PC World magazine has come out with a list of the Most Collectible PCs — 18 of the world’s coolest, oldest computers that an average person might hope to own. I’ve actually owned a number of them (although some, as they admit in the article, are mostly unownable), so here’s my take on their list:

1. Altair 8800 — while not the rarest of the pre-GUI computers, it’s not something you’ll run across at a rummage sale. Believe me, I’ve been looking. I haven’t had the pleasure of owning one (they are on the rare side), but of the early computers on the list this is the one that a computer collector might actually have a chance of owning someday. Many were made, but they’ve been considered desirable for quite a while, and few are on the market. Oh, wait — there’s a full system right now, with terminal, drives, and the whole shebang, on eBay…starting price, $3,000, BIN $6,000.
2. Xerox Alto – Their note that these machines were never on the market should discourage the general collector. These are museum pieces more than they are collector’s items, as the earliest example of the mouse-driver, graphic user interface we know today. Xerox couldn’t make them cheap or interesting enough to customers, but both Apple and Microsoft took the ideas and made their own buggier, cost-effective versions. If you have one of these in your collection, you’re a very, very lucky person.
3. Apple I — While these were on the market for a short time, you’re unlikely to find them. Coveted by only collectors with the deepest pockets, these are the earliest computer from the company that really revolutionized home computing.
4. Apple II — if you’re at least twenty-five, you probably are familiar both with this computer and the phrase: “Broke an axle. Lose one day.” As a staple of both computer labs and home desktops for the late 70s and early 80s, these abound in the market, but the supply is shrinking as they go bad and are cannibalized for their surviving brethren. I’ve owned many, many of these, mostly reselling them on eBay. The last one I had, I played Oregon Trail for, like, three hours until I had to go pretend I was a grownup again. I’ve got one in the basement right now.
5. Commodore 64 — like the Apple][, these were common at rummage sales until the early 2000s, but are becoming less available as they’ve made it into collector’s hands or are ending up in the trash. At the time these were out, my friends could have been divided up into Apple, Commodore, PC, or Miscellaneous. I, sadly, was in the “Miscellaneous” category with my TRS-80 III. While I haven’t owned the early version of the Commodore in PC World’s article, I’ve had the later ones that look more like the Apples of the time. If you’re starting a computer collection, this is a good one to get: it’s ubiquitous, it’s common — but not too common — and they turn up on eBay on a regular basis. Another plus: easy storage.
6. Cray-1 Supercomputer — come on, now, they just wanted a reason to use their favorite file-photo of this monster of the computer world. The article doesn’t even cover up the fact that it doesn’t expect a collector to ever own one.
7. The IBM PC — IF you find one of these in good condition, you’re a lucky one. Apples seemed to be cared for better than the IBM PC, its direct competition at the time, but the PC, with its mostly-metal case and business market, don’t seem to fare well. I’ve never encountered them, although I’ve met many of its descendents, because they were mostly run into the ground, and I’m sure businesses took them to the dump by the pallet when the upgrades were done. There’s a nice example on eBay right now, with a top bid of $61 (although shipping should keep the bidding relatively low).
8. Imsai 8080 — like the Altair in many ways, this is an early, recognizable computer (it was even in Wargames), and appears (in a cursory search of eBay) to either be more common or less desirable. While the Altair is the crowning jewel, the Imsai shouldn’t be overlooked for a computer collection — it’s not the kind of machine that’ll be around for very long.
9. Kenback 1 — Like the Cray, one of those holy grails that even collectors with the deepest pockets can’t hope to ever own. 14, according to the article, are known to exist, leaving 26. Got one in your attic? You might get that new car after all.
10. Kim-1 — unlike the Kenback or the Apple, this early example of the buy-the-board computer project sold well, and while no doubt many tinkerers zapped them to high heaven and tossed them in the trash, they’re still around. One’s on eBay today, top bid $510.
11. Apple Lisa — Often talked about, traded somewhat regularly (one, as you might guess, is on eBay right now, but it’s a Mk.2), and always kicked around as a product failure, the Lisa, like the Altair, is a computer that a collector should be able to get their hands on, to separate their collection from the amateurs. If the checkbook is thick enough, of course.
12. Mark-8 — teetering on the fine line between Holy Grail and accessible, these computers number only in the low hundreds today, and demand a pretty penny. While looking a little underpowered compared to its thunder-stealer the Altair, we all know that rarity drives price and desire more than commonness.
13. Micral N — It seems that PC World’s writer really liked the early minicomputers, what with their lack of mouses and talking paperclips. Another in the Altair ilk, this one hailed from Europe, and is less likely to turn up at a North Dakota rummage sale.
14. PDP-8 — while the writer tries to call this a “PC”, the PDP line of computers were anything but. DEC’s PDP line of computers were for business and research use more than anything a home user would ever use. As they say in the article, the PDPs remained a common business machine until the 1990s, around the time PCs were really taking hold and the ’server’ concept of computer operation overtook the mainframe. If you can’t find a PDP-8, I’d recommend any of them — the PDP-11 and it’s successors, the VAX series, are on the quirky edge of computer history, are all relatively rare (but not too rare), and the later of them are still relatively usable (especially the VAX, which was a common server in the early internet times). If you do happen to acquire one, though, bring a forklift.
15. Commodore PET — A good one for starting a collection, these aren’t overly rare, don’t cost an arm and a leg, and are a easily recognizable artifact of early home computing. There’s one on eBay right now, and several have closed in the last 90 days, so you might get your hands on one without too much trouble.
16. Scelbi-8H — and we thought the single-board computers were done! Since this is the last of these, you should look back and memorize the common characteristics of these machines: lights and switches on the front, a few interfaces on the back, well-worn case screws from where the experimenter had to open the case over and over. What you should take away from this list isn’t any particular model or maker of these ancient home computers — all of them are valuable to some extent.
17. TRS-80 I — I picked one of these up at a rummage sale a few years ago, and I considered keeping it for a little while. The guy who bought it was a software developer, who learned how to program on one of these when he was a kid — I was happy to sell it to him. The Model I wasn’t the powerhouse of the TRS-80 line; that was the III (my first computer, which I still have), thus making the Model I a rarer and more desirable computer. As far as the origins of the modern PC goes, I’d call the I the first reall home computer by today’s standards: a mix of business and games, separate keyboard and monitor, lots of expansion ability. The III was a common computer in colleges prior to the Apple II’s presence; there was still one hooked up to the NDSU online card catalog well into the 1990s.
18. TRS-80 100 — I owned one of these as well. In around 1999, I picked one up at a thrift shop, and dialed in to an internet-connected shell account without any problem. The first real ‘laptop’ computer, the 100 ran on AAs, had an adequate screen, and they keyboard was a useful size. In fact, it was more powerful and useful than my last celphone, although a little bigger. These are quite common, and can be bought for a reasonable price. As with all battery-operated items, make sure there’s no battery corrosion before getting it.

