(NEXSTAR) — If you are a fan of vintage tech, now’s your chance to land one of the rarest treasures in Silicon Valley history.
Apple Inc. co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs designed and created the Apple-1 personal computer back in 1976. Now, one of the desktop computers is up for auction on eBay. According to Apple Insider, the unit, which has been in Canada since you were playing Oregon Trail in computer class, is one of six known Apple-1s still in existence.
Wozniak and Jobs produced about 200 of the devices, which sold for a little under $700 at the time. CNET says the devices contained 8 KB of RAM, meaning modern computers roughly a million times more powerful. Still, the working device is a significant piece of personal computing history.
But if you want to take home the wooden keyboard case and period-appropriate Sony monitor, it will cost you. The device went up for a “buy it now” price of $1.5 million late last month, and nobody has purchased it yet.
According to the online posting, Apple expert Corey Cohen validated the device in August 2019, and the computer comes with a certificate of authenticity.
“This is a verified fully operational original Apple-1 computer system in excellent condition,” reads the posting. “This Apple-1 is an unmodified NTI board in almost perfect condition on both front and back of the main board where you can see there have been no modifications or repairs.”
Still, there may be a reason nobody has plunked down the cash for it. In 2019, another of the devices sold at the Christies auction house for less than $500,000, according to CNBC. Even half a million seems like a decent return for a device that would have cost a few hundred bucks back in the 1970s.