It started with a magazine. A five-page feature on the Apple-1 in the February 1977 issue of Kilobaud was enough to convince its eventual owner: less expensive than the alternatives on the market, and a real way into computing. He bought this one new at the Byte Shop's Berkeley location — serial number 01-0033 — and spent a couple of years deep in it, learning to program. Then it went into storage. It stayed there for 45 years, unearthed only around 2021, and wouldn't power on. It took the help of two current Apple engineers, working in their own spare time, to bring it back — finally running again on August 4th, 2024.
The Apple-1 was the first pre-assembled personal computer to reach the market, and the product that launched Apple Computer. Designed by Steve Wozniak, it was among the first to build video display circuitry directly into the board, at a time when most computers communicated through blinking lights and switches rather than a screen and keyboard. This example comes from the very first batch Apple ever produced, assembled in Jobs' parents' garage in Los Altos — boards later distinguished from the larger second run by the absence of a printer's diamond monogram beneath the Apple logo.
