An Apple®-1 Personal Computer, APPLE COMPUTER COMPANY, 1976

APPLE COMPUTER COMPANY, 1976
An Apple®-1 Personal Computer

An Apple®-1 motherboard, numbered 01-0025 on the reverse in black ink,
Apple Computer 1 Palo Alto Ca. Copyright 1976
etched on obverse, signed 'Woz' in black ink on breadboard area,
with four rows of components labeled A-D and columns 1-18, three large
filter capacitors, heatsink on +5V regulator, all ICs socketed, MOS
6502 processor marked MOS MCS 6502 1576 in white ceramic package,
cassette board connector, 8k DRAM memory, firmware in two 256 x 4 PROMs.
With: facsimile manual, print of schematics, signed photograph, aftermarket keyboard, and replica unit
15.5in. (39.4cm.) x 9in. (22.9cm.)

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Lot Essay

One of roughly 200 Apple®-1 computers produced by the fledgling Apple Computer Company starting in 1976. Designed by Steve Wozniak and hand-built in Steve Jobs's parents' garage, the Apple-1 was the first step in Apple's long-term success in the personal computing world.

The Apple-1, originally priced at $666.66 for the motherboard without keyboard, transformer, or video display, was quickly eclipsed by Wozniak's second creation, the Apple II (released April 1977); Apple actively encouraged Apple I owners to trade-in their machines for the new model, reportedly so they would not have to support the older machines.

This particular unit appears to have been among the first 25 produced since it does not have a diamond NTI logo (the PCB manufacturer) etched into the front copper layer. The 'serial number' on the reverse (believed to have been written by the original retailer, the Byte Shop) tends to support this.

The date code on the 6402 processor is '1576,' suggesting that particular chip was manufactured in the 15th week of 1976, i.e. early April.