Of course, like any average blogger, I have my opinions on what was left off of the list. As I’ve noted, I think they went too far with the early kit-computers; if there are rarer ones than the Altair, then leave the Altair off the list like they did with other minis and home computers. If I were creating a list of ‘most collectible,’ meaning desirable to a collector of computers, I’d like to add to their list:

1. The original Macintosh. How could you have a computer collection without an original Mac? The key here is original — the one-piece design lasted in Macs throughout the 1980s, so while the computers looked a lot alike, there’s only one 1984 Macintosh.
2. The Texas Instruments TI-99 — Another of the early home PCs, like the TRS-80s, AppleIIs, and Commodores, Texas Instrument’s entry into the home computing market was a moderate success and many kids’ first experience with computers. They dropped out of the running too early, but left behind this compact little cartridge-based computer.
3. The Tandy CoCo — leave off the 100, and put in the CoCo. Tandy had a bad reputation for their computers being too toy-like, but they were excellent at bridging the gap to turn videogame users into computer users. The CoCo, short for “Color Computer” was one of the early steps from the green-text-on-a-screen to the full-color computing we know today. Working CoCos aren’t as common as you might think (they were owned by the ‘oops, spilled Mountain Dew on it” crowd), but they should be in any good computer collection.
4. The Compaq Portable — This beast crossed a bunch of lines: it was a portable (but not laptop) computer that resembled (in both size and weight) a portable sewing machine. It was also the first IBM clone, which leads to the fact that everyone has a IBM-compatible clone, but rarely bought them from IBM. And, lastly, it was more impressive for its accomplishments than its usefulness — I have one, and I can’t imagine actually bringing it anyplace. As a portable goes, it was far from portable; as a computer goes, it wasn’t as powerful as its peers, and its tiny screen was a hindrance. Still, they represent a huge step in how computing moved forward, and deserves a collector’s attention.

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