Restoring an Original 1976 Apple-1 Computer

This video documents the restoration of my recently acquired Apple-1 computer motherboard. I have been a collector of vintage Apple computers since the mid 1990's, and I have always wanted to include an Apple-1 in my collection. Due to the rarity and cost of an Apple-1, it took me more than 20 years to make it happen.

I don't intend to hoard this Apple-1 as some sort of trophy in my office. My wife and I are keen to find a suitable museum or other public venue where this Apple-1 can be put on display and available to anyone to appreciate. We live in Dubai and would prefer to keep it in the country so that we can also visit it from time-to-time.

At the end of the video you'll see some photos of the Apple-1 components and replicas that I own. It is because of them that my colleagues and I had the experience and confidence to undertake this restoration. A lot of things could have gone wrong, but thankfully we were successful in getting this computer running again after nearly 40 years in storage.

The previous owner of this Apple-1 has chosen to remain anonymous. This Apple-1 spent the last 40 years in Germany, and prior to that belonged to the original buyer in Rochester NY for a year or two. It's settling in nicely to its new home, Dubai, and I can't wait for all the Apple & tech fans in the region to get to see and enjoy it now that it's fully functional.

If you or your company needs complex PCBs or other electronic systems repaired and are located in the Middle East or India, please do take a look at our website to learn more about what we can do extend the lifecycle of your equipment:

If you are interested in learning more about the Apple-1 computer, here are a few helpful links:

Interested in building your own Apple-1 replica? I highly recommend starting with the Mimeo board sold by Corey Cohen:

If you have any questions of comments, leave them below. Thanks for watching!

[chironbramberger]

Thanks for making this video with an original Apple-1! I would imagine most people who have original Apple-1 computers may not be willing or interesting in making a video and sharing like this. Thanks again!

[scottDchicago]

Awesome episode! You helped to preserve an extremely rare piece of iconic computer history. This has a cool factor with a capital C! Thanks so much for posting this.

[nrnoble]

Impressive. The Apple 1 truely is the one of first computers to start the personal computer era. It's almost an alpha version of the Apple II series. I still have my original Apple II+ that I bought for $2500 back in 1980. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I estimate I spent 4-5 hours per day for over two years programming with it.

[benjaminramsey]

Something about this just feels amazing. It's like, the next closest thing to time travel.

[justahungarianguy]

Wow you are one of seven people who have a working apple one! So jealous

[davidryder]

The ironic thing is the Ipad next to it is so much more powerful yet much smaller and elegant. Technology has come a long way, I still remember the floppy disc days.

[sydtech]

Fantastic video! I love that you’re wearing an Apple Watch and loading up BASIC from an iPad. Thanks for sharing this!

[beopstek]

Very jealous and congratulations on the fantastic job restoring this piece of history.

[bashbrannigan]

Fantastic. Amazing stuff. And a very clear, understandable video.

[applemuzeumpolska]

Good job Jimmy! It is great to see a working legend restored to life.

[sheepewe]

The golden era...
I like that You did not do more than what realy where nessesary with it, beside just cleaning it up and check everything with proper equipment.
There are way to many people out there wich just rip ewerything out without any real sense of how to properly preserve those pieces of our modern history.

[lwongveros]

Congrats Jimmy, what a great adventure and piece of computing history!

[TechKerala]

Good Work.. At the end I thought you are going to show Steve.. But it was woz.. That was cool.

[zorinlynx]

Thank you so much for keeping our computing history alive. This video brought tears to my eyes; funny how the many other videos with replicas and such didn't have that effect on me. It really does matter when it's the original.

[rwdplz]

I can just imagine Woz watching this and yelling at the screen "It's the RAM sockets!"

[ryzenryne]

You really saved it! Nicely done mate! 👍🏼

[racerhomie]

This is quite wonderful.A piece of history.

[kae]

thank you for perserving this peice of history.;:) eggscllent job.

[cbmeeks]

This video is almost a year old and no one suggested sending the computer to the 8-Bit Guy. LOL

[atomicorang]

Great is very cool to see the system that started it all for Apple... I don’t take any of my macs for granted... thanks for sharing good job especially all the cleaning it took