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Your best and worst vintage computer investments?

and doesn't it also need the SAMs memory card? I forget.

Anyway back on topic. Yes prices are crazy. There was an Ebay seller asking $300 for a dirty, untested TRS-80 Model III. I asked him if he could just see if it powers up at least. He said he has no way of testing it. You just plug it in buddy! I offered him $50 as its likely dead. He refused and said he has sold them for $300. I moved on. Funny I then checked his rating and there was a comment from a buyer of a previous one complaining that the model 3 he got was dead and smelled of cigarette smoke. I dodged a bullet there. That would easily have been a 'worst'.
 
Best acquisition (I'm not going to call it an investment) was the Olivetti M24 I finally found USA stateside after a 30-year search. Immaculate condition, both operationally and cosmetically, in original shipping boxes and inserts (which is the only way I would trust it to get to me unhamed).

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As for the worst? I think I paid $50 for a Tandy 1000 TX "still in the box" only to find that it was placed back in the box after rusting on the bottom of a basement floor for 2 decades. Well, at least I have something to test rust dissolving products on.

Wow, that is one good looking machine in excellent condition. I've never seen one of those before (I'm not sure if they were ever released here in Australia).

Were you lucky to also score all the literature and boot disks?
 
Were you lucky to also score all the literature and boot disks?

I would say "some" of the literature and disks. I've since collected copies of it all, but I did get the BASIC manual which had some great info in it (like how to interface with assembler), so I scanned it and put it online.

The disks initially threw me for a loop; they were quad density. I knew that the drives in the AT&T 6300 I grew up were quad, but they came from the factory set to double density so as to be more IBM compatible. The M24 disks were all Quad, so they all stored 720K on a low-density 5.25" disk, but I couldn't read them in a normal DSDD drive of course. Once I figured this out, I imaged the disks I didn't already have on the M24 itself.

Everything I've collected on the M24 is here: http://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/drivers/Olivetti/M24/
 
I definitely don't consider computers investments. If you bought a Lisa 2 back in 1984, even with recent prices, adjusted for inflation you're still way under water. You can do a bit of speculation though and make a few bucks if you know the market. My Lisa I bought for $1100 would probably go for $3000 now. But any change in the economy or interest could take that back down again. I bought some unbuilt Mark-8 boards a while back - I feel like those would go for some bucks now. But other stuff I've found generally has declined in value as more of it comes out of attics and basements.

In fact, with just a few exceptions, every single vintage computer I've ever owned and later sold has been at a net loss. Only exceptions were a couple of Atari Falcons I got for cheap.

I expect things will get worse down the road as we pass on and there are fewer people with an abiding interest in this stuff.
 
At the beginning of the 1980's used vintage Ferrari's were not that expensive for collectors. By the end of the 80's prices had gone up more than 20x and the only people buying them were dealers who flipped them to other dealers. Of course that bubble popped hard and it took ages for the cars to command decent prices again.

Not saying old computers are anywhere near that yet, but if you do see dealers only selling to other dealers and not collectors look out.
 
I would say "some" of the literature and disks. I've since collected copies of it all, but I did get the BASIC manual which had some great info in it (like how to interface with assembler), so I scanned it and put it online.

The disks initially threw me for a loop; they were quad density. I knew that the drives in the AT&T 6300 I grew up were quad, but they came from the factory set to double density so as to be more IBM compatible. The M24 disks were all Quad, so they all stored 720K on a low-density 5.25" disk, but I couldn't read them in a normal DSDD drive of course. Once I figured this out, I imaged the disks I didn't already have on the M24 itself.

Everything I've collected on the M24 is here: http://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/drivers/Olivetti/M24/

I just spotted the M24 in a catalogue, so they did indeed release it here in Australia:
 

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I wouldn't label anything I've collected over the last 30 years as a best/worst investment. Picked up what I have more for personal gratification than anything else. I do have favorites and those are IBM PS/2's from 1987-1992 and old Macs from the 1990's through 2013. With the Macs, it's amazing the value you can get out of these old systems. Not so much with the IBM PS/2's, those are more for strolling down memory lane.
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I never bought a vintage computer. All my vintage computers where bought new.
 
I don't like to think of any of my hobbies as an "investment", but I'd say my worst purchase was a Macintosh SE/30, bought for $75 with the knowledge that it didn't boot... when I opened it up, the battery had clearly exploded years before and made such a terrible mess that several small components just lifted right off the board when I started cleaning it.

