Rare Macintosh prototype goes up for auction at an estimated price of R $ 650,000

Notice something “wrong” in the Macintosh above? Well look again: this beauty is being auctioned right now on the website of the British agency Bonhams, and has an estimated value between £ 94,000 and £ 140,000 (or R $ 650 thousand, in average).

Why is the value so high, you are wondering? Well, take a look at floppy drive on the machine: here we have space for a 5¼ inch floppy disk, known as “Twiggy”. As is well known, the final version of the Macintosh changed this drive to accommodate a “common” 3½-inch floppy disk – the one that became the industry standard until it was replaced by CDs and pendrives.

The prototype being auctioned is just one of two currently in the world; all other models were destroyed or lost in time – in fact, Steve Jobs in person had most of them destroyed, since the legendary co-founder of Apple left the decision to exchange the 5¼ ”drive for the 3½” drive.

Anyone who knows details about the history of the Apple will certainly remember that the floppy drive “Twiggy” was the one that equipped the Apple Lisa during the (short) life of the machine. The format, however, never fell in the popular taste for problems of reliability and durability (which motivated Jobs’ decision to abandon the format in the Macintosh project).

The extremely rare Macintosh is owned by the CEO of Encore Systems since its construction in the early 1980s, and was used in the company for the development of MacWrite (the revolutionary word processor that, along with MacPaint, made the Mac a relative success). That is, in addition to the curiosity of the different drive, here we have a machine inlaid with history by itself.

It is worth noting that the package also includes the original Macintosh keyboard and mouse, as well as some program diskettes. The computer is in perfect condition, but slightly yellow – which may or may not be a bargain if you are interested.

Floppy auction

Did you think this was the only news of the day related to Apple, auctions and old physical media? They found it wrong: RR Auction is already accepting bids for a floppy disk autographed by Steve Jobs in person – with an estimated value of around US $ 7,500 (approximately R $ 32 thousand).

The media in question brings a copy of version 6.0 of Macintosh System Tools, package of utilities and software for Mac OS Classic. Look at the description of the item – and enjoy the fact that never, in history, another floppy disk will deserve the honor of having such elaborate words directed at it:

Macintosh System Tools version 6.0 diskette, signed in black permanent marker, “steve jobs”. In good condition, with small scratches in the paint. A highly desired format for Jobs ‘little-seen signature – known as a “reluctant autograph,” he often refused collectors’ orders. As part of the iconic original Mac software, and with Jobs’ elegant lowercase signature, this is a museum-quality piece of computing history.

Who’s going?

via Cult of Mac, 9to5Mac