Huge Collection of Apple Computers Up for Sale as Longtime Austrian Repairman Goes Out of Business

Roland Borsky, an Apple computer repairman in Vienna, Austria, has amassed a private collection of 1,100 Apple computers that he's picked up over the years.

At 1,100 machines, his collection dwarfs the collection of computers at the Apple Museum in Prague, which claims to have the world's biggest private collection of Apple products. "Just as others collect cars and live in a little box to afford them, so it is with me," he said.

There's little detail on the full extent of his collection, but according to Reuters, Borsky is searching for a buyer as he can no longer afford the rent on the warehouse where the computers are held.

Borsky told Reuters that his business has dried up after Apple opened its first store in Vienna in February, taking over repairs that used to be done by repair firms like his. Parts have also become harder to replace on Apple devices.

Borsky is hoping to find a benefactor who will pay 20,000 to 30,000 euros ($23,000 to $35,000) for his collection and who will put it on display. "I would be pleased if it is simply put on display anywhere... so people can see it," Borsky told Reuters.

Some of his computers are on display in temporary exhibits in Vienna, but he wants to find a permanent home for the equipment.

If he's unable to find a buyer, Borsky fears that his collection could be discarded. "It'll be shredded. That is what bothers me the most because I can't currently rent a storage space that I can afford," he said.

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bladerunner2000

14 weeks ago

If that's a repair shop and all of those were taken into his shop for repair- but were deemed unrepairable and left there- doesn't that make everything in his shop "junk"?
Who on earth wants to see 1000 broken ancient Macs piled on a wall?
All it is is a testament to non repairable "planned obsolescence".
To the junkyard it should all go. It's depressing looking at all that junk.

You're going to see WAY MORE thanks to Apple soldering everything together and disrespecting the right to repair. Apple must be so proud.

Rating: 10 Votes

now i see it

14 weeks ago

If that's a repair shop and all of those were taken into his shop for repair- but were deemed unrepairable and left there- doesn't that make everything in his shop "junk"?
Who on earth wants to see 1000 broken ancient Macs piled on a wall? And if they're all not broken- they might as well be because they're useless now.

All it is is a testament to non-repairable "planned obsolescence".
To the junkyard it should all go. It's depressing looking at all that junk..especially all those freaking iMacs. Get it out if my sight.

Rating: 5 Votes

skitidetdu

14 weeks ago

Got me thinking of my old graphite G4 and the se trough apple studio display in the attic. Not to mention my Performa 5200 from 1993 :D

Rating: 2 Votes

fhall1

14 weeks ago

If that's the best picture of his "collection" he could come up with - he has a lot of old Apple junk (but not old enough).

Rating: 2 Votes

tromboneaholic

14 weeks ago

1,100 computers, but how many work?

Rating: 2 Votes

Emanuel Rodriguez

14 weeks ago

If that's the best picture of his "collection" he could come up with - he has a lot of old Apple junk (but not old enough).

Don't know about that. Take a closer look:

Rating: 2 Votes

rafark

14 weeks ago

That's definitely not junk, not in the right hands at least. He could assemble the post 2008 macs with working parts, sell each for $100-400, and sell the remaining components individually. You'd be surprised how many people shop for individual components, like the imac ram cover, for example. he has thousands of components from hundreds of macs he can sell online.

Rating: 2 Votes

Schnegg

14 weeks ago

Kinda sad he has to close up. Those repair shops had a lot of knowledgable people.

Rating: 2 Votes

nwcs

14 weeks ago

If it can’t be resold, perhaps recyclers would give him some money. There are some precious metals there. Heck, Apple might consider it a source of spare parts for cheap.

Yep, people have hobbies that dominate their finances. There always comes a time to just let it go. Before coming to this point he could have sold it all through eBay or similar. I doubt someone would buy the whole batch just to display it.

Rating: 2 Votes

Emanuel Rodriguez

14 weeks ago

So a few pearls in a sea of garbage. If he went through and saved those and junked everything else he could probably afford the smaller storage space required,

Here is an article in German with many photos and a video

https://wien.orf.at/news/stories/2937683/

Wow. Why on earth is the photo that MacRumors is using, not the one with rows and rows of early-generation Macs? That may be actually worth something.

check it out: