I bought my Apple II in October of 1977-A Milestone in my Life.

April 16, 1977: Apple II heralds the age of the home computer

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak had built the first Apple computer a year earlier, but the hand-built Apple I only ever sold in tiny numbers. Its successor, with a moulded plastic case, built-in keyboard and expansion slots, moved Apple into the computing mainstream. According to Paul E Ceruzzi in A History of Modern Computing:

Apple II

For my thirty-second birthday, in October of 1977, I drove with my friend, Ron Sprague, to the computer store on Northwestern Highway and Inkster Road in Detroit to buy my Apple II.  It cost $1190.  I made $1090 per month as a GM industrial engineer.  The check was damp with sweat when I wrote it.  I got a sixteen k Apple II.  Hard drives would not arrive for two more years on that model.  Take them out of the picture above.  Take the monitor out too.  I paid $300 for a color television to hook to mine.  A month later, I bought 16k more of memory for an additional $300.  I was set to go.

On the October day, I took my computer home, set it up and listened to that heroic song from the beginning of "Star Wars" , I knew a new age had begun.  It's been quite a ride.  I believe I had the first computer in my town of Vassar, Michigan.  I would like to hear of anyone before me. 

Tags: Apple II, Computer, Steve Jobs, Vassar, Michigan

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