What do you guys think?

[Hotdog Zanzibar]

A guy I know is selling a Macintosh TV (the black one) -- here's the thing, tho. He's only got the computer and the keyboard... no mouse, no cables, and no remote.

I can find the remote on eBay for under $10. Not worried about that. But he is asking $50 for just the computer & keyboard.

The computer is operational, has the tuner card, and is in great cosmetic shape.

I see these on eBay from time to time, but always the same ones, and always for hundreds of dollars. Do you guys think $50 is fair for one of the rarest Macs?

 

[Unknown_K]

Only if you realy want one. The ones worth money are the units 100% complete and original with all docs and software. I have a LC 550 (same unit just not black) and to be honest it is no big deal. TV tuners are pretty much useless these days in the US with the switch to digital TV.

Personally I see all kinds of rare gear being listed at crazy prices with few people buying, they do this to make you think its worth money and then they can sell a few at half price or something.

 

[Mars478]

Well I think get it. And lower the price on him.

 

[tyrannis]

I saw a complete (no docs/disks) Mac TV system sell on eBay for around $30 before shipping a couple years ago. That buyer probably thought it was worth $80 to him. On another more recent occasion I noticed this model selling for around $100 before shipping, and it was stock.

It's not worth hundreds of dollars as you may have observed. I might pay $75 for a good example of the 5300CD DE, but I'd probably only pay around $35 for a Mac TV, especially considering you can't watch broadcast video on it anymore, and the hardware isn't all that impressive in stock configuration. The mouse's absence would be an issue for me. Black ADB mice aren't exactly common.

 

[Osgeld]

well, you can still plug anything you want into it, ie converter box or cable box... or if your like me, we just have basic cable which requires no extra boxes

To me 50 seems steep, the mouse i can imagine doesnt pop up every second like the plat ones do, and the missing remote makes it a inconvenient tv (not getting into its small screen size), I would try to talk him down to 35 or so (if this is something you wanted)

 

[Mike Richardson]

I would try to pick it up. Mac TV's themselves aren't exactly common either.

A black ADB Mouse could be fabricated in the mean time. Just paint a good condition, but yellowed mouse. You can take off the plastic shell and remove the components and get a really good even coat. The wire would need painting as well although it's a little harder.

Actually, yellowed mice are good candidates for retr0bright too - the case comes off easily, there's no silkscreened words or colored Apple logo or anything to worry about.

 

[LCGuy]

I'd grab it. As Mike said, Mac TVs themselves are far from common. Only 10,000 were made, maybe a quarter of which would still exist today, and they were never sold outside of the United States.

 

[Hotdog Zanzibar]

Thanks fellas.

I went ahead and offered $40 for it, and he accepted. As it turns out, he's a collector too and has a COMPLETE Macintosh TV with original box, remote, documentation, etc. ... this was his extra. He also had one of the black Apple set-top boxes. First time I'd ever seen one of those (except in pictures).

I'm going to hook the machine up this weekend and play with it a little bit. Can't believe I found one after all this time.

 

[Mars478]

Congrats! You now have a very rare piece of apple hardware!

I was going to say to lower the price to 40$ as I think that is the golden price before something gets to expensive.

I paid 40$ for my complete Apple ][e (No floppies disks though )

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Get an Apple 2, a Commodore 64 or something else that uses a TV for its video output. Matter of fact, a C64 or the much more powerful C128 painted black and set up as if it were the KBD for your MacTV would be pretty nifty . . .

. . . and the missing mouse wouldn't even be a problem! [] ]'>

I hooked the video output to a TV/Tuner/Mac from the Laser 128 I used to have . . . before the storage room debacle.

 

[macman142]

Wow, $40 is a bargain, really.

I guess it's different over here (they never sold outside the US) but I paid a lot more than that for my system. Although it was more complete and included shipping to the other side of the world!

Can you put up some pics of the beast?