The plethora of things you can find off eBay never cease to fascinate us. That certainly is the case today when an original 1984 Macintosh computer set was spotted on the auction site, asking collectors, Apple fanboys, or anyone with a lot of money to spare to post offers on the complete set with signatures by the design team autographed inside the computer casing.
The set comes with everything you’d find in a Macintosh box had you purchased the computer in 1984: manuals, floppy disks, power cords, even the box that stored everything. The listing contains many detailed photos of the auctioned item, taking interested buyers through a complete tour of the unboxing. While the outer box shows some form of aging, it is still in an impressive condition considering minimal discoloration and looks to be quite sturdy.
Another included item is the rare Macworld magazine subscription card from way before the magazine went online or had its several redesigns. While we don’t think anyone who wins the auction will actually fill out and claim their “limited time offer” on the card, it does make us curious whether Macworld will abide by the offer of two free magazines or declare the offer long expired.
The seller also tested the Macintosh out to ensure the computer is fully functional and still works. Spoiler alert: it does. The seller has even poked fun at its placement on eBay by posting a picture of the Mac appearing to wonder what eBay is on the MacWrite application, pre-installed in the computer. Ah, the days when MacWrite existed..
Reading the listing is also rather wild, considering how far technology has come since the 80’s Macintosh days. For example, the computer screen is a 1-bit 512 x 342 resolution in black and white display, with 28 KB of RAM. Kilobyte! In no way does that even compare to the most budget smartphone out there today. We’re not even sure this thing can support even the simplest game on today’s smartphones, less supporting applications like Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja.
At the time of publishing, the listing has received three offers so far, with the Buy It Now option standing at $3,519.84, plus an additional fifty something dollars for shipping depending on where in the United States you are located. That’s a mighty big sticker price when other Macintosh computers are also floating around eBay for much less, but also less completed. There is no listed time of the auction’s end, but we don’t anticipate it to stick around for so long.
We’re not sure why the seller decides to put this up on eBay. It feels as if this thing belongs in a museum nowadays, or if it was going to end up here it should be been around since the time of Steve Jobs’ death. But we congratulate the seller on getting a lot of press, and hope the Macintosh set goes to the right buyer who will take great care of this piece of history.
