Funny thing about tech. Unlike some other consumer passions like cars or guitars, they don’t really become any more expensive as the years go by. Case in point: a lot of car lovers would appreciate a vintage ’55 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing more than a new 2010 SL65, and any guitar collector would be willing to pay top dollar for a classic 50’s-era Gibson Les Paul if he got a chance. But the average tech geek would probably not be willing to trade an iPhone 4 for, say, a 1996 Motorola StarTAC (although the StarTAC’s apparently gaining status as a collector’s item, according to RetroBrick). But this bulky wooden monstrosity? It’s about to break that trend. This is an original Apple-1 computer—only one out of 200 ever built by Jobs and Wozniak and sold from out of Steve Jobs’ parents’ garage from back in ‘76—and it’s about to go on sale for 150,000 euros (around US$200K).
This is one of the first computers that Apple ever built, and it’s packed with less smarts than some of today’s digital watches, to the tune of 8K of RAM. Originally sold for $666.66, it doesn’t come with a monitor (it was built to be plugged into a TV set), but this computer will come with all the original pieces such as the manual and box, plus a letter from Steve Jobs.
We’re not sure what the letter says—it might be an apology for selling you an old computer that Apple won’t support anymore—but if you’re interested in owning a piece of tech history, it’s going to be auctioned off at Christie’s in London on November 23rd. [via 9to5Mac]
