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Apple Microcomputer

The Apple Microcomputer was introduced in West Coast Computer Faire by Jobs and Wozniak in the year 1977. In order to access the ARPANET and play games, Steve Wozniak built the Apple I in 1975. Wozniak created the Apple I with two goals in mind: making the device affordable by reducing the number of chips and being able to output video to a TV screen that the majority of users already owned. Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computers to produce the Apple I after hearing positive feedback from the members of Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club. The Apple I demonstrated how a functional computer could be tiny, straightforward, and affordable by including a CPU and dynamic RAM.

A change in personal computing was signaled with the Apple Microcomputer. Prior to this, the majority of computers were either offered as kits or constructed at an additional cost by the manufacturer. Purchases of fully tested and functional boards allowed for “hassle-free” computing, which aided in the growth of personal computing as a more popular consumer product. When built PCs such as the Commodore PET, TRS-80, and Apple II were debuted in 1977, a whole new market for hardware and software was created.

Wozniak liked repeating numerals; therefore, the computer was sold on a single board for $666.66. A video display monitor, an ASCII-encoded keyboard, and an AC-connected power unit producing 8 volts at 3 amps and 28 volts at 1 amp were all necessary for the board’s configuration. The Apple’s four kilobytes of memory (enough to run BASIC) could be expanded to eight kilobytes on board or 64 kilobytes via extension cards, in addition to the 6502 CPU operating at 1.023 MHz. Additionally, the expansion slot had a cassette interface for programming and data storage, making it possible to quickly load the BASIC interpreter without having to manually write it in.

Notable Technical Specs

The CPU only operated at 1.023 MHz. The RAM on it may be expanded from 4KB to 8KB or 48KB. Data for programs could be saved by the user using a separate cassette tape interface. One of the forerunners to the floppy disc was this. A single motherboard, fully preassembled with around 60 chips, made up the Apple-1 computer. At the time, computers were made up of several circuit boards and did not arrive assembled.

Interesting Facts Today about Apple Microcomputer

Since it first introduced, Woz built 200 units by hand, and all but 25 of those units sold during the short time the Apple-1 remained on the market. Today, the value of Apple Microcomputer can be between $500,000 to $1,000,000 USD based on the various auction events.

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