Special thanks to my Patrons, with their help I was able to acquire a decent video card, an RTX 4070Ti. I'm a little ticked at NVIDIA for releasing the Super one week after I got it, for less money, but whatever, I'm so thrilled to be able to render a video in under an hour, vs 4+ hours before. Thank you so much for your support Patrons and Super Thankers!!! And of course thank you to all you viewers and subscribers for giving me such a welcome creative outlet! Your support is NEVER taken for granted. Also special thanks to my daughter Jacqueline for designing Perry the pr0n Prawn (don't worry, it's G rated lol). He makes an appearance under Expensive Item #3.
Yeah really. What a great channel. I love the chill vibe of ths guy's videos. Great presentation style and perfect volume-levels. He'll prob become popular... then I'll have to unsub... Idk why I do that w people who reach over 200k subs. Obviously there's some mental issue going on there.
We had a PDP-8 in our basement when I was a kid in the late '90s that my Dad got from a bank my Mom had worked at. As far as I know it was never powered up while we had it, but I used to love flipping the switches on the front and typing on the accompanying terminal. One day he said "to hell with this" and cut it into pieces and took it to the dump. I bet he'd kick himself if he saw what they're going for now.
Is there really that much of a market for a PDP-8? (Or, realistically, any vintage mainframe.) I'm sure that many collectors would want one, but how many have sufficient space to store it? While most anything is sellable to the right buyer, finding that person may present a challenge. After my Grandfather's death, disposing of his vast collection of obscure, religious books and vinyl records by unknown religious artists was extremely difficult. Surprisingly many people and organizations refused to take it for free!
@@williamharris8367 I'd have to assume a sale of the entire system probably wouldn't gather much serious interest, but in terms of individual components, spare parts are definitely dwindling by the day and might be desirable to someone who already owns one.
A buddy of mine came over with a PDP 11/34 once in his work van. It never made it out of the driveway. We gutted it right there. Thing was the size of two closets. Sure maybe it'd be worth something today but it'd be completely impractical to have moved it from then until now.
I saw one of those, oddity powerbooks once in a museum. I looked at the person who worked there n just went "What the f**k was Apple smoking?", their response was: "Crayons." can't argue with that.
Oh the BeBox, my holy grail. My father owned a dual 133 back in the day. Its such an interesting machine, operating system and concept. He gave it away years ago unfortunately and it ended up being scrapped. Ive been searching for one for years now, but i guess it´ll never happen. They just keep on getting more expensive.
I'm hopeful recent prices are a bubble that will pop eventually. I'd love to know how many were produced.. that might give some indication of where future values will go.
@@TechTimeTraveller Its not quite certain how many were actually produced but its most likely less than 1000. I had the opportunity to buy one about a year back for 1000€ but at the time that was too much for me. Y´know im still a teen and in school so there isn´t much time for a job. Working on vintage computers and vintage cars basically eats all of my free time. Ive got such a huge backlog of projects, even without a job. Several ASR33s, an Intellec 8, Zuse etc. Oh well, maybe I´ll be lucky, considering my collection and especially the little money i´ve spent on it, i´ve been very lucky in the past.
@@TechTimeTraveller Perhaps ill be able to find a defective unit one day, doubt there´s many people out there who´d be able to fix /be willing to attempt to fix one, as that´s already well into the SMD era. So I´m hopeful a defective unit will just be sold instead of being fixed.
@Magnedyne There is a unit on ebay right now. It's missing the outer chassis but seems to have everything else. Seller has been gradually coming down in price to $1600 currently. Probably will go lower yet.
O.M.G. I *have* a BeBox... and it's a slightly special one. I ordered a dual-66 one, but they were switching to the dual-133 version and ran out of the dual-66 units... so they gave me a dual-133 instead, same price. And due to sheer coincidence, I ended up giving the cashier's check directly to Jean-Louis Gassée himself; because I was working at Apple at the time, didn't want to mail the check as they were just down the road a little ways, and he stepped into the elevator at the same time I did. $10k... WOW. Reminds me - I need to pull it out and check the capacitors on it. 90's machine, ya know... P.s. - no, despite that eBay price, I think I'll hang on to it. Personal nostalgia, etc...
This was fantastic...What a pleasant surprise on a rainy Sunday afternoon! Couple of thoughts: 1. Around 23:48: Not just game console makers. I have a Sanyo digital clock radio that dates to about 1979 that proudly proclaims 'Computer Readout Clock Radio' on the front bezel. 2. Ehrmagerd, the stuffed Altair needs to be in your shop alongside Perry the Pr0n Prawn.
Many thanks! And noted! There were a lot of products now that you've mentioned it where they put computer in the name. Kind of like the emphasis on solid state back in the late 70s/80s. I actually created a Perry the pr0n Prawn t-shirt in my shop but TH-cam thinks it's too obscene or something (it's literally a winking prawn in the middle of 'I.T. found (prawn) on my computer'.
I was given an APF scientific calculator in around 1980. It had an LED display and used RPN if I'm remembering properly. All I have left of it is the memory (in my head) and a single blurry photo, taken with my Polaroid instant camera. As a kid I had a habit of taking things apart and the calculator became another victim of my savagery. I shorted something out (I'm assuming the main processor) and it could not be repaired. It's too bad because today it might have been worth real money, to say nothing of the sentimental value. Everything from my childhood is gone. I regret my choices!
Helping my wife put some stuff away, I discovered her old HP-25 programable calculator, I think from the 1970's - turned it on, and it DID come on! HP stuff was the best! RPN logic makes so much sence.
Good to see BeBox featured... I guess... If they regularly go for those kinds of prices I'm definitely never getting one. The BeOS spirit lives on in Haiku and I'll keep running that instead!
