What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

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What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

So I want to get an Apple IIe system with floppy drive and monitor in working condition. Scratches, writing etc acceptable. I've done a little research on eBay and seen such systems sell from $80 to $1500 within the past 90 days. That is quite the spread.

Can I get some opinions on what a fair market value for the above would be?

Please note this is not a solicitation to purchase.

Thank you!

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Re: What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

Maybe $150 + shipping for a fairly clean set up w/ monitor & drive. I wouldn't buy it unless it's been tested and proven to pass it's self test... IMO.

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Re: What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

The condition of the iie is important as well as it being complete.

Most important is the power supply. The beige iie systems had power supplies which had a habit of producing too much heat. You can't run your system for more then 15 minutes at a time to be perfectly safe. If you consider buying such a system then to make it work as best as possible, get the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply replaced and then buy a Kensington System Saver. Another option is to get a Buggie power supply or get a NOS black one which has more amperes to spare. The model number on these power supplies is "MWP-302" (Applied Engineering's power supplies were really the same model).

Also, get a good joystick as well as getting good floppy drives. The CH products joystick is a good bet.

Also, get yourself either the 5.25" Duodisk drive or get the beige Unidisk 5.25" drive.

Be prepared for some of the keys on the keyboard to have contact problems. If you know how to solder and if you can find a supplier, you can replace the individual Keyswitches on the keyboard or if you don't want to buy Keyswitches, and if you can figure it out, you can disassemble the Keyswitches and clean the contacts and then solder them back in.

Make sure that your iie system has the enhanced Roms. Without them, there are too many programs which won't run on your system.

Your final consideration is yellowing. If you know how, you can Retr0brite your system or you can simply just get a system which has not been exposed to sunlight. If you buy the parts of your system separately, you can be sure that the parts of your system will not have matching shades of color. If retr0brite is not your style, then you can spray paint your system.

My best guess is that a fair price for a good system like this (without the accessories) should go for $250.00 to $300.00, possibly more but remember that it's only a guess.

Good accessories to have:

An Apple Super Serial Card II and a cable for using ADTPro. You can get started with doing this by buying the necessary stuff from retrofloppy.com. If you have no 9 pin serial ports on your PC then you can get a USB to serial adapter (Get one with a FTDI chipset and not a Prolific chipset) <-- You can also get one like that from retrofloppy.com. If you want to use OSX then you can get a USB Serial adapter from Tripp Lite Model Number: USA-19HS. <-- retrofloppy.com is another source to get one similar. Another option is to get a Serial and Parallel PCI-E Adapter card from StarTech. Startech 2S1P PCI Express Serial Parallel Combo Card with Breakout Cable Model PEX2S1P553B. This one works nice for me.

To my fellow Applefritter friends: My advice here is my opinion according to my experience only. If you find something that I have said to be peculiar then ask me why. When I say something, there is always a reason.

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Re: What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

Thank you both for your opinions! Both are quite valuable.

@insanitor

Thank you for listing the accessories you feel essential. The serial interface is of particular interest to me. I must admit that I am aiming for on-system programming but had not given thought to how I might get the product off-system for distribution.

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Re: What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

I have recently (in the last 6 months) bought 2 apple IIe systems.

One I paid $200 for. It came with a pair of the Disk-II drives and was full of cards (80 col+ram, Centronics printer, super serial, Applicard-z80, disk interface and a snapshot card). I had to upgrade it to enhanced myself, but that was easy and just cost me soem time as I had all the parts I needed. It is in near perfect condition with no yellowing and all the keys work well. Once cleaned the drives work 100% as well. I did buy a Kensington fan for it ($15).

The other I paid $65 for. It had an aftermarket case and came only with the 80 col card and a disk controller. It also came with dual-boot ROMs (II+ or IIe), but I replaced them with enhanced ROMs and upgraded the CPU. It seems to run cool enough even though it has the original Apple IIe power supply in it. I think the aftermarket case breaths a bit better than the original apple case. The case was clean and in good shape and the keyboard is quite nice, even though it's not an original Apple item.

So, that's the range for me. $65 to $200. I for sure got the better deal on the $200 one as I have seen those snapshot cards sell for as much as $150 by themselves. Unlike everything else you see on eBay, they are truly pretty rare and very useful.

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Re: What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

I think the price really depends on which //e you are looking for. If you want one of the early ones with the white letter keys and such (~$150) you are going to pay more than a later black letter beige one (~$100). The Platinum //e (w/ 10 key pad) is also a good choice if you are just looking for a solid workhorse as they are plentiful and can be found for under $100 (if you are willing to clean it up and possibly do minor repairs). Getting a decent fully equipped system shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks depending on what kind of toys you want to go along with it (extended RAM card, floppy drives, serial card, SCSI hard drive, accelerator, monitor, etc). If you pick lots of toys it will cost lots of money.

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Re: What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

I think the price really depends on which //e you are looking for. If you want one of the early ones with the white letter keys and such (~$150) you are going to pay more than a later black letter beige one (~$100). The Platinum //e (w/ 10 key pad) is also a good choice if you are just looking for a solid workhorse as they are plentiful and can be found for under $100 (if you are willing to clean it up and possibly do minor repairs). Getting a decent fully equipped system shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks depending on what kind of toys you want to go along with it (extended RAM card, floppy drives, serial card, SCSI hard drive, accelerator, monitor, etc). If you pick lots of toys it will cost lots of money.

I didn't realize that the White Key Caps were worth more.. A Rev-A Motherboard makes sense, since they couldn't do Double Hi-Res Graphics and were a Free Update.

MarkO

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Re: What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

qbradq,

Average prices (on eBay):

Apple II+: $100.00 to $200.00
Early/Mid Apple IIe: $30.00 to $50.00
Platinum IIe: $35.00 to $55.00
Disk II Drive (each): $19.00 to $29.00
5.25 Disk Drive (each): $20.00 to $30.00
3.5 Disk Drive 800k: $40.00 to $65.00
3.5 Superdrive: Right now in excess of $350.00 each if available
DuoDisk Drive(5.25): $30.00 to $35.00
Monitor: $30.00 to $50.00
ImageWriter I Printer: $30.00 to $50.00
ImageWriter II Printer: $30.00 to $50.00
Super Serial Card (each) $15.00 to $25.00
Disk II Controller Card $15.00 to $25.00
5.25 Controller Card $19.99 to $29.99
I/O Card $19.00 to $25.00
ASCO Card (3.5 Drive) $40.00 to $65.00
Superdrive Card Right now in excess of $400.00 each if available

Of course these are averages.
As everyone knows Condition is everything.
If you don't mind doing the work to clean up a unit, you'll spend a bit less.
If you want something that is still in the original box,
never seen the light of day, expect to pay a premium.

I'm up on eBay every day.
I have seen units that I would not touch go for excessive amounts.
That is why I started the "This Is Laughable" thread.

In the final analysis; it's up to you.
What are you looking for and how much you are willing to spend.
The list I have shown does not include other cards, such as Printer Cards
because you can run your ImageWriter's from a Super Serial Card.

I have Modem cards, but no longer use them as I have an Uthernet Card.
If you start looking into Focus Drive Cards and CFFA Cards
You are getting into another realm.

Good Luck!

I hope this helps,

Steven Smile

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Re: What is a Fair Price for an Apple IIe?

Thank you all again for your replies! This is very helpful information.

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