounds more iconic than the Sony auto-inject floppy drives. The sounds of an early '90s Quantum hard drive are probably a close second. Third is probably the Apple ][ 5.25" startup disk seek.
PC specific sounds are probably the BIOS beep and the startup seek of a 3.5" floppy disk drive, though I'm not sure if there's a particular drive that has been sampled for use in media. If so, I'd imagine it's probably a TEAC or Mitsumi drive since those are super common.

On topic, a Portable won't run properly without a good battery. Try that.

 

[ECJMacLearner]

There are few computer sounds more iconic than the Sony auto-inject floppy drives. The sounds of an early '90s Quantum hard drive are probably a close second. Third is probably the Apple ][ 5.25" startup disk seek.
PC specific sounds are probably the BIOS beep and the startup seek of a 3.5" floppy disk drive, though I'm not sure if there's a particular drive that has been sampled for use in media. If so, I'd imagine it's probably a TEAC or Mitsumi drive since those are super common.

On topic, a Portable won't run properly without a good battery. Try that.

Given that I'm trying to sell it, I'm not all that eager to buy a battery. However, I've noticed on other threads that there appears to be a market for 3rd party batteries for this "little" guy.

And I'm not sure that I want to risk damaging the MLB by using alligator clips and wires to bypass the battery and attaching them to the pads that would normally touch the battery terminals. Or... is that a viable alternative?

 

[Juror22]

Since your initial ask was to place a fair price, and you've done a great job communicating what you have over a couple of posts, let me
sum up (and please correct me if I misstate)

You seem to have all the original items (case w/ all four case feet, shoulder strap) the original extras and such.
It seems to be in great physical shape - not severely yellowed, no broken plastics, all the original Mac feet/bumpers, trackball and keyboard in good physical shape.
LCD/backlight seems to work, as does the AC adapter, it comes with additional memory (unsure of how much), as well as a modem potentially questionable items, based on the current description/testing are the motherboard, hard drive and floppy.

The most accurate pricing is of course whatever people are willing to pay and even though eBay is generally inflated, reviewing the sold items helps to gauge the market. I have a short list of (NA-based), reviewed sold, similar items, with the first listing showing the most similar in condition, accessories, etc. (the OBO items likely went for considerably less than the prices listed here)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/365636375351? - $900 Bids
https://www.ebay.com/itm/187225496128? - $750 Bids
https://www.ebay.com/itm/156959791457? - $770 OBO
https://www.ebay.com/itm/167450223517? - $800 OBO

Although there were a large number of non-backlit items and several that could not be determined, which had to be excluded from my review, even this small number shows a trend that would give me confidence to estimate a current fair price to be between $500 - $900 on eBay.
(including shipping costs, since my data included shipping)

Were you to offer it for sale here, or another similar online forum, most items (in general) are sold for less than their eBay listed counterparts since there is no seller's surcharge, and a smaller audience, I would expect the item to sell for somewhere between $300 - $700.

A few notes - please DON'T try messing with additional non-std power (dozens of killed motherboards will attest to this)
You shouldn't need a replacement battery to get the amounts I mentioned, but you could always get more if it actually booted to a drive.

Full disclosure - I have three of the Mac Portables (2 non-backlit, 1 backlit) - all re-capped, new batteries and working and I'm sorry to hear you are thinking of getting rid of yours.

 

[ECJMacLearner]

Since your initial ask was to place a fair price, and you've done a great job communicating what you have over a couple of posts, let me
sum up (and please correct me if I misstate)

You seem to have all the original items (case w/ all four case feet, shoulder strap) the original extras and such.
It seems to be in great physical shape - not severely yellowed, no broken plastics, all the original Mac feet/bumpers, trackball and keyboard in good physical shape.
LCD/backlight seems to work, as does the AC adapter, it comes with additional memory (unsure of how much), as well as a modem potentially questionable items, based on the current description/testing are the motherboard, hard drive and floppy.

The most accurate pricing is of course whatever people are willing to pay and even though eBay is generally inflated, reviewing the sold items helps to gauge the market. I have a short list of (NA-based), reviewed sold, similar items, with the first listing showing the most similar in condition, accessories, etc. (the OBO items likely went for considerably less than the prices listed here)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/365636375351? - $900 Bids
https://www.ebay.com/itm/187225496128? - $750 Bids
https://www.ebay.com/itm/156959791457? - $770 OBO
https://www.ebay.com/itm/167450223517? - $800 OBO

Although there were a large number of non-backlit items and several that could not be determined, which had to be excluded from my review, even this small number shows a trend that would give me confidence to estimate a current fair price to be between $500 - $900 on eBay.
(including shipping costs, since my data included shipping)

Were you to offer it for sale here, or another similar online forum, most items (in general) are sold for less than their eBay listed counterparts since there is no seller's surcharge, and a smaller audience, I would expect the item to sell for somewhere between $300 - $700.

A few notes - please DON'T try messing with additional non-std power (dozens of killed motherboards will attest to this)
You shouldn't need a replacement battery to get the amounts I mentioned, but you could always get more if it actually booted to a drive.

Full disclosure - I have three of the Mac Portables (2 non-backlit, 1 backlit) - all re-capped, new batteries and working and I'm sorry to hear you are thinking of getting rid of yours.

Juror22,

Thank you, sir. Owners manual too. Just don't know where the hell the original disks are. Buried in a box in the garage - somewheres. Honestly do NOT have a clue. But thank you for your response. As I've been working with this thing since Friday afternoon, I honestly thought about keeping it, but.... the fact remains that we're moving. I promised wifey I would downsize and get rid of the TON of old machines that currently occupy space in the garage. I'm attempting to keep that promise.