When I was on work placement from college I worked automating QA at a factory in Ireland that made cases for Apple machines. Those powerbooks brought back memories. Apple was a picky customer! I remember the cases being degreased by dipping them in an open-topped bath of CFCs - RIP ozone layer.
I've never been a fan of anything Apple, but that first multicolored laptop actually looks really cool. I'd take that over any of their designs from he past 20 years in a heartbeat.
The 4000T seen here is an Amiga technologies one.... or somewhat similar. Its post commodore. An original commodore A4000T recently went over 10.000€ here in Germany. The original Commodore A4000T is debatet to be the rarest homecomputer. Numbers in the low duble digits.
That's good info! Yeah I tried my best to research it all but I had so many other things to research and it was hard to pin anything down on the 4000 generally let alone the 4000T. I do remember Amiga Technologies now that you mention it. I wonder why it went for so much money?
Extremely rare yes, but def. not the rarest. There are only 6 (IIRC) Aquarius II known to exist. I actually own one of them, got it as part of salary compensation when a shop I worked in went under. I put it in a backpack in the basement and promptly forgot all about it. Covid hit and I decided to clean up down there and found it lol. Thankfully there were no moisture down there.
I very briefly owned an Apple IIGS that was given to me in exchange for some other cheap junk. It wasn't in working shape, and didn't include the disk drives, just the box. The power supply was DOA. I decided I didn't want to spend the time trying to fix it. I kinda wish I'd held on to it, the IIGS was probably the most interesting member of the Apple II family, and I've learned since how amazing that WCS65816 processor is. I also had one of the first color Mac desktops. Again, it came in trade at a ham flea market. This one was working, but rather wonky. I gave up on it after a few months. I'm not really a collector, especially of Apple gear. I worked for a company that actually bought several Lisa II's, and then converted them to Mac's. Those machines became real work horses for the departments writing manuals and documentation. At the time there was simply no better software or hardware for desk top publishing.
I fully agree with your assessment of the Rev. 0, anyone mentally able to appreciate Woz' genius should have a Rev. 0 and pray on their knees towards it twice a day.
When I see suspiciously (mega-) expensive items on Ebay that seem to actually sell, I do wonder if the sale ever fully goes through, or if, perhaps, the highest bidder somehow disappears or perhaps just gets marked as "sold" without any money changing hands. Possibly because the account is owned by the seller themselves and is used to inflate prices. Possibly also with a third account to bounce off.
Man, I saw that Powerbook 170 and almost immediately called it as a japanese exclusive... but I would have bet money it was a Gundam tie-in, not a golf tie-in.
I still kind of wonder if the case plastic is actually dyed those colors or if it was painted. I'm suspicious of the one I featured because it had an English keyboard.. this was supposed to be Japan only. So it makes me wonder if folks got creative..
Personally I try to avoid boxed.. it puts me in a fix because for space reasons, I either have to keep the machine in the box (in which case I don't use it), or I keep the machine out of the box and now I need 2x as much space.
John Sculley: We need a new, full color laptop... (2 minutes later) Engineer #88239: How's this boss? innovative enough? Sculley: (Picard facepalm). Whatever. Ship it.
AHHH YESSS Iam one of those Silly Gen Xers that loves me some old DIGITAL Computing and VAX mainframe action. Yeah your right you need some real estate to own the awesomeness. VIVA SCHLUMBERGER!!!
Has anyone else refocused their collecting interests due to increasing cost and/or scarcity? I have never actively collected vintage computers, but starting in the late-1980s I began collecting console video games. I have amassed a decent size collection, but I have not bought anything in the past several years because I refuse to pay current prices. My newest hobby is saving for early retirement. This consumes essentially all of my monthly surplus after the bills are paid, so there is no room for anything else.
I've still got an Amiga 4000 - it was upgraded with what will certianly be a very rare 68060 card with its own RAM and some other stuff! It still works when I tested it, going to play with it some more at some point when I have time!
My dad worked at D I G I T A L for ~30 years. I remember right as Ebay was coming out, he took a few weeks off (this was around the time when Compaq, then subsequently HP bought them out) and decided to sell a ton of old Digital junk he had laying around. It got him an unexpected lot of $. To give you an idea of the era we are talking about, we used an analog camcorder to take the Ebay pictures (with a program called 'Snappy'). I remember him shouting out whiile my friend and I were playing lan DOOM, "That old Digital deck of cards got two-hundred BUCKS!!!" But I think that deck of cards was a completely-unique one-off item he won at an office party... I bet they'd be worth more today.
It's interesting how in demand Digital's stuff is. I would have thought the market would be tiny given space requirements, but apparently not. That's co cool your Dad worked for them. It's weird that they've vanished.. even though I never used DEC products myself I was very aware or them. A local computer store that sold used good had piles of VAX gear upstairs in their attic. No idea what they did with it when they closed for good.
@@TechTimeTraveller It is cool, isn't it? I don't actually think I've had this feeling before. lol. Yeah I think Compaq just totally bought them out and they then became part of Compaq... I don't rly know how all that works. I guess finding those little bunches of treasures here and there is part of the fun of collecting stuff like this. GREAT content. Love the style.
The John Sculley bits are funny. I remember sitting in high school telling friends that Apple was about to go completely bankrupt. In an alternate timeline, John Sculley is my hero.
PS I had a top of the line Be Box offered to me for the effort of carrying it away, and passed on the opportunity. I did regret passing up on it, because as a hobbiest, it would have been cool just to have that piece of computer history.
I was a bit skeptical about a video solely featuring some overpriced eBay items for 45 minutes at first, but with your signature mixture of background info and humor sprinkled in, this video turned out to be highly entertaining and informative. Thanks for uploading!
