An original Compaq "portable"

From: Wayne M. Smith <wmsmith_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Sat Jan 11 20:57:01 2003

> On Tue, 7 Jan 2003, John Clarke wrote:
>
> > Anyway, is there some way to find out what the value of my
> Compaq is?
>
> Sure, I'll tell you: $5.
>
> :)
>
> Sellam Ismail Vintage
> Computer Festival

Nadeau's book gives a range of $20 - $75, but I wouldn't give $20 for
the hardware alone. Original documentation and software, on the other
hand, is likely much harder to find and would be worth some extra $$$s.

It's hard to quantify value if you have all the extras, which are often
almost impossible to accumulate. I think most collectors know that
documentation is far more difficult to find than machines. I have an
IBM 5100, which is somewhat rare, but what is really rare is the full
set of documentation I have, including the original sales invoice and
factory build sheet.

For example, I have a Texas Instruments Portable Professional Computer
(actually I have three of them) which in terms of hardware, is not worth
much ($15 to $40 according to Nadeau). But, I also have virtually every
piece of software and documentation that ever went with it (all in those
hideous orange TI boxes), as well as a big box full of development
boards of every variety that I got from a retired TI guy that worked on
the project in the early 80s. I also have stacks of preliminary
production documentation and schematics from the same sorce. Now that's
history -- and as they say in the Master Card commercials --
"priceless."

By the way, one of my three TIPPCs has an upgraded 286-10 Soyo MB and is
IBM compatible (and therefore won't run the bulk of the specialize TI
software). Anyone ever see one of these before?

-W
Received on Sat Jan 11 2003 - 20:57:01 GMT