Given that people will collect anything (ceramic frogs, beermats, fingernails) it's not surprising that older Macs should attract they eye of the collector.
But just how collectable are these older Macs and if they are which ones should you be holding on to?
They answer to the first part is, at the moment, not very. With the exception of the Lisa (which wasn't really a Mac), the chances of getting any real cash for your Mac is pretty remote. But, jut say, you're cleaning out the back cupboard and you DO come across a hoard of old Macs, which ones are worth the time and effort to put on ebay?
As with most things collectable, the early examples are worth the most. In this case you'll be looking for an original Mac, the 128K from 1984. This mac came in the original iconic case which failed to house any kind of hard drive (floppy drive only). It's meagre spec doesn't stop it from being the most collectible Mac. Other Macs may share the same case, but it's the 128K that fetches the big bucks. Expect to get around a hundred pounds for yours.
After the original Mac everything else vintage is small beans, you can pick up Mac pluses for around £50 and classics for a bit less. All the other models are pocket change.
The original iMac exploded onto the scene in 1998 making it over ten years old now. It was an immediate hit and its design inspired a thousand copies and turned blue plastic into an industry. A bondi blue iMac makes a great piece of decoration, and since it can run OS X 10.3.9 you could even use it from time to time. You could get around £50 for yours on ebay.
There is one Mac however that had collectable written all over it from the day it came out, the 20th Anniversary Mac, or TAM. Created to celebrate er, 20 years of Mac . With only 12,000 units built, along with looks that echo the current iMac, the TAM can fetch as much as £800 on ebay.
So, you won't get rich collecting Macs but the flip side is that for little money you can build a collection of interesting personal computer milestones.
If I had the room my Mac collection would certainly contain the following:
original Mac 128K
Mac portable
iMac 233 Bondi Blue
G3 tower
20th Anniversary Mac