A very interesting video, particularly considering that I was a coin toss away from buying a new Lisa, back when they were newly introduced, for the Canadian price of $ 11,000. I am old enough (80) to have seen the beginning of the micro computer, and was tempted to buy the original Altair, this article is somewhat fascinating. I have a fairly large (inadvertent) collection of Commodore (8 bit and Amiga) and Apple (all Mac vintage) computers, and have been watching the market prices climb. I keep waiting for the bottom to drip out of the market, but the prices continue to climb. I guess the time has come, to keep the Amiga 4000, and maybe one of the 3000s, and sell off the rest. I never kept these computers as an investment, they were all computers I used and couldn't bring myself to discard, when that would have been the reasonable thing to do. .
I saw one of those amiga towers in the wild, over 20 years ago. But it was only the tower, and it was $75 which was way too expensive to me as an AT OEM case.
Interesting. The Fairchild Channel F was the first ROM based cartridge game system and became very popular in Europe. It was also designed by an African America, Jerry Lawson.
That intro had me laughing! I have to many items on my eBay watchlist, including an Altair 8800. While I don't have high hopes of winning that one, it's always fun to dream.
Thanks so much! Don't give up hope. I snared my Altair right smack in the middle of other machines going for $6k+. It can happen, although you might have to compromise somewhere on originalness.
Wow.. I remember my school GAVE AWAY a bunch of Apple II computers in the early 90s. They were tired of them taking up space and they were basically worthless back then.. NOBODY cared about them. I didn't take one home, I sure wish I had.. Man..
My high school had 4 apple 2es as their computer lab. we used them just to play games. Occassionallya teacher would walk in. We werent allowed to play games on them, so I would always do an reset. It would load to the * prompt - ID type 800l and the screen would always impress the teacher - to their mind I was programming! Man I loved the old apple games, especially sammy lightfoot!
I managed to snag a PDP-8/A a few years ago for just over $1000. Given the kind of prices I've seen them go for now, I realize I got a steal. Granted one of the front panels was missing which I had to replace through a very gracious guy on Reddit, and I've spent the last couple years coaxing it back to life but still. It still disappoints me to see single boards go for as much as I paid for my machine.
Im sorry but you are incorrect, while you are correct that the most expensive vintage computer in 2023 sold on eBay was an apple, it was not the apple tablet sold for "pathetic" 25k. The most expensive vintage computer sold in 2023 on eBay was Apple I, it went for around 380k. The auction went in June 2023.
Do you have the auction number by chance? It does not show up on Worthpoint and the only sale of an Apple 1 I can find was on RR auction for $220000 in August.
You know what even more expensive and rare the amiga 3000T which i have plus many a4000s and the tower and yes all those unobtanium accel cards etc lol
Nice. All I have of the 3000 is the top case.. lol. Can't afford the prices they go for. I have a 4000 chassis w/motherboard but it's been robbed of CPU and key chips.. probably the board is dead.
I sold an SE/30 on eBay then used the money to buy a Mac Pro 2013 "trash can" which arrived so fast, it came before I could ship the SE/30 out and I got to take a picture of them side by side. The Mac Pro 2013 is tiny by comparison. No regrets!
I don't think one sold in 2023 though did it? Last one I saw I think was 2022 or 2023. There were a bunch of scam auctions being run with pictures from that last auction though.
@@TechTimeTraveller I'm not sure if it was 2022 or 2023, or, if it was a different auction site, but I read an article about such a sale that I assumed was from 2023 (sold by a German). It was around the $20000 mark IIRC.
nice thinkpad i still have my old T40. For all the faults of IBM Lenovo they made good notebooks. The rubberized casing also sold me because i was a control system programmer.
I do love ThinkPad, especially the original IBM ones. I've been collecting the oldest ones as they are mostly pretty cheap and so sharp looking! Too bad the rubberized coatings are starting to break down.
@@TechTimeTraveller I heard that although the X200 was made by lenovo, they were made from designs completed by the IBM engineers. Although, realistically. might more be true of the X61s, idk, but if true, best of both worlds: IBM engineering and Lenovo manufacturing. Using one in 2016, someone asked me "is that top of the line?" "Well, top of the line, eight years ago!"
I don’t understand how sellers get off taking potato level photos and asking for thousands of dollars. I'm a vintage hardware fanatic too, but put the Mavica camera away and go get your iPhone please!
Yup. And, this isn't their fault since they often don't know collectibles that well, but for me they invariably miss a photo of the one thing on whatever they're selling that I need to determine value. And then they get salty when you ask them for it!
@TechTimeTraveller I make it a point to be nice about taking more photos when I sell. Why? Because I'm not arguing with you after you receive it, and I don't accept returns.😂
John Sculley was a brilliant man, that saved Apple from the mess Steve Jobs made of it. Jobs was basically an idiot, that knew absolutely nothing about computers, but he did know how to align himself with brilliant people like Wozniak. Apple really started having issues after Sculley left the company, and Jobs came in after a few more idiots mucked it up. Jobs at least then started listening to the brilliant people at Apple, many of which Sculley hired, and that's what saved the company.
Jobs once said starting and running NEXT, being responsible for HR, paychecks, management etc really taught him some humility. Sculley did fine, he kept the ship afloat for a more disciplined 'visionary' Jobs to take over again.
Yeah even the later 11s are getting really expensive. I'd love to have a minicomputer but I'm trying hard not to overwhelm my basement. :) The Transputer is fascinating!
@@TechTimeTraveller I learnt machine code on a cobbled together wooden cased Nascom-1 way back in college. Havnt heard that machine mentioned for a few decades lol. It was a lovely looking machine with one of those pin sharp green phosphor monitors. The keyboard was also wooden cased, which was lovely. No idea if all nascom-1s were bedecked in wood but this one almost looked like someone had home built the cases.
