Unboxing an Apple IIc
Flickr user dansays acquired an unopened Apple IIc on eBay and in true Macfan style, posted his unboxing photos online. From his Flickr set:
It's never been opened. Ever. It hasn't seen the light of day since before it was shipped on May 5th, 1988.Link (via Andre Torrez's notes)
I wrestled with whether I should open the box, or store it and let it accrue collector's value. In the end, I decided that the reason for my purchase wasn't financial. My very first computer was an Apple //c, and I can't see wanting to part with this computer, ever.
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It's pretty impressive how the design scheme of Apple's boxes had hardly ever changed in the last 20 years, and still looks modern and new.
This makes me so happy. My first computer was also an Apple IIc, that I got when I was 7 years old. The CPU stopped working about a decade ago, but I just got the monitor back from my parents house this month, and I'm trying to find a good use for it.
Timeless graphic design--you could put that box on a shelf today and it would look better than most...
Beautiful, yes, but where does one get 5 1/4 floppies in 2008?
Anyone got an item # or link to the auction? I'm curious what this sold for.
Oh, my head.
My first computer was an Apple IIe, followed a few years later by a IIc. I loved them.
Those pix made me moan quietly in the nicest way.
According to Gizmodo, $2553
#4: I think I would be grateful already if my old 5 1/4 floppies are still readable, and there is a drive to read it. ;) (Oh, wait, it's formatted for DR-DOS.)
The auction is here,
Bitgod: That's twice the original price, IIRC!
I would box it up and send it to Apple with a note to Mr. Jobs:
"Dear sir, this product is much more thick than the MacBook Air that you demonstrated on stage in January. I would like my money back, please."
Which would probably result in never seeing machine nor money ever again, but it would at least be interesting.
Glossolalia Black (#10): Ah yes, but what is it in 1988 dollars? One inflation calculator I found says that $2553 (2007) == $1416 (1988). When you allow for the monitor, stand, and AppleWorks that total doesn't sound so bad.
The Apple IIC was my very first computer back in the day. You're really taking me back with this one!
That was a beautiful set of photographs, and to think the 5.25" floppies still work after almost 20 years of sitting in a box. Never could own one of those myself but I spent a LOT of time at school sitting in front of them, it was the only way I could get access to a computer at the time.
I had a IIe before my //c, but I had one of those too, pretty much as soon as they came out. What a sweet machine. I could probably still program a D&D character generator in Apple Basic if I really thought about it.
Man, now I want to play Wizardry.
You guys really made a smart move hiring Joel Johnson. He really fits in beautifully with the rest of you happy mutants.
I had two of the monitors for this bad boy. I have one left and my buddy has the other. They still work perfectly. Why can't electronics be made anymore that last that long?
#17: Because manufacturers learned quickly that if products last, then you don't buy another one. They have to make products that fail -- think of the stockholders.
Why does this strike me as vaguely pornographic?
Oh god, the memories. My dad's company was the first Apple dealer in Columbus, OH and I seriously coveted having one for my very own. Never did get one, but I did get a Mac Classic a few years later.
I wish I had hung on to some of that early Apple swag (even then, it was hard to come by, but I had an original "rainbow apple" sticker on my bedroom mirror.).
Also...I had forgotten how long they made the IIc! My junior high's computer lab had one in 1981-82, I believe, and by 1988 I had gotten my Mac classic. Those things were warhorses in a lot of schools, though.
Our first computer was the Apple IIe, unless you count the Atari 2000, which stored data on cassette tapes in an external drive. The Apple IIc looks so high tech; it's hard to believe that it's 20 years old!
yup, yup, my first computer was a //c too!
This was my first computer as well--I always thought the IIc was one of the most elegantly designed computers, and very portable; the recessed handle was a great design touch, and the IIc was much more luggable than an IBM AT!
Regarding floppies, I remember many hours of swapping disks in and out to play Castle Wolfenstein;>
You guys are making me feel old. My first computer was an Apple ][. Not //+, not //e, not //c.
But if you added the AppleSoft ROM expansion card, it was pretty much like a //+.
The design scheme down to the simple font is incredible.
Anyone know why they did away with the rainbow apple?
Also, I just remembered my first computer was an Apple IIgs limited edition that was 'signed' by Steve Wozniak. It's in our basement and in perfect condition. I think we even have the old printer that went with it. I wonder what it would grab on eBay/Craiglist.
If this made you thirsty for your classic Apple computer, and you're a Mac user, you will likely lose your shit when you play with http://www.xs4all.nl/~gp/VirtualII/
Windows (or Parallels) users may also lose their shit with the online Apple ][ emulator: http://www.virtualapple.org/
Apple's Time Machine.
*fap fap fap*
This was the first computer I actually had in the home.
I point out that it looked futuristic enough to be used in 2010 (1984), the sequel to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.
Roy Scheider is using one on the beach in an early scene.
CKD @12: Yeah, but my cell phone is smarter than a IIc and cost a hell of a lot less.
Wil Wheaton FTW!
If the box was still closed... does that means the warranty is still valid?
I would try to get apple-care on this :)
SSWAAN @ 22: Bees are in the what? The Atari 2000 was a planned, cheaper version of the 2600 (nee VCS), with no cassette capability. I'm not even sure it was released.
Are you maybe talking about an Atari 400? The cassette deck (Atari 410) was a popular add-on for that (and the more-powerful Atari 800, as well).
Nelson.C (#31): But does Choplifter run on your cell phone? (I suppose there might be a port.)
My cell phone has a better CPU, more RAM, almost as much storage (only because I haven't upgraded the 512MB Memory Stick M2 that came with it), and better bandwidth to the Internet (without the expensive leased line, and usable nearly anywhere) than the machine running eff.org had when I started as a sysadmin for the EFF in 1991. It also makes phone calls.
Oh my head, Wil Wheaton. You just ensured that I won't leave my computer for the next week or so.
::swoons::
Yeah, thanks a lot, Wil. Now I'm out $19 and about the next month or so. At least when my wife isn't plying Lode Runner.
You'll need this PEEKs, POKEs, and CALLs List to go with that.
http://www.apple2.org.za/gswv/USA2WUG/FOUNDING.MEMBERS/HOME.PAGES/EDHEL/texts/pokes.html
Poke 82,128 Cassette program will automatically RUN when loaded
POKE 44505,234:POKE 44506,234 Reveals DELETEd files in your CATALOG
Poke 43364,255 Allows you to save a binary file 65535 bytes long
*sigh* I'm jealous