what's the going rate for an Apple IIc these days?

[Link6415]

I'll be going to a local classic computer/console gaming convention soon, and I want to see about getting an Apple IIc. What's an average price (from a seller who knows what they have) for one? And what's the average price for the drives?

 

I know C64 and Atari are usually about $80-$100 and around $25 for drives. What about an Apple IIc?

[iKarith]

I've seen Apple //c go from free to a good home to $300+ on eBait.

 

Auctions often close a little under $150 for a basic //c in reasonable condition, plus shipping. Subtract whatever eBay fees likely are and you have a fair idea of what people are willing to pay. The //e tends to go for less than that unless it's pretty decently tricked out.

 

I'm talking the items that sell, not the buy it how prices few people will pay.

[Tbullet]

Yea, I'd have to agree. They're not cheap anymore, and I got mine back in 1998 for $50 including the monitor and stand. Make sure you run the self test on the system. To start the test both the closed and the open Apple keys must be pressed during boot. It is also possible to press the closed apple while pressing the CONTROL-OPEN APPLE-RESET keys to start the test at any time.

you want a response of SYSTEM OK once it's finished.

Check that the case and keys aren't badly yellowed. this will effect cost price since it's possible to rewhiten the case and keys, but it's a pain in the butt. Make sure you get the proper power supply forit as well. I've seen them sold with the wrong power supply or the "brick" transformer is missing.

Good luck.

[Link6415]

Are the older models about the same? ($150?)

[iKarith]

Yes, mainly because there's not really a major difference. A //c is a //c. The original model (you probably won't get one of those) had a flaw in the serial port that would likely get repaired, making it functionally equivalent to a slightly newer ROM 255. A minor mod to the board (which is already "there", you just need to enable it) will let you swap the ROM out for a ROM 0 to get SmartPort. The later ROM 3 has some known bugs, but can be updated to ROM 4 pretty easily as well. The later versions have a RAM expansion connector, which is good for AppleWorks mostly if you have the board, but if you don't, it's possible to get a board that sockets in under the CPU anyway and does the same thing.

 

One //c is basically the same as any other, more or less.

 

The //c+ has the advantage of a built-in Zip chip and IIgs/Mac style serial ports (they're still 6551-based, however, so no fancy AppleTalk). It's got an 800k drive, but again for the average things an 8 bit Apple gets used for, a 140k would've been better anyway.

 

Nonetheless the //c+ is regarded by eBait to be mo bettah so it often lists for about $400 more, mostly thanks to good ol' Dr. Ken's listings at that price, causing people to assume that's what the going rate is. A few sell for that price. More than a few probably won't on account of ... why would you pay that for a //c that isn't that great of a //c and was mostly made and sold as an Appleworks machine for PROFESSIONALS who haven't moved on to the Mac or PC yet but who are totally not into playing games, for which the //c+ is kinda not well suited as sold? ***RARE*** L@@K !!!!STEVE JOBS!!!! Except Steve wasn't there when it was designed, would've called the person who designed it a bozo, and wanted the Apple // to die long before the thing was ever conceived.

 

The //c+ is somewhat less common because although it's the "fastest Apple //", there wasn't a whole lot of market for the thing when it was introduced.

 

What the RAM connector on the ROM 3, 4, and //c+ is useful for is development of new //c hardware prototypes. I plan to put an Echo in one, and I've got thoughts about the future and network connectivity.

[Omega-TI]

I had a guy offer me a whole room full of Apple II stuff for free back around 1998... if I would just haul it all away for him. I passed. If I had only knew then what I know now about that thing called, "The Retro/Nostalgia Classic Computer Hobby"! Who could have foreseen that so much 'out-of-date garbage' would be a gold mine just 18 years later? Of course I would never have wanted to store all that stuff for nearly two decades either.

[Link6415]

Yes, mainly because there's not really a major difference. A //c is a //c. The original model (you probably won't get one of those) had a flaw in the serial port that would likely get repaired, making it functionally equivalent to a slightly newer ROM 255. A minor mod to the board (which is already "there", you just need to enable it) will let you swap the ROM out for a ROM 0 to get SmartPort. The later ROM 3 has some known bugs, but can be updated to ROM 4 pretty easily as well. The later versions have a RAM expansion connector, which is good for AppleWorks mostly if you have the board, but if you don't, it's possible to get a board that sockets in under the CPU anyway and does the same thing.

 

One //c is basically the same as any other, more or less.

 

The //c+ has the advantage of a built-in Zip chip and IIgs/Mac style serial ports (they're still 6551-based, however, so no fancy AppleTalk). It's got an 800k drive, but again for the average things an 8 bit Apple gets used for, a 140k would've been better anyway.

 

Nonetheless the //c+ is regarded by eBait to be mo bettah so it often lists for about $400 more, mostly thanks to good ol' Dr. Ken's listings at that price, causing people to assume that's what the going rate is. A few sell for that price. More than a few probably won't on account of ... why would you pay that for a //c that isn't that great of a //c and was mostly made and sold as an Appleworks machine for PROFESSIONALS who haven't moved on to the Mac or PC yet but who are totally not into playing games, for which the //c+ is kinda not well suited as sold? ***RARE*** L@@K !!!!STEVE JOBS!!!! Except Steve wasn't there when it was designed, would've called the person who designed it a bozo, and wanted the Apple // to die long before the thing was ever conceived.

 

The //c+ is somewhat less common because although it's the "fastest Apple //", there wasn't a whole lot of market for the thing when it was introduced.

 

What the RAM connector on the ROM 3, 4, and //c+ is useful for is development of new //c hardware prototypes. I plan to put an Echo in one, and I've got thoughts about the future and network connectivity.

I mean older Apple II models, not just IIc models.

[Osgeld]

I gotta figure out whats wrong with my joystick port (bad cap or bad 558 timer chip, I have both, just havent bothered yet lol) then my rom 255 with the serial port issue is going up for sale, and im kind of torn ... do I toss it up on epay and make some extra money or do I sell it on a forum for what I feel is a fair price, to someone who really wants it.

 

for anyone who is interested the original rom 255 versions does not have smartport so no 3.5 inch drives or magic hard drives you probally wont get anyway as the best options even today are a little on the pricey side, when they are available.

 

As far as the serial port the only real defect is that the hardware handshake lines are borked, so if you hooked it up with a x-over cable to another computer about the best you can do without errors is 300 baud, or if you add a delay to the end of byte transmission you can get 9600 working quite well. Though its a fairly moot point as you can grab the asm code out of ADT pro or AGS, drop it in to ram and badda bing you got 115,200BPS with software handshaking.

 

So for the most part where it counts its either a non issue or a simple workaround, 99.999% of what my serial port does is transfer disk images via ADT pro, and or use the virtual serial drive from ADT pro which autoloads the driver anyway