Last month, I bought my first vintage computer on ebay and it got lost in the post and was narry seen again. Nice guy refunded me though. So I bought another - it's a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +48k (the version that doesn't have the rubber keyboard) so I am oh-so-very at the shallow end. Still waiting to get a modern power supply before I turn it on though.
It's exciting to acquire that first thing! I remember when I asked my school for one of the PETs they were scrapping. They looked at me weird but let me have one (a SuperPET no less) and I thought I'd found gold. Sorry to hear you lost yours.. that has happened to me a few times. I bought a Commodore 16 back in the late 90s and I think someone swiped it from my front door (Canada Post used to just leave parcels at doorsteps in apartments). Sigh. Anyway enjoy your purchase and welcome to the collecting community!
Speaking of vintage.. I put the oldies station on oh I don't know it was a while ago (I use a flash drive in my car, can't take the commercials anymore sorry) anyway.. the OLDIES music channel, like you know, Chuck Berry... you know, old stuff 50's music.. yeah.. NIRVANA was playing. I about spit my coffee all over my steering wheel. Nirvana? That's GRUnGE rock from the 90s when I was in HIGH SCHOOL. Nirvana is NOT OLDIES. I don't care WHO you are or HOW OLD you are, OLDIES is NOT Nirvana. Errrr
@@TechTimeTraveller it's terrible isn't it? I was born in 78 so, you know.. it was still the same basically as it was in 58. It was a little different, cars were different, but plastic was just coming out strong. Kids today.. they will never understand the hard way, well hopefully they won't. I'm ok with that but still, they have no idea!
She is making a bunch for sale.. about $40-50USD (trying to figure out material costs). If interested email me at Brad at techtimetraveller.com and I'll get in touch once we she has them ready. Many thanks!
Or you can just look what's on the curb or in the container and have fun with that! Can't go wrong with a stack of 386s and C64s for the low low price of having to explain to your mum why you dragged that sorta crap in.
@@TechTimeTraveller Speaking of that, I run a little C64 Wizard of Wor stand on Halloween almost every year, although it's just near the curb, not on it. I also use my ugliest, most used up (and graffitied on by young me) C64. And CRT TVs are still repulsive where I live, so no one steals them.
Special thanks to my Patrons, with their help I was able to acquire a decent video card, an RTX 4070Ti. I'm a little ticked at NVIDIA for releasing the Super one week after I got it, for less money, but whatever, I'm so thrilled to be able to render a video in under an hour, vs 4+ hours before. Thank you so much for your support Patrons and Super Thankers!!! And of course thank you to all you viewers and subscribers for giving me such a welcome creative outlet! Your support is NEVER taken for granted.
Also special thanks to my daughter Jacqueline for designing Perry the pr0n Prawn (don't worry, it's G rated lol). He makes an appearance under Expensive Item #3.
4070Ti FTW. I just wish they weren't so massive. I had to buy a new case for mine.
Hope this becomes a regular yearly feature.
Yeah really.
What a great channel. I love the chill vibe of ths guy's videos. Great presentation style and perfect volume-levels.
He'll prob become popular... then I'll have to unsub... Idk why I do that w people who reach over 200k subs. Obviously there's some mental issue going on there.
I'd like to see it more often. Say quarterly?
Agreed
We had a PDP-8 in our basement when I was a kid in the late '90s that my Dad got from a bank my Mom had worked at. As far as I know it was never powered up while we had it, but I used to love flipping the switches on the front and typing on the accompanying terminal. One day he said "to hell with this" and cut it into pieces and took it to the dump. I bet he'd kick himself if he saw what they're going for now.
That is a very sad story.. darn!
Is there really that much of a market for a PDP-8? (Or, realistically, any vintage mainframe.)
I'm sure that many collectors would want one, but how many have sufficient space to store it? While most anything is sellable to the right buyer, finding that person may present a challenge.
After my Grandfather's death, disposing of his vast collection of obscure, religious books and vinyl records by unknown religious artists was extremely difficult. Surprisingly many people and organizations refused to take it for free!
@@williamharris8367 I'd have to assume a sale of the entire system probably wouldn't gather much serious interest, but in terms of individual components, spare parts are definitely dwindling by the day and might be desirable to someone who already owns one.
A buddy of mine came over with a PDP 11/34 once in his work van. It never made it out of the driveway. We gutted it right there. Thing was the size of two closets. Sure maybe it'd be worth something today but it'd be completely impractical to have moved it from then until now.
I saw one of those, oddity powerbooks once in a museum. I looked at the person who worked there n just went "What the f**k was Apple smoking?", their response was: "Crayons."
can't argue with that.
LOL
Have you ever considered Japanese have a different taste than cowboys? Do you even know there are other cultures than your own?
Oh the BeBox, my holy grail. My father owned a dual 133 back in the day. Its such an interesting machine, operating system and concept. He gave it away years ago unfortunately and it ended up being scrapped. Ive been searching for one for years now, but i guess it´ll never happen. They just keep on getting more expensive.
I'm hopeful recent prices are a bubble that will pop eventually. I'd love to know how many were produced.. that might give some indication of where future values will go.
@@TechTimeTraveller Its not quite certain how many were actually produced but its most likely less than 1000. I had the opportunity to buy one about a year back for 1000€ but at the time that was too much for me. Y´know im still a teen and in school so there isn´t much time for a job. Working on vintage computers and vintage cars basically eats all of my free time. Ive got such a huge backlog of projects, even without a job. Several ASR33s, an Intellec 8, Zuse etc. Oh well, maybe I´ll be lucky, considering my collection and especially the little money i´ve spent on it, i´ve been very lucky in the past.
@@TechTimeTraveller Perhaps ill be able to find a defective unit one day, doubt there´s many people out there who´d be able to fix /be willing to attempt to fix one, as that´s already well into the SMD era. So I´m hopeful a defective unit will just be sold instead of being fixed.
