July 30, 1979: Apple engineers begin work on the Lisa computer, the company’s first to come with a graphical user interface and mouse.
Incorporating technology Steve Jobs saw at Xerox PARC, the Lisa looks like a surefire hit for Apple. Things don’t turn out exactly like that, however.
A large white room filled with row upon row of just about every Apple computer you can imagine, all in pristine condition. On the walls are framed copies of Apple’s black-and-white “Think Different” ads. Sunlight streams through the large windows, giving everything a warm glow.
Is this heaven? The world’s greatest Apple Store? Nope, it’s Dubai, actually. Home to Jimmy Grewal, a collector of vintage Apple computers and one of the most impressive collections you’re likely to find anywhere.
A forthcoming documentary will tell the story of the Apple Lisa, quite possibly the most important “flop” in the company’s history.
Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa is planned for release in early 2020. With that date approaching, computer historian and director David Greelish shared some early scenes and the poster with Cult of Mac. Check them out below.
A new documentary called Before Macintosh: The Apple Lisa promises to tell the story of one of Apple’s most important flops.
Directed by computer historian (and Apple collector) David Greelish, the movie will feature interviews with key players in the machine’s development. It also will place the Lisa in its proper context — as one of the most influential computers of all time.
A vintage handwritten spec sheet in which Steve Jobs called the Apple-1 motherboard a “great deal” has failed to sell at auction.
The document, written in the mid-1970s, was up for auction as part of Bonham’s “History of Science and Technology, Including Space History” collection. Its asking price was $60,000. However, the bidding “only” reached up to $28,000, thereby failing to meet its reserve. A couple of historical Apple items did sell, but for less than expected.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is not a fan of the new iPhone X.
Woz criticized the iPhone X when it was unveiled last year. And now that he’s finally spent some quality time with one (thanks to Tim Cook), he says Apple made some really bad design decisions.
One of the first arguments that springs up in the many debates of Mac versus PC is cost. Traditionally, Apple computers come with premium price tags, which are almost always well-deserved. But there are a handful of Apple machines that were priced well above what you would normally expect to pay, even for Cupertino’s latest computer.
In today’s video, we take a look at the five most expensive Macs of all time — and tell you how much they would cost today with their price tags adjusted for inflation. You might think the new Retina 5K iMac is outrageously expensive, but compared to some of Apple’s older machines, it’s not that pricey.
Remember that original Apple Lisa computer you’ve got in the basement, boxed next to your old VHS player and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots toys? It may be time to dust it off and take it an auction house.
That’s based on the news that a Lisa 1 (a.k.a. Apple’s first computer to come with a graphical interface and a mouse) is expected to fetch $42,000 when it goes under the hammer in Germany late next month.
UPDATE: Cult of Mac has learned that the Apple 1 did sell after the auction closed. Read more here.
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Markets rise and markets fall – that’s true for stocks, real estate, tulips, etc. That’s also true with vintage computers – though even in a down market there’s still some money to be made.
At an auction in Germany held on Saturday November 16, a working Apple 1 – from the first batch of 50 units made – did not receive any bids. Nor did a restored Lisa 1, with dual Twiggy floppy disk drives. But a prototype Twiggy Mac, one of only two known working units, sold for €25,000 ($33,725), quite possibly the highest price ever paid for a vintage Macintosh.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak famously slammed the one-minute teaser for Ashton Kutcher’s Steve Jobs biopic and its script back in January, but that doesn’t mean he has a hatred for JOBS before he’s even seen it. In fact, Woz says he’s open to it as long as it’s entertaining and inspirational, and accurately portrays what really happened during the early days of Apple.
But he’s concerned the movie will depict Steve Jobs as a saint who was immune to failure.
