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Here's your chance to own Gene Roddenberry's Mac

by Steven Sande Sep 17th 2009 at 5:00PM

Update: OK, we have to hand it to all of you -- you have successfully pointed out that this Mac's model number isn't consistent with a Mac Plus, but instead with a 128K original Mac. We took that key fact back to the auction house that is listing this machine, and they did their own due diligence to come up with the following explanation:
We've gotten several inquires about this by the fantastically loyal and knowledgeable Mac community. After further investigating the item, here's the information:
Firstly, this Macintosh was, indeed, presented to Gene Roddenberry by Apple. There is no doubt about this.
The conflict between the photo and the serial number is as follows. This computer, given by Apple to Mr. Roddenberry, is an early production Macintosh 128 (#776), which was then upgraded by Apple for Gene to a Macintosh Plus-thus the model number / serial number / panel that "belongs to" a Macintosh Plus. The 0001 led us to mistakenly believe that it was the first one off the line.
Again, the provenance of the item is perfect and it did belong to Mr. Roddenberry. I apologize for any confusion.

So, that's the story as we understand it. The headline has been adjusted to match the new information, and in turn we apologize for the error.

----

How would you like to own the first Macintosh Plus computer? By first, I mean the one with serial number F4200NUM0001, the Mac that was given by Apple to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. As you'll remember, a Mac Plus (presumably not this one) was used by Scotty in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

Profiles in History, an auction house with a storied history of selling amazing Hollywood memorabilia, will be auctioning off the Mac Plus at their October 8-9 auction. While most of the attention will probably be focused on the Michael Jackson glove from the 1984 Victory Tour, Apple aficionados are invited to put in bids on this piece of Apple history.

Here's the description of the Mac Plus from Profiles in History:
This is the very first Macintosh Plus 1Mb personal computer to come off the assembly line at Apple Computer in Fresno, California. It was presented to Gene Roddenberry as a gift by Apple Computer, Inc. and bears the serial number F4200NUM0001. The Macintosh Plus was a revelation among personal computers when it came on the market in 1986. With 1 Mb RAM (upgradeable to 4Mb), it supported the double-sided floppy disk format and was the first Mac with a SCSI port for fast data transfer to and from an external hard drive.

The Macintosh was the first mass produced computer to utilize the mouse and the Macintosh Plus was the longest-lived Macintosh with production until 1990. It features the beige-colored case with 9 in. display, 3.5 in. floppy drive and includes the short keyboard, external floppy drive, mouse and Apple logo deluxe padded carrying case. An incredible artifact with a wonderful association between the visionary computer designer/manufacturer and legendary Star Trek creator. Accompanied by a signed letter of provenance from Gene Roddenberry's son, Rod.
The Mac Plus is expected to sell for $1000 - $1200, less than half of its original purchase price. A closeup photo of the computer showed definite signs of use, including the lovely sludge that tends to build up on keyboards and mice after years of handling. For a view of the Mac Plus in all of its beige (Pantone 453) glory, read on.



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Update: OK, we have to hand it to all of you -- you have successfully pointed out that this Mac's model number isn't consistent with a Mac...
 

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MikeWard1701

Would love to own, what Star Trek and/or Mac fan wouldn't?

Isn't $1000 - $1200 a bit pessimistic though? Some items in the “It’s A Wrap!” auction a while ago went for insanely high amounts. This Mac was owned by the great man himself.

September 18 2009 at 10:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to MikeWard1701's comment
artifex

Profiles in History usually does a good job in their pre-auction estimates. I wonder why they thought this is all it'd go for. Probably because, while historically unique, there's nothing tying it to any particular manuscript or treatment he did.

(Bought some movie prop lots from them a few years ago; been getting their cool catalogs ever since.)

September 19 2009 at 3:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Stuart

So, basically, it's a 128Kb Mac with the very popular (at the time) upgrade to Plus status, which involved new logic board and new case bucket to accommodate the different ports. The problem is that what was an upgrade 25 years ago is now seen as downgrading a rare 128Kb Mac to a common-as-muck Mac Plus. I'll offer £20.

September 18 2009 at 4:10 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jason A. Quest

Even if it's not really the first Mac Plus, having a Mac owned by the Great Bird of the Galaxy would be very very cool.

September 17 2009 at 10:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
xpez2000

you need the boot disks to get the thing going and you have to load the programs into ram everytime you want to use anything...SUCKS!!!

The SE was a huge advancement...for these little MACS...

September 17 2009 at 8:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to xpez2000's comment
Stuart

I think you'll find that even with an 8-core 3GHz Intel CPU running Snow Leopard you have to load programs into RAM before they can run.

A 512Kb "Fat Mac" can run several apps at once quite nicely. Disc switching was only a real pain with the 128Kb models.

September 18 2009 at 4:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kiltbear64

These things boot from their floppy so dang fast...

What is funny is that in discussions about an Apple designed tablet or netbook, there is all this talk about a 10" and how even a 13" is now too small.

People were doing Aldus Pagemaker Layout on these things. I remember a roommate bent over and squinting at the screen making newsletters.

September 17 2009 at 8:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to kiltbear64's comment
Eric

basically 2 iPhone screens side by side

September 18 2009 at 3:08 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
macxprt

I'll take it only if I can install Snow Leopard on it.

September 17 2009 at 7:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to macxprt's comment
Todd

I have a Mac SE that runs Tiger.

It required a few upgrades, of course. I replaced the original CRT with one the same size but capable of displaying shades of grey with VGA input. And I replaced the logic board, hard drive, and floppy drive, with a G4 Mac Mini with CD/DVD drive (which required making a larger slot for the discs). You could put newer guts into a machine like this, but the G4 and Classic make it possible to run actual contemporary software in addition to modern apps.

September 17 2009 at 9:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jason A. Quest

I almost forgot to mention that I've dubbed this machine the "Mac SE X".

September 17 2009 at 10:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
L3

How did they get it back from Gene?

HIS ONLY WISH WAS TO TAKE HIS MAC TO SPACE!

DAMN YOU, SALAZAR!!!

September 17 2009 at 7:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Flyboybob

My Fat Mac may not be the first on built but it still works. It has been upgraded to 1 meg. of RAM, has an external fan in the back. I have both an external floppy drive and an external Apple Hard Drive 20 since the internal floppy drive died years ago. I keep it in the original beige carrying case. I occasionally boot it up for fun along with my Hermes manual typewriter, and Image Writer printer which my kids used to call a stone age word processor.
I wouldn't sell either one for any amount of money and it's in similar shape to the one blakespot shows in his post.

September 17 2009 at 7:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Eric

So I have a mac plus laying around. I just pulled it out and discovered two things:

1) It does indeed say "Macintosh Plus" in the front, UNLIKE the picture above.

2) Its serial number ends in M0001A.

3) When I type in the serial number into the "early mac serial number decoder" I get this:
Your Macintosh Plus (M0001A), with serial number F6128XDM0001A, was the 10315th manufactured during the 12d week of 1986 in Fremont, CA.

So... I'm thinking this auctioned off Mac Plus is a fake too, or at least not really the 1st one manufactured.

September 17 2009 at 7:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Eric's comment
Eric

er, make that three things :-D.

September 17 2009 at 7:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Smoke_me_a_Kipper

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=279885&l=1986ac8478&id=1079623565

Mine's earlier. :)

September 18 2009 at 7:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
blakespot

That's an original Mac case. Are we talking about a Mac Plus here? My Mac Plus is in way better shape.

http://is.gd/3ohjC

Anyway...

September 17 2009 at 6:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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