@Magnedyne There is a unit on ebay right now. It's missing the outer chassis but seems to have everything else. Seller has been gradually coming down in price to $1600 currently. Probably will go lower yet.
@@TechTimeTravellera missing chassis is unfortunately a deal breaker for me. And the price, 1600 is just out of my price range.
That crocheted altair is indeed pretty cool.
That Apple powerbook reminds me of the VW Polo Harlequin
Personally, I'd go with the Motorola StarTAC Rainbow mobile phone. It was released in 1997.
Pretty much anything branded by Benetton in the 1980s/90s used very similar colours.
O.M.G. I *have* a BeBox... and it's a slightly special one. I ordered a dual-66 one, but they were switching to the dual-133 version and ran out of the dual-66 units... so they gave me a dual-133 instead, same price. And due to sheer coincidence, I ended up giving the cashier's check directly to Jean-Louis Gassée himself; because I was working at Apple at the time, didn't want to mail the check as they were just down the road a little ways, and he stepped into the elevator at the same time I did.
$10k... WOW.
Reminds me - I need to pull it out and check the capacitors on it. 90's machine, ya know...
P.s. - no, despite that eBay price, I think I'll hang on to it. Personal nostalgia, etc...
$10k would be worth digging out. Sub-$2k... no.
29:40 "An electronic robot eight feet tall"? Oh man that sounds way cooler than a pile of wires and vacuum tubes filling an entire room.
Amazingly informative video Tech-time.Thank you for all the effort you put in to them.
No problem at all. I really enjoy the process, once I get past the 'start new project' procrastination process. :)
This was fantastic...What a pleasant surprise on a rainy Sunday afternoon! Couple of thoughts:
1. Around 23:48: Not just game console makers. I have a Sanyo digital clock radio that dates to about 1979 that proudly proclaims 'Computer Readout Clock Radio' on the front bezel.
2. Ehrmagerd, the stuffed Altair needs to be in your shop alongside Perry the Pr0n Prawn.
Many thanks! And noted! There were a lot of products now that you've mentioned it where they put computer in the name. Kind of like the emphasis on solid state back in the late 70s/80s.
I actually created a Perry the pr0n Prawn t-shirt in my shop but TH-cam thinks it's too obscene or something (it's literally a winking prawn in the middle of 'I.T. found (prawn) on my computer'.
I gotta love youtube for getting their act together and recommending the smaller creators every now and then. Thoroughly enjoying this!
Thanks so much! The best part of doing this is knowing you're giving people some enjoyment!
I was given an APF scientific calculator in around 1980. It had an LED display and used RPN if I'm remembering properly. All I have left of it is the memory (in my head) and a single blurry photo, taken with my Polaroid instant camera.
As a kid I had a habit of taking things apart and the calculator became another victim of my savagery. I shorted something out (I'm assuming the main processor) and it could not be repaired.
It's too bad because today it might have been worth real money, to say nothing of the sentimental value. Everything from my childhood is gone. I regret my choices!
Helping my wife put some stuff away, I discovered her old HP-25 programable calculator, I think from the 1970's - turned it on, and it DID come on! HP stuff was the best! RPN logic makes so much sence.
Good to see BeBox featured... I guess... If they regularly go for those kinds of prices I'm definitely never getting one. The BeOS spirit lives on in Haiku and I'll keep running that instead!
When I was on work placement from college I worked automating QA at a factory in Ireland that made cases for Apple machines. Those powerbooks brought back memories. Apple was a picky customer!
I remember the cases being degreased by dipping them in an open-topped bath of CFCs - RIP ozone layer.
I just found your channel. Enjoyed the couple of videos that I've watched so far.
Many thanks! I try my best!
I've never been a fan of anything Apple, but that first multicolored laptop actually looks really cool. I'd take that over any of their designs from he past 20 years in a heartbeat.
Cool and entertaining. Thanks for the time and effort (and Humor) in this video
Glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome intro!
That Apple would go really well with a VW Golf Harlequin. Same age bracket too. The 90's were a weird place.
The 4000T seen here is an Amiga technologies one.... or somewhat similar. Its post commodore.
An original commodore A4000T recently went over 10.000€ here in Germany.
The original Commodore A4000T is debatet to be the rarest homecomputer.
Numbers in the low duble digits.
That's good info! Yeah I tried my best to research it all but I had so many other things to research and it was hard to pin anything down on the 4000 generally let alone the 4000T. I do remember Amiga Technologies now that you mention it. I wonder why it went for so much money?
Extremely rare yes, but def. not the rarest. There are only 6 (IIRC) Aquarius II known to exist.
I actually own one of them, got it as part of salary compensation when a shop I worked in went under. I put it in a backpack in the basement and promptly forgot all about it. Covid hit and I decided to clean up down there and found it lol. Thankfully there were no moisture down there.
I love seeing these OG's of computers!
I enjoyed this 🙂 Please make another one in a year 👌
Absolutely. Thanks so much for watching!!
the colorful powerbook is amazing
I very briefly owned an Apple IIGS that was given to me in exchange for some other cheap junk. It wasn't in working shape, and didn't include the disk drives, just the box. The power supply was DOA. I decided I didn't want to spend the time trying to fix it. I kinda wish I'd held on to it, the IIGS was probably the most interesting member of the Apple II family, and I've learned since how amazing that WCS65816 processor is.
I also had one of the first color Mac desktops. Again, it came in trade at a ham flea market. This one was working, but rather wonky. I gave up on it after a few months. I'm not really a collector, especially of Apple gear.
I worked for a company that actually bought several Lisa II's, and then converted them to Mac's. Those machines became real work horses for the departments writing manuals and documentation. At the time there was simply no better software or hardware for desk top publishing.
