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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

Cray-1 (Cray Research, 1976). Estimated units sold: about 80; original price: $5 million and above; current market value: tens of thousands of dollars

If you happen to own a Cray-1, we'd be very, very surprised. It's just as well, though--storing this 5-ton behemoth in your attic could be downright dangerous. Seymour Cray's legendary supercomputer wasn't a PC by any definition, but it's too important to leave off this list of collectible computers. The turbocharged monster ran at a then-blindingly fast 80 MHz, providing awesome computing power for customers such as the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. "The Cray-1 was the fastest computer in the world in the mid-to-late 70s in terms of massive vector calculations--tt was at least double or more the speed of its predecessors," says Digibarn's Bruce Damer, who calls it "the gold standard of computer designs." Examples don't reach the open market, so it's hard to estimate their worth, but the Digibarn collection includes one, along with lots of good stuff about Mr. Cray and his machines. (Photo courtesy of Digibarn Computer Museum.)
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