On the other hand, I did get a functional keyboard and mouse out of it, and the case is still in fine shape, so not a terrible buy. Maybe this Otrona Attache with busted power supply was a worse buy, actually... (recapping the power supply has not proven successful)

Most of the coolest stuff I've found has been given to me, or passed along for a very low price. That's the sort of attitude I think is best for the hobby, but it's vulnerable to manipulation (give a system to an "enthusiast", see it flipped on ebay a week later...)
 
There is a trade off when you collect worthless things, you get stuff for free (mostly local stuff) or super cheap but have few people to talk about the hobby to.
Once there is some value in the items because others collect them you tend to have to pay for them, but you also get a few forums full of fellow collectors to swap with and help fix stuff plus you can find items from all over.
 
Hobbies are never "investments"; restoring a classic car for example ALWAYS results in a loss if done properly. "COLLECTIONS" however can command serious money.

None of my other hobbies have any profit to speak of.
 
I might be unusual in that the majority of computers I own now are ones that I owned when they were new. Not just examples of the same type, but the actual original machines I bought then, still in my possession and still working. I just generally don't sell or throw away my stuff. The one notable exception was my 1MB Amiga A500 which I sold to someone who was desperate for one when it was still a contemporary machine. I just wasn't using it very much and I liked the Atari ST, which I still have, much better as a programmer's machine.

It could be said that my worst computer is also my best one, my original 1978 issue II Science of Cambridge MK14. A microprocessor trainer, essentially the Arduino of its day, it can hardly be considered to be a computer at all, never mind a 'bad' computer, but I Ioved it then and I still have it now, along with my ZX81, ZX Spectrum 48K, and ZX Spectrum+2.

I do also have two BBC Model Bs and these are machines which come under the other heading of 'something I wanted, but couldn't afford at the time'. I bought them for about 5 GBP each with external floppy drives (which didn't come with them as standard, and cost hundreds of GBP originally) when their price had hit absolute rock bottom, before they started to be considered 'retro' and the price started climbing again.

All of these items might have some appreciable value - MK14s with an original manual, original keypad (often missing, as it is on mine), cassette interface and add on 'VDU' PCB have sometimes been known to go for a four figure GBP sum but I argue that these things only have value if in fact you intend to sell them, whereas I have no plans to sell any of this stuff. When I get to the point where I am about to be carted off into an old people's home, I may reconsider.
 
"I might be unusual in that the majority of computers I own now are ones that I owned when they were new. Not just examples of the same type, but the actual original machines I bought then, still in my possession and still working."

@SiriusHardware, yes, it think that is probably unusual. But I did the same thing. In fact, I accidentally ended up a "collector" of old computers. Most of the computers I have in my collection were purchased either new or off-lease for our small family business. My FIL started with the NorthStar Advantage and I followed up with our first Tandy PC and then a 386sx-16, then Pentium, then P-III, P4, then Core2Duo then to our current Core i5's. We use about 6 to ten PC's in our business at one time, includuing some laptops. And when we upgrade I get the old stuff to play with.

I have picked a few things up at the dump or from garage sales, after I became more interested as a collector. Mostly older 8-bit stuff I was interested in when young but couldn't buy when they were new, like a C64. Now it's harder to come accross old stuff locally so I keep an eye out for intertesting things I may want to buy. But I got plenty to play with if I never buy another computer.

Seaken
 
I must start by saying that I don't but any of my retro machines as a financial investment. However, I think of this more as a "cost vs expectation" thing. Obviously this is highly subjective.

Worst investment: I was looking for a working, nice Pentium MMX-era laptop to use for DOS and some Windows gaming. As such, it had to have an SB-compatible sound card. I bought a Compaq Armada 7700, good price (don't remember exactly, but was less than $100), seemed in good shape. It arrived in perfect shape and worked out of the box. Battery was dead, but you take that for granted with a machine this old. Sound was DEAD. If you plugged some headphones you can hear the sound, very faintly and with a lot of noise (digital noise). So there goes my idea of a gaming laptop. The CD-ROM drive also initially worked, but failed shortly thereafter. I still have it, but it sits mostly idle as I bought a Toshiba Libretto that fits this role much better (and works!).

Best investment: A IBM 5155 Portable Personal Computer, which I love and don't plan to part ways any time soon. Bought it for about $250 as non-working, "parts only". Seller's pictures showed it in pristine cosmetic shape, except that one of the floppy drives had been replaced with a hard drive and no cover had been placed (hence you could see the drive from the front). Other pictures showed that there was possibly a RAM expansion fitted in (based on the look from the card, as there was no inside picture). Another picture showed the computer turned on, but with keyboard and hard drive error, and only 256KB of RAM. As it turns out, the keyboard needed only minor cleaning and the hard drive was showing error because it was not plugged in at all (power, data and control were all unplugged). Also, I was right that there was a RAM expansion, but it was heavily corroded by a leaking battery, so I just replaced it with a much better AST SixPakPlus that I had on hand. Finally, the floppy drive (a QumeTrak 142) was faulty. I replaced it with another working one. Other than that, I added a C8087. The machine is unbelievably clean, both inside and out, which makes me think this is a low hour unit. I really like this machine and really enjoyed working on it.
 
