The Most Collectible PCs of All Time
Is that computer in your attic a treasure...or trash? Here's the scoop on 19 historic digital antiques, worth from $10 to $10,000 and beyond.
Harry McCracken
Altair 8800 (MITS, 1975). Estimated units sold: tens of thousands; original price: $621 (assembled); current market value: $2000+
Cover-featured in a famous issue of Popular Electronics magazine as a do-it-yourself project, the Intel 8080-based Altair wasn't the first microcomputer, but it was the first one that truly caught on, spawning an entire industry of clones, add-on developers, and software suppliers. (You may have heard of the system's first software developer--a little company that originally spelled its name Micro-Soft.) The Altair also gave birth, in an indirect fashion, to PC World: Our founder, David Bunnell, got his start in the tech publishing world as the guy in charge of the machine's documentation. Altairs sold well enough that they're not among the top tier of valuable antique PCs--but if you happen to own one, you can certainly find someone willing to pay you handsomely to take it off your hands. (Photo courtesy of Vintage-Computer.com.)Laptop Showcase
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