I fully agree with your assessment of the Rev. 0, anyone mentally able to appreciate Woz' genius should have a Rev. 0 and pray on their knees towards it twice a day.
When I see suspiciously (mega-) expensive items on Ebay that seem to actually sell, I do wonder if the sale ever fully goes through, or if, perhaps, the highest bidder somehow disappears or perhaps just gets marked as "sold" without any money changing hands. Possibly because the account is owned by the seller themselves and is used to inflate prices. Possibly also with a third account to bounce off.
Man, I saw that Powerbook 170 and almost immediately called it as a japanese exclusive... but I would have bet money it was a Gundam tie-in, not a golf tie-in.
I still kind of wonder if the case plastic is actually dyed those colors or if it was painted. I'm suspicious of the one I featured because it had an English keyboard.. this was supposed to be Japan only. So it makes me wonder if folks got creative..
I love the Imagination Machine advert claim about its keyboard "Not funny feeling touch-pads" at 26:47 :)
The PDP-1 came out in 1959, and $120k adjusted for inflation is only about 1.3 million. Even if you went back to 1946, it's only 1.9 million.
Those prices are just ridiculous.
The original box thing probebly came from toy collectors, they seem to be fanatical about having that.
Personally I try to avoid boxed.. it puts me in a fix because for space reasons, I either have to keep the machine in the box (in which case I don't use it), or I keep the machine out of the box and now I need 2x as much space.
@@TechTimeTraveller Same. (not that I could afford the price they ask when it does have a box.)
John Sculley: We need a new, full color laptop...
(2 minutes later)
Engineer #88239: How's this boss? innovative enough?
Sculley: (Picard facepalm). Whatever. Ship it.
This is precisely how I pictured this one going down! :)
AHHH YESSS Iam one of those Silly Gen Xers that loves me some old DIGITAL Computing and VAX mainframe action. Yeah your right you need some real estate to own the awesomeness.
VIVA SCHLUMBERGER!!!
Has anyone else refocused their collecting interests due to increasing cost and/or scarcity?
I have never actively collected vintage computers, but starting in the late-1980s I began collecting console video games. I have amassed a decent size collection, but I have not bought anything in the past several years because I refuse to pay current prices.
My newest hobby is saving for early retirement. This consumes essentially all of my monthly surplus after the bills are paid, so there is no room for anything else.
I've still got an Amiga 4000 - it was upgraded with what will certianly be a very rare 68060 card with its own RAM and some other stuff! It still works when I tested it, going to play with it some more at some point when I have time!
I want a Saturn v rocket
My dad worked at D I G I T A L for ~30 years.
I remember right as Ebay was coming out, he took a few weeks off (this was around the time when Compaq, then subsequently HP bought them out) and decided to sell a ton of old Digital junk he had laying around. It got him an unexpected lot of $.
To give you an idea of the era we are talking about, we used an analog camcorder to take the Ebay pictures (with a program called 'Snappy').
I remember him shouting out whiile my friend and I were playing lan DOOM, "That old Digital deck of cards got two-hundred BUCKS!!!"
But I think that deck of cards was a completely-unique one-off item he won at an office party... I bet they'd be worth more today.
It's interesting how in demand Digital's stuff is. I would have thought the market would be tiny given space requirements, but apparently not. That's co cool your Dad worked for them. It's weird that they've vanished.. even though I never used DEC products myself I was very aware or them. A local computer store that sold used good had piles of VAX gear upstairs in their attic. No idea what they did with it when they closed for good.
@@TechTimeTraveller It is cool, isn't it? I don't actually think I've had this feeling before. lol.
Yeah I think Compaq just totally bought them out and they then became part of Compaq... I don't rly know how all that works.
I guess finding those little bunches of treasures here and there is part of the fun of collecting stuff like this.
GREAT content. Love the style.
The John Sculley bits are funny. I remember sitting in high school telling friends that Apple was about to go completely bankrupt. In an alternate timeline, John Sculley is my hero.
looking forward to that video on Be.
PS I had a top of the line Be Box offered to me for the effort of carrying it away, and passed on the opportunity. I did regret passing up on it, because as a hobbiest, it would have been cool just to have that piece of computer history.
I imagine the Bebox can fetch a fancy price just because of all those ports
Awesome video - well done 🎉❤ i’ve got a soft spot for the crazy crayola powerbook … but i dont have 15k AUD for it 😅
I was a bit skeptical about a video solely featuring some overpriced eBay items for 45 minutes at first, but with your signature mixture of background info and humor sprinkled in, this video turned out to be highly entertaining and informative. Thanks for uploading!
Thank you for watching! Means a lot!
Another masterpiece from TTT. So much great information to chew at!
Many thanks!! I appreciate your comments very much!
Big prices for what is essentially ewaste does take the fun out of the hobby.
A very interesting video, particularly considering that I was a coin toss away from buying a new Lisa, back when they were newly introduced, for the Canadian price of $ 11,000.
I am old enough (80) to have seen the beginning of the micro computer, and was tempted to buy the original Altair, this article is somewhat fascinating. I have a fairly large (inadvertent) collection of Commodore (8 bit and Amiga) and Apple (all Mac vintage) computers, and have been watching the market prices climb. I keep waiting for the bottom to drip out of the market, but the prices continue to climb. I guess the time has come, to keep the Amiga 4000, and maybe one of the 3000s, and sell off the rest. I never kept these computers as an investment, they were all computers I used and couldn't bring myself to discard, when that would have been the reasonable thing to do. .
Look at all that vintage computing going for all that money and exactly one of those can run Doom
Iam definitely not an Apple fan i guess thats why i think Scully was a good move for apple. Steve was being a little more than his unhinged normality.