I do still have most of the computers I purchased or owned new (sadly my C64 isn't one of them), including my very first computer, a Tomy Tutor, plus the MDD G4 and Quad G5 (I still even have the sale receipt for the G4) and the Dreamcast.
 
I bought a new 85MB external hard drive for my Amiga 500 in 1988. Had it shipped from the US to Norway (it was the only way to get one). It never worked. I could have made a fire of the 500USD instead. Would have been a quicker and less painful way to get rid of them.

My best investment was my first computer, a Vic-20. I learnt programming on it, which later gave me a job as a IBM System 36 programmer… at an age of 15.
 
I bought a new 85MB external hard drive for my Amiga 500 in 1988. Had it shipped from the US to Norway (it was the only way to get one). It never worked. I could have made a fire of the 500USD instead. Would have been a quicker and less painful way to get rid of them.
May I ask what happened? It's really sad to spend all that money and get a faulty product. Thankfully my international purchases so far have been good (knock on wood!).
 
I don't do this for "profit" at all. Actually, when I started, I did it because it was CHEAP. I'd back my truck up to goodwill and fill the entire thing with old x86 IBM Compatibles and occasionally Mac stuff. The only reason I ever sell anything is because I need to free up space. That's one reason I don't get the high prices on all these generic PC's on e-bay and whatnot, I'm still getting them periodically from people who want to empty their closet or attic for free.

That said my best "investment" is probably the Compaq Deskpro 386s/20 with the IBM BLX3 "Blue Lightning" chip in it with 16K cache (REVTO486 Evergreen upgrade). Paid nothing for it. I basically got a system that a covers a wide swath of vintage hardware from the 286 era to the mid-486 era with a rare upgrade chip in it. And all it needed was the Dallas chip ground and CR2302'd and maybe a retrobrite. Came with the original keyboard, and I only put $7 in it witht a N.o.S Compaq mouse of the wrong vintage but my favorite type (Logitech). It's a keeper.

The Tandy and GEM 286 are excellent "investments" because I've had them over 15 years, and I've hardly put any money into them. The XT-IDE in my Tandy came from a middle-of-the-road project XT Clone I made in 2006. I only spent $40 on it recently for a V20 and 8087. The GEM 286 I've toyed with selling periodically but I keep running it and just going back to it. It's just such a nice AT system, and I've had that one the longest. I bought that when I was still in Alabama off E-bay for $35.00.

I've had a lot of "Bad" investments though. There was a Dell 316SX that looked mint and I paid about $15 at Salvation Army. The CMOS battery had puked all over the keyboard lines so badly the motherboard looked like a series of streets at night with cars with their leadlights on when I turned it on (burning traces).

Another great lost was spending about $55 on a NEC Ultralite Versa 25C and not a single piece of the entire computer except the Floppy and Battery were useable. The plastic was so brittle it was like trying to fix a laptop that was made out of dry birthday cake, and the whole thing smelled of seafood.

A near miss was a DOA PC-Chips M919 I bought from RE-PC advertised as "tested/working". Moved when I found out it was dead. So I sold it - and recouped double from someone who had the skills to repair it or use it for parts on e-bay.

But in the end, I don't do this to "invest". I do this because I like playing old video games and using old systems for productivity from time to time, as well as tinkering with old hardware and learning how to fix old Electronics. That's the real reason why. But I sometimes do feign the "investor" bit when certain, more money-focused people around me won't stop pestering me about DOSbox or SCUMMVM, or won't take "because I want to" as an answer.
 
"Best" investment was my Amiga 4000 desktop. I had always wanted an Amiga and had been kicking around a purchase for about 13 years at that point. Finally pulled the trigger 10 years ago and spent about $300 for one, which I thought was eye watering high considering it had audio output issues. I dropped about $100 on it to get a keyboard (somehow lucked out on a rare Amiga 2000 Cherry MX Black board) and mouse along with a professional full recap. Thankfully the battery was removed well before leakage happened.

I didn't think much about the value until I encountered someone paying $800 for an Amiga 4000 desktop case alone. I then looked at values of full computers, most of which had some battery and/or capacitor damage...or worse no photos of the board...... umm wow.
 
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