Apple ‘Twiggy’ Macintosh Prototype Could Go For As Much As $120,000 At Auction
Toggle Dark Mode
A prototype of a vintage Apple Macintosh equipped with a “Twiggy” drive model from 1983 will soon go up for auction, and is expected to go for anywhere from $80,000 to $120,000 (or more) when it goes on the virtual auction block.
As reported on Mactrast, Apple hardware is a popular item in tech-focused auctions, and the items are sometimes prototypes that were never sold to the public. In this case, the auction at Bonhams in New York, which will begin on October 13 and will run until October 23, offers an extremely rare Apple Macintosh prototype (#M001) dating back to 1983. The rare Macintosh sports a 5.25-inch “Twiggy” disk drive, instead of the typical 400K 3.5-inch drive used in the production Mac 128.
The “Twiggy” Macintosh is reportedly so rare due to Steve Jobs having ordered all pre-production machines to be destroyed due to issues with the drives. The original plan was to use the new 5 ¼-inch “Twiggy” drive. However, soon after the release of the Macintosh’s older sibling, the Lisa, which featured two “Twiggy” drives, the technology was found to be unreliable and therefore unfeasible for a Macintosh to rely on a single “Twiggy.”
The auction also includes a prototype keyboard with a handwritten serial number, a prototype M01000 mouse with a prototype connector, and a dual-density “Twiggy” diskette labeled “Mac Word.”
Macintosh Personal Computer, Apple Computers Inc, Cupertino, CA, [1983], with 5-1/4 inch “Twiggy” disk drive with corresponding slot in front panel, prototype mouse, prototype keyboard. Includes logic board 820-0086-00, copyrighted 1983, featuring Jean-Michel Folon “Mac Man” (Mr. Macintosh) on the edge, with 512 EPROM Adapter board also featuring “Mac Man,” contained in pre-production plastic molded case, 330 x 245 x 250 mm, with smooth plastic front panel and with textured plastic case that bears Macintosh team signature molded to interior, but with only Apple logo on back panel and with Apple logo and Macintosh logo in reversed locations as seen only on prototypes, 3 of 4 Trend Plastics rubber feet with Apple logo. Includes prototype keyboard that bears handwritten serial number on label on lower panel and 3 of 4 Trend Plastics rubber feet with Apple logo; prototype M01000 mouse that bears serial number label, but with prototype connector. includes dual density “Twiggy” diskette labeled “Mac Word.”
The Macintosh project began as a personal project of Apple employee Jef Raskin, who envisioned a “Swiss army knife” type of low-cost, easy-to-use, high-volume computer, which he named after his favorite type of apple. By 1981, using the same Motorola 68000 microprocessor used in the Lisa, he had designed a machine that was less expensive than the Lisa while running 60% faster. Once the design caught the attention of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who had been removed from the Lisa project, the Macintosh moved forward.
While there have been Macintosh prototypes with “Twiggy” drives that have gone to auction, we don’t see them go up for sale every day. In 2019, one sold for $150,075, while another went up for auction in 2012 on eBay with an asking price of $99,995. The Macintoshes in both those prior auctions were fully functional. The Bonhams auction page does not mention whether this Macintosh is functioning.