Steve needed to mature and being directly responsible for payroll over at NEXT think taught him a modicum of humility.
I felt like Reggie Something in The X Files...
"Wait...What?!?"
Well, guess it’s time to sell my BeBox
I saw one of those amiga towers in the wild, over 20 years ago. But it was only the tower, and it was $75 which was way too expensive to me as an AT OEM case.
Interesting. The Fairchild Channel F was the first ROM based cartridge game system and became very popular in Europe. It was also designed by an African America, Jerry Lawson.
That intro had me laughing! I have to many items on my eBay watchlist, including an Altair 8800. While I don't have high hopes of winning that one, it's always fun to dream.
Thanks so much! Don't give up hope. I snared my Altair right smack in the middle of other machines going for $6k+. It can happen, although you might have to compromise somewhere on originalness.
Wow.. I remember my school GAVE AWAY a bunch of Apple II computers in the early 90s. They were tired of them taking up space and they were basically worthless back then.. NOBODY cared about them. I didn't take one home, I sure wish I had.. Man..
My high school had 4 apple 2es as their computer lab. we used them just to play games. Occassionallya teacher would walk in. We werent allowed to play games on them, so I would always do an reset. It would load to the * prompt - ID type 800l and the screen would always impress the teacher - to their mind I was programming! Man I loved the old apple games, especially sammy lightfoot!
Omg I forgot about Sammy Lightfoot! Played that obsessively back in the day!
hard hat mack as well!@@TechTimeTraveller
I managed to snag a PDP-8/A a few years ago for just over $1000. Given the kind of prices I've seen them go for now, I realize I got a steal. Granted one of the front panels was missing which I had to replace through a very gracious guy on Reddit, and I've spent the last couple years coaxing it back to life but still. It still disappoints me to see single boards go for as much as I paid for my machine.
Im sorry but you are incorrect, while you are correct that the most expensive vintage computer in 2023 sold on eBay was an apple, it was not the apple tablet sold for "pathetic" 25k.
The most expensive vintage computer sold in 2023 on eBay was Apple I, it went for around 380k. The auction went in June 2023.
Do you have the auction number by chance? It does not show up on Worthpoint and the only sale of an Apple 1 I can find was on RR auction for $220000 in August.
@@TechTimeTraveller OK, youtube again on FUBAR, deleted what I wrote.
Do you have it in email history?
@@TechTimeTraveller lets see if a simple item No. 185449020907 will get deleted by youtube.
Great work here. I subbed and I promise to watch at least 2 videos at a time (the YT algorithm) Great use of sarcasm.. nicely done. Thanks
Comments like these make it all worthwhile. Thank you so much!
I come for the retro computing and stay for the smooth jazz and open mike night at the comedy club vibe.
Many thanks!!
You know what even more expensive and rare the amiga 3000T which i have plus many a4000s and the tower and yes all those unobtanium accel cards etc lol
Nice. All I have of the 3000 is the top case.. lol. Can't afford the prices they go for. I have a 4000 chassis w/motherboard but it's been robbed of CPU and key chips.. probably the board is dead.
@TechTimeTraveller saved the 3000T from japan actually
I sold an SE/30 on eBay then used the money to buy a Mac Pro 2013 "trash can" which arrived so fast, it came before I could ship the SE/30 out and I got to take a picture of them side by side. The Mac Pro 2013 is tiny by comparison. No regrets!
Its unfortunate that this sorta didnt roll on for three to four hours.. I found this quite enthralling... Keep up the good work..
Many thanks!!!
Eww who would actively brandish that they're browsing The Drudge Report.
You seriously missed out on the Commodore 65. It should be a contender for #1.
I don't think one sold in 2023 though did it? Last one I saw I think was 2022 or 2023. There were a bunch of scam auctions being run with pictures from that last auction though.
@@TechTimeTraveller I'm not sure if it was 2022 or 2023, or, if it was a different auction site, but I read an article about such a sale that I assumed was from 2023 (sold by a German). It was around the $20000 mark IIRC.
Guess I should dig my BeBox out of the closet... it should still be in it's original box. I was a developer and had a reasonable setup at one point.
I am really happy that I have never spent that much on ebay, although I worry my totals may be getting up there.
Is that a x series think by lenovo. Nice brick
That first PowerBook would go well on the passenger seat of a Harlequin Jetta or Golf. (edit: someone hit that point first. I'm late)
I am this vintage, no intent ro buy them back in the days. I am happy with my new Raspberry Pi5. How much for a ZX81? It has 2KB
nice thinkpad i still have my old T40. For all the faults of IBM Lenovo they made good notebooks. The rubberized casing also sold me because i was a control system programmer.
I do love ThinkPad, especially the original IBM ones. I've been collecting the oldest ones as they are mostly pretty cheap and so sharp looking! Too bad the rubberized coatings are starting to break down.
@@TechTimeTraveller I heard that although the X200 was made by lenovo, they were made from designs completed by the IBM engineers. Although, realistically. might more be true of the X61s, idk, but if true, best of both worlds: IBM engineering and Lenovo manufacturing. Using one in 2016, someone asked me "is that top of the line?" "Well, top of the line, eight years ago!"
I don’t understand how sellers get off taking potato level photos and asking for thousands of dollars. I'm a vintage hardware fanatic too, but put the Mavica camera away and go get your iPhone please!
Yup. And, this isn't their fault since they often don't know collectibles that well, but for me they invariably miss a photo of the one thing on whatever they're selling that I need to determine value. And then they get salty when you ask them for it!
@TechTimeTraveller I make it a point to be nice about taking more photos when I sell. Why? Because I'm not arguing with you after you receive it, and I don't accept returns.😂
It's a vintage computer, so you have to use vintage pictures. The world really was grainy and washed out back in the 80's. 🙂
John Sculley was a brilliant man, that saved Apple from the mess Steve Jobs made of it. Jobs was basically an idiot, that knew absolutely nothing about computers, but he did know how to align himself with brilliant people like Wozniak. Apple really started having issues after Sculley left the company, and Jobs came in after a few more idiots mucked it up. Jobs at least then started listening to the brilliant people at Apple, many of which Sculley hired, and that's what saved the company.
Jobs once said starting and running NEXT, being responsible for HR, paychecks, management etc really taught him some humility. Sculley did fine, he kept the ship afloat for a more disciplined 'visionary' Jobs to take over again.
best. intro. ever.
Many thanks!!
a PDP11 or 8 and the Atari Transputer are at the top of my list... but such computers are more or less non-existant here in New Zealand.. sigh
Yeah even the later 11s are getting really expensive. I'd love to have a minicomputer but I'm trying hard not to overwhelm my basement. :) The Transputer is fascinating!
You should do another video, the sub $1000 stuff ?
There have been so many really cool things that have come up 😉👍🏻
For sure.. could do a Top 10 Coolest or something?
@@TechTimeTraveller coolest, rarest, oddball.
How about the British Powertran Cortex, Phi80 or ETI Transam Triton computers ? 😉
@8-bitbitsa821 So many good options there.. love the Powertran! I actually have a Nascom-1 too..
@@TechTimeTraveller I learnt machine code on a cobbled together wooden cased Nascom-1 way back in college. Havnt heard that machine mentioned for a few decades lol.
It was a lovely looking machine with one of those pin sharp green phosphor monitors. The keyboard was also wooden cased, which was lovely.
No idea if all nascom-1s were bedecked in wood but this one almost looked like someone had home built the cases.
Last month, I bought my first vintage computer on ebay and it got lost in the post and was narry seen again. Nice guy refunded me though. So I bought another - it's a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +48k (the version that doesn't have the rubber keyboard) so I am oh-so-very at the shallow end. Still waiting to get a modern power supply before I turn it on though.
It's exciting to acquire that first thing! I remember when I asked my school for one of the PETs they were scrapping. They looked at me weird but let me have one (a SuperPET no less) and I thought I'd found gold. Sorry to hear you lost yours.. that has happened to me a few times. I bought a Commodore 16 back in the late 90s and I think someone swiped it from my front door (Canada Post used to just leave parcels at doorsteps in apartments). Sigh. Anyway enjoy your purchase and welcome to the collecting community!
Is there any console that says “70s” more than a wood grain pong console?
DEC stuff on ebay has always gone for insane prices. Now these prices are going up again! Terrible!!!
still cheaper than when it was new probably
OVER $$$ PRICED PIECE$ OF crAPPLE$ . . . Ouch . . .
Speaking of vintage.. I put the oldies station on oh I don't know it was a while ago (I use a flash drive in my car, can't take the commercials anymore sorry) anyway.. the OLDIES music channel, like you know, Chuck Berry... you know, old stuff 50's music.. yeah.. NIRVANA was playing. I about spit my coffee all over my steering wheel. Nirvana? That's GRUnGE rock from the 90s when I was in HIGH SCHOOL. Nirvana is NOT OLDIES. I don't care WHO you are or HOW OLD you are, OLDIES is NOT Nirvana. Errrr
A depressing fact of life. Not long ago I had to explain to a teenager what a busy signal was.
@@TechTimeTraveller it's terrible isn't it? I was born in 78 so, you know.. it was still the same basically as it was in 58. It was a little different, cars were different, but plastic was just coming out strong. Kids today.. they will never understand the hard way, well hopefully they won't. I'm ok with that but still, they have no idea!
Steve Jobs sandals?!?
Blocky Balboa... lol.
Hey how much is a Tandy 1000 complete system (computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, mousepad,, and software), and it works! 😁👍👍🇺🇸
You mean the original 1000? I got mine off ebay for $85. The CM2 screen I purchased shortly before it was $100. That was a few years ago.
@@TechTimeTraveller I have both the big box and the thin box? 😱😁👍👍🇺🇸
ANSI bots for the win 2024!!!
Apple products are always overhyped and overpriced.
Can we buy crocheted Altair 8800s from your daughter?
She is making a bunch for sale.. about $40-50USD (trying to figure out material costs). If interested email me at Brad at techtimetraveller.com and I'll get in touch once we she has them ready. Many thanks!
20:30 I hear the CRT :(
Dang! Sorry about that! I thought I had it filtered. One of the audio tracks must have escaped. I wish I could hear and catch it myself!
I thought Atari had some add on so you could use it as a really terrible computer
I think it was third party. I don't think they ever came up with their own.
@@TechTimeTraveller that's what I'm thinking of - thanks
Video proof that Apple fans are fucking crazy.
to be honest Apple for me will be forever shit system - amiga users know that if you emulation mac on amiga mac will be faster than a real thing :)
Cannot continue watching. Tech time is too absorbed in their. Clever, graphics, and lengthy storytelling.
Or you can just look what's on the curb or in the container and have fun with that! Can't go wrong with a stack of 386s and C64s for the low low price of having to explain to your mum why you dragged that sorta crap in.
Nothing wrong with curbside computing!
@@TechTimeTraveller Speaking of that, I run a little C64 Wizard of Wor stand on Halloween almost every year, although it's just near the curb, not on it. I also use my ugliest, most used up (and graffitied on by young me) C64. And CRT TVs are still repulsive where I live, so no one steals them.
Fist one here
No thanks.
Too many ads.
Ah.. I forgot to trim those. I've cut it down to four from the 9 TH-cam automatically added.
@@TechTimeTraveller Yeah. YT gets really annoying. Thank you,