Rare Fully Functional Apple-1 Computer Fetches Over $450,000 at Auction

A rare fully functional Apple-1 computer has sold for $458,711 at auction this week, according to Boston-based RR Auction.

RR Auction says the computer was acquired by Michigan computer store SoftWarehouse in the 1980s as part of a trade for a newer IBM machine. It was subsequently displayed in the store in a custom-made museum style case, before being placed into storage. The computer was restored to its original, operational state in June 2019 by "Apple-1 expert" Corey Cohen, who evaluated the current condition of the unit as 8/10.

apple 1 auction 2020
"The Apple-1 is not only a marvel of early computing ingenuity but the product that launched what is today one of the most valuable and successful companies in the world," said Bobby Livingston, Executive VP at RR Auction, adding that early Apple products continue to attract interest from passionate fans of the company worldwide.

The computer was sold with all components and accessories required for operation and proved to be fully functional for around eight hours in a comprehensive test.

apple 1 auction 2020 2
It is believed that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak built 200 of the Apple-1 computers and sold 175 of them, making it a rare collector's item. The computer was originally conceived as a bare circuit board to be sold as a kit and completed by electronics hobbyists, but Steve Jobs later sold 50 fully assembled units of the computer to The Byte Shop in California.

Another fully functional Apple-1 computer sold for $905,000 back in 2014.

Tag: Apple-1

Popular Stories

iphone 16 pro ghost hand

5 Reasons to Skip This Year's iPhone 17 Pro

Thursday July 10, 2025 4:54 am PDT by
Apple will launch its new iPhone 17 series in two months, and the iPhone 17 Pro models are expected to get a new design for the rear casing and the camera area. But more significant changes to the lineup are not expected until next year, when the iPhone 18 models arrive. If you're thinking of trading in your iPhone for this year's latest, consider the following features rumored to be coming...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Expected Later This Year With These New Features

Saturday July 12, 2025 3:09 pm PDT by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the next Apple TV, according to rumors. Rumors Faster Wi-Fi Support The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 16 New Features

Friday July 11, 2025 12:40 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are only two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:A redesigned Dynamic Island: It has been rumored that all iPhone 17 models will have a redesigned Dynamic Island interface — it might ...
macbook pro blue green

M5 MacBook Pro No Longer Coming in 2025

Thursday July 10, 2025 12:38 pm PDT by
Apple does not plan to refresh any Macs with updated M5 chips in 2025, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models are now planned for the first half of 2026. Gurman previously said that Apple would debut the M5 MacBook Pro models in late 2025, but his newest report suggests that Apple is "considering" pushing them back to 2026. Apple is now said to be...
iphone 16 pro pro max

iPhone 17 Pro Models With BOE Displays Will Be Sold in China Only

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:59 pm PDT by
iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models with displays made by BOE will be sold exclusively in China, according to a new report. Last week, it emerged that Chinese display manufacturer BOE was aggressively ramping up its OLED production capacity for future iPhone models as part of a plan to recapture a major role in Apple's supply chain. Now, tech news aggregator Jukan Choi reports...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3: What to Expect

Sunday July 13, 2025 10:30 am PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 is nearly over, and a handful of new features and changes have been rumored for the device. Below, we recap what to expect from the Apple Watch Ultra 3:Satellite connectivity for sending and receiving text messages when Wi-Fi and cellular coverage is unavailable 5G support, up from LTE on the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Likely a wide-angle OLED display that ...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Will Expand to These 8 U.S. States

Tuesday July 8, 2025 11:26 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states, Puerto Rico,...
iPhone 17 Air Colors Thumb 2

iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air Rumored to Come in These 9 Colors

Friday July 11, 2025 12:30 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air will be available in a total of nine color options, according to new information coming out of Asia. The iPhone 17 Air's expected color options. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean blog Naver, accessory manufacturers are now producing camera protector rings for the iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Air in colors to match their...

Top Rated Comments

jlocker Avatar
70 months ago
I remember this machine quite well, I know the owners of the software house. And I was the first local computer store. I was the first Apple level II repair technician in the town, was trained in Chicago for repair of the II, III Lisa and printers in 1982 :)

Ahh the memories, I think i threw out two apple I logic boards that I could not get to work and sold them a Apple IIe replacement.

I am still a IT person working in my home town where I fixed all those computers over the years. Just today I put in more memory in a Apple iMac system. Wow were did those 40 some years go :)

Here i am in 1982 just about the time Software house opened for business.



Attachment Image
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Juicy Box Avatar
70 months ago
This is pretty cool.

I have a collection of older Macs, but I doubt I will ever have one of these.


RR Auction says the computer was acquired by Michigan computer store SoftWarehouse in the 1980s as part of a trade for a newer IBM machine. It was subsequently displayed in the store in a custom-made museum style case, before being placed into storage. The computer was restored to its original, operational state in June 2019 by "Apple-1 expert" Corey Cohen, who evaluated the current condition of the unit as 8/10.
I wonder if one day, maybe 40 years from now, there will be auctions for MBPs with fully-functional butterfly keyboard.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rpmurray Avatar
70 months ago

Very nice find, but that would buy a lot of Coronavirus test kits.
I see you still have the computer you wrote this comment with. Why don't you sell it to buy some Coronavirus test kits.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
70 months ago

No expansion slots, soldered on RAM. Hold on though... no dongles.

Suddenly interested in knowing more about how this operated...
It'll make you wish for dongles - hooking up anything external involves soldering and other hardware hackery and writing your own driver software. The follow-on Apple ][ at least had slots (beyond the cassette I/O and NTSC video out) - but you needed a circuit board (read 3" by 6" dongle covered in exposed electronic parts) to connect to anything.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
project_2501 Avatar
70 months ago
that keyboard is better than the butterfly keyboard
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D.T. Avatar
70 months ago

(1) can it play Doom?
Yes! Well, it plays the precursor to Doom called Asterisk Demons


>*<

_^_


Above you can see the player has the BFG, and is ready to shoot a cacodemon - exciting!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)