In 1976, two friends in California built a simple computer board and sold it for $666.66. It was called the Apple I. Only about 200 were made, and each one was hand-built.
For many people, it looked like a very basic desktop setup. You could connect a keyboard, a TV or monitor, and a cassette player for storage. In other words, you could turn a bare circuit board into a working personal computer in your own home.
Today, that simple board is known as the start of Apple, one of the most valuable tech companies in the world.
America And Computers In The Mid-1970s
To understand why the Apple I mattered, it helps to picture the United States in the mid-1970s.
Large computers still filled rooms in universities, labs, and big companies. Ordinary people did not have one at home. If you wanted any sort of access, you often had to go through school or work, and you used punch cards, shared terminals, and long waits.
At the same time, a small but very active group of hobbyists was growing. These people loved electronics and new chips. They read magazines, swapped parts, and met in clubs. One famous group in California was the Homebrew Computer Club. Many later tech leaders passed through its meetings.
Early personal computers were appearing, but many were sold as kits. You got a box of parts and a bare circuit board. You then soldered chips, resistors, and wires in by hand. That setup was exciting for engineers, but it shut out most everyday users hardy hibiscus.
The stage was set for something just a little more friendly.
Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, And A Simple Idea
Steve Wozniak, often called “Woz,” was an engineer who loved clever, efficient designs. Steve Jobs, his friend, was less interested in circuit details and more interested in how products looked and how they could be sold.
Wozniak started by building a low-cost terminal so he could connect to larger systems. Then he realized he could add a microprocessor and turn it into a complete computer. He chose the MOS Technology 6502 chip because it was powerful for the price.
By early 1976, he had a working design. He showed it off at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto. The machine could connect directly to a TV and use a standard keyboard. That was a big change from noisy mechanical terminals and paper printouts.
Wozniak was happy to share his design for free. Jobs saw something else. He saw a product.
Jobs pushed the idea that they should form a company, build boards, and sell them. So they did. They named the company Apple Computer and focused on selling this first machine, now called the Apple I.
To fund the work, Wozniak sold his calculator, and Jobs sold his van. It was a very American kind of gamble: sell what you have, bet on your idea, and hope the market agrees.
What The Apple I Actually Was
The Apple I was not a full desktop system in a modern sense. It was, at its core, a single, fully assembled circuit board.
Here is what you got from Apple:
- A fully assembled motherboard
- A MOS 6502 processor running at about 1 MHz
- 4 KB of RAM, expandable on the board to 8 KB
- Built-in video circuitry so you could plug into a TV or monitor
- A simple system monitor in ROM to load and run programs
Here is what you had to provide yourself:
- A keyboard, usually an ASCII keyboard
- A TV or composite monitor
- A power supply and transformers
- A cassette recorder, if you wanted to save and load programs
In other words, the Apple I gave you the brain and the basic nerves when to plant turnips. You still had to add the body.
Compared with other hobby computers of the time, this board was important. Many competitors sold full kits that you had to solder yourself. The Apple I came with all chips already in place. That made life much easier for people who did not enjoy dealing with a soldering iron.
The Famous Price Tag: $666.66
The Apple I went on sale in July 1976. The retail price in the United States was $666.66.
Wozniak later explained that he liked repeating digits. The price also worked out neatly: Apple sold the boards wholesale to a computer shop for $500 and added about a one-third markup for the final tag.
There was no hidden symbolism. It was just simple math and a small bit of quirky taste.
The first big order came from the Byte Shop, a small computer retailer in Mountain View, California. The owner agreed to buy 50 Apple I boards, but only if they were fully assembled and ready to sell. That demand pushed Apple away from the pure kit model and toward something closer to a finished product.
Over time, Apple built about 200 Apple I units. Most of them sold over the next year through Byte Shop and a few other early microcomputer stores.
For the small group of American computer hobbyists at the time, the Apple I was not cheap. That price was a serious investment. Still, it was far less than the cost of a large system or a time-sharing account, especially once you added the power of owning the machine outright.
How The Apple I Changed The Hobby Experience
The Apple I did not have fancy graphics, sound, or a sleek case. It did something simpler and, at the time, more important.
First, it made it easier to see what you were doing. The built-in video circuitry let you use a TV or monitor as a display. That meant you could type and see text on a screen in real time. No paper rolls, no loud teletype terminal, and no extra terminal purchase.
Second, it lowered the barrier to entry. You still needed some comfort with wires and power supplies. But you did not need to design circuits or solder dozens of components when to plant strawberries in alabama. You bought a ready-made board, hooked it to a few outside parts, and started experimenting.
Third, it brought BASIC programming into the home. A cassette interface and BASIC interpreter were available as options, so you could load and save programs on simple audio tapes. Many users wrote small games, tools, and learning programs in their living rooms.
