Man Discovers 30-Year-Old Vintage Apple Computer In His Parents’ Attic, Still In Working Order
In this day and age, when one thinks of Apple — the tech company, not the fruit — there are a handful of images and thoughts that come to mind. For some, sleek and stylish smartphones are at the forefront. For others, the brand is synonymous with overpriced — and occasionally — unaffordable pieces of overrated technology.
That being said, those who grew up in the ’80s might have an entirely different take on the Cupertino-based company. Before Apple Inc. took the world by storm with its line of iPhones, iPad, and iPods, the tech giant started out by manufacturing and designing computers from co-founder Steve Jobs’ childhood garage.
The Macintosh line of computers debuted in the mid-’80s, and those who had the opportunity to use or own one might remember the black and white user interface, the boxy designs, and the soft glow (and hum) of an old-school CRT. Recently, one New York man got to relive the experience of using a computer from a bygone era.
As reported by CNN, New York professor John Pfaff came across an old Apple IIe computer that he found in his parents’ attic. The computer, which John used in his youth, was first released in 1983, as noted by Mashable.
Oh.
My.
God.An Apple IIe. Sat in my parents’ attic for years. Decades.
And it works.
Put in an old game disk. Asks if I want to restore a saved game.
And finds one!
It must be 30 years old.
I’m 10 years old again. pic.twitter.com/zL7wWxOo36
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
Against all odds, the now-ancient piece of tech has held up, despite spending years in long-term storage. It didn’t take long for Pfaff to boot up a few retro games, and to his surprise, the machine ran them without issue. Better yet, some of his saved games were still intact, allowing him to pick up where he left off.
Unsurprisingly, John had some issues remembering how to play some of the games he tried out.
“This is tricky, because three decades later I can’t quite remember where I left off this round of Adventureland,” John wrote on Twitter.
Over the course of a few hours, Pfaff unearthed a treasure trove of old diskettes and games, which he tried out on the computer. While most machines from the ’80s would usually have trouble running games decades later — usually as a result of the disk drive succumbing to years of disuse — this particular Apple IIe didn’t have that problem.
My kids thought things were insanely retro when my wife and I played NES Super Mario on the oldest’s Switch.
Tomorrow morning their definition of retro is going to shift significantly. pic.twitter.com/cwpMyvCoYw
— John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) February 17, 2019
Aside from playing a handful of games, John Pfaff also took the time to crack plenty of jokes, usually at the expense of Gen Z’ers and younger millennials.
“No, look, kids. This computer has. no. hard-drive. The reason those giant disks say ‘Disk Side’ 1-4 is you had to keep flipping them over as you played,” he joked, posting a Twitter picture of a handful of old diskettes next to a cartridge of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
