Re: IIGS Woz LE value

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

wcbland@pacifier.com (Bill Bland) wrote:

>While I'm not interested in selling my Apple IIGS Woz LE, I am
>interested now in learning something about its value. The news that
>the accelerator card had a value far above what an Apple II newbie
>like me would ever suspect inspires the interest.

Unfortunately, the IIGS CPU is worth much less than some
of its peripherals.  Accelerators and SuperDrive controller
cards are worth a lot because they are rare.  Also, some
SCSI cards fetch reasonable amounts.  For example, the
Apple High Speed SCSI card went for around $120 new.
Today, it is worth at least half its value.  However, because
the Apple II series was so popular in schools which tend to
dump out computers they consider old, there is a rather
good supply of IIGS units.  Supply and demand.  A IIGS
Woz LE CPU often goes for around $25.  Some folks get
them for much less (especially if the schools around the
area releases theirs).  In some areas, they are worth more.
$25 is about the average.

Accelerators are probably the most sought after
peripherals.  The supply was limited to begin with.  Now
the cards really fetch premiums on eBay, etc., although
when they do so they are usually sold with the IIGS
itself.

Usually, when someone who frequents csa2 spots a
IIGS on eBay going for hundreds of dollars, they look
at the description and notice an accelerator at which
time they post an alert on csa2.  The units are always
sold.  ;-)

>Frankly, even though I don't yet have a HD to allow anything more than
>simply booting the machine, I am astonished at the level of
>sophistication in a machine of this vintage. As a Wintel user, I tend
>to forget that most of the Windows "improvements" were pioneered long
>ago by Apple. 
>This is fun!

Yup.  The IIGS was advanced for its time.  It had a 32
channel Ensoniq wavetable synthesizer chip before
the PC had SoundBlaster.  It could run its GUI faster
than the original IBM AT could run the GUIs of 1986
such as GEM or the earliest Windows.  Even the cost
was less than that of an IBM XT, which ran software
slower (Mhz cannot be compared across platforms).