In other words, the Apple I helped move computing in the U.S. from a pure engineering hobby to something closer to a general-interest activity. You did not have to be an expert to participate. You just needed curiosity, some patience, and a bit of cash.
From Apple I To Apple II And A Growing Company
The Apple I was only on the market for a short time. In 1977, Apple released the Apple II, a more advanced, polished, and fully enclosed computer. It offered color graphics, built-in case, keyboard, and expansion slots.
The Apple II fit neatly on a desk and looked like a finished product, not a project. It became one of the key personal computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States. It showed up in homes, schools, and small businesses. That success helped turn Apple from a small garage startup into a serious player in the growing PC market.
Because the Apple II was clearly better and easier for new users, Apple encouraged owners of the Apple I to trade in their boards. In some cases, the company gave discounts on Apple II systems in exchange. Many returned Apple I boards were later destroyed.
That decision made business sense at the time. The company needed to focus on its new main product. Still, it also meant that a lot of early history went into scrap piles.
Today, experts estimate that only a few dozen Apple I computers still survive, out of the original run of about 200.
The Apple I As A Museum Piece And Collectible
The Apple I now sits in a very different world. When it was new, it was an early step into personal computing. Today, it is a rare artifact.
Major American institutions hold Apple I boards in their collections. The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., has one and uses it to tell visitors about the early years of personal computers and Silicon Valley.
Other examples sit in museums such as the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan and various computer history centers. These boards help people see how small when to plant corn in alabama and simple the hardware looked at the start.
On the private market, surviving Apple I boards have become extremely valuable. Working units, especially those still in their original wooden cases from the Byte Shop days, often sell at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some recent sales in the United States have reached around $400,000 to $500,000 or more, depending on condition, documentation, and history.
Collectors value not just the hardware but also letters, manuals, and even old shipping boxes. A typed note from Steve Jobs, an invoice with his parents’ home address, or a canceled check from the early company years can add huge value to a sale.
In other words, what began as a hobbyist machine has become a serious piece of American tech history and a high-end collectible.
Comparing The Apple I To Today’s Apple Devices
Modern Apple products barely resemble that first board, at least on the surface.
Today, we carry iPhones and iPads that fit in a pocket or bag. Macs come with high-resolution displays, fast solid-state drives, wireless networking, and smooth visual interfaces. Inside, they contain billions of transistors, custom chips, and complex software stacks.
By contrast, the Apple I used a single 8-bit processor running at 1 MHz and just a few kilobytes of memory. Programs loaded from cassette tapes at slow speeds. The display showed plain text characters, not colorful icons.
Yet the basic idea is the same. You have a programmable machine on your desk or in your hand. You can write code, run programs, and use it to solve problems, learn, play, and create.
From a U.S. perspective, that continuity matters. The Apple I sits at the start of a long line of products that shaped how many Americans think about technology, design, and everyday tools. It helped move computing from labs and corporations into homes and small offices.
Lessons From A Simple First Computer
The Apple I story carries a few clear lessons.
First, simple, clear design can change a market. Wozniak’s board did not try to do everything. It focused on being affordable, compact, and easy to connect to a TV and keyboard. That focus helped it stand out in a small but noisy field of hobbyist machines.
Second, smart risk-taking matters. Jobs and Wozniak sold personal items to fund their idea. They then worked with a local store, the Byte Shop, to get a real purchase order when to plant tomatoes in alabama. That order gave Apple credibility in the young U.S. microcomputer scene.
Third, the Apple I shows how fast technology moves. It went from cutting edge to obsolete in just a year or two. Yet, in that short time, it created the base for the Apple II, which then helped push personal computers into classrooms, living rooms, and small businesses across the country.
For many of us, that path feels normal now. We grew up around screens, icons, and instant access to information. The Apple I reminds us that this culture started with a bare board, some soldered chips, a TV on a table, and a pair of founders working in a garage.
Small Board, Lasting Ripples
The Apple I did not arrive as a polished piece of consumer electronics. It was a plain, hand-built circuit board sold through early computer shops to a small crowd of enthusiasts. Yet it set key patterns that still shape Apple and much of modern tech in the United States.
It brought video output and a relatively friendly setup into hobbyists’ homes. It turned a local club project into a real company. It showed that a small team with a clear vision could move computing closer to everyday life.
As we use sleek devices and cloud services today, it is easy to forget how rough the early days looked. The Apple I offers a useful reminder. Big shifts often begin with simple tools, limited resources, and a willingness to ship something that is just good enough to open a door.
For Apple and for personal computing in general, that small green board with the $666.66 price tag was that door.