Most old Macintosh computers sell for about $50-300 as of late 2026. That covers the beige Performa, LC and Quadra lines of the 1990s, the Power Mac G3 and G4 towers, most PowerBooks and iBooks, and the later iMac G3 colors. The Macs that bring real money are a short list: the original 1984 Macintosh 128K (model M0001), especially with the matching keyboard, mouse and bag, at about $1,500-5,000; the Macintosh SE/30 when working, at about $300-900; the Power Mac G4 Cube, at about $300-800; the clamshell iBook G3 in the rarer colors, at about $200-600; the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh, at about $2,000-6,000; the Macintosh Portable at about $400-1,200; and the Apple Lisa, which is not a Macintosh but turns up in the same closets, at about $20,000-60,000. Sealed and unused examples of any early model, and prototypes, are a separate market with prices well into five figures.
Two things decide the price inside those ranges. The first is whether it boots: thirty-year-old Macs have leaking capacitors and leaking clock batteries, and a dead unit sells for a third to a half of a working one unless it is rare. The second is completeness: the matching keyboard, mouse and cables, the original box and manuals, and for the 1980s compact Macs, the padded carrying bag.
Quick answer
- 1990s beige desktops, G3 and G4 towers, most laptops: about $50-300.
- Macintosh 128K (M0001), 512K and Plus: about $200-5,000 depending on model and completeness.
- SE/30, Color Classic, G4 Cube, clamshell iBook, iMac G3 in the rare colors: about $200-900.
- Twentieth Anniversary Mac, Macintosh Portable, Lisa, Apple I and II prototypes: about $1,000-60,000+.
- Leaking capacitors and clock batteries are the two faults that turn a good Mac into a parts Mac. The model number on the back label identifies it.
How to identify and value an old Mac, step by step
- Read the model number on the back or underside label. Apple used an M-number on everything from 1984 to the early 2000s and an A-number after. The key ones: M0001 is the 128K (1984), M0001W the 512K, M0001E the 512Ke, M0001A the Plus, M5011 the SE, M5119 the SE/30, M0420 the Classic, M4300 the Classic II, M1600 the Color Classic, M5120 the Portable, M5126 the PowerBook 100, M3935 the Twentieth Anniversary, M5521 the iMac G3 tray-loading, M5884 the iMac G4, M7886 the G4 Cube, M6411 the clamshell iBook. The label also carries the serial number, which encodes the factory and the week of manufacture.
- Check the badge on the front. Many early Macs were upgraded: a 128K with a 512K board, a Plus with a logic board swap, an SE with an SE/30 board. The badge, the model label and the ports on the back should agree. A 128K that says 128K on the back label but has 512K on the front badge has been upgraded, which lowers the value to collectors.
- Look inside the case for signatures. The 1984 to 1986 compact Macs have the signatures of the original Macintosh team molded into the inside of the rear case. That is a sign of an early case, not of the board inside it, but it is what buyers of a 128K look for.
- Power it on, with care. Plug in, listen for the chime (a single boot beep on the earliest models, the chord from the Mac II onward), and watch the screen. A compact Mac with no chime and a faint smell of fish has leaking capacitors; one with a green crust around the logic board has a leaked clock battery, which on the SE/30, the LC and the Quadra can destroy the board.
- Check the screen and, on laptops, the battery. A compact Mac screen that is dim, jittery or shows a single horizontal line has an analog board fault, which is repairable but costs. PowerBook and iBook batteries are usually dead and sometimes swollen; remove a swollen one before storage.
- Gather the pieces. The matching keyboard (M0110 for the 128K and 512K, M0110A for the Plus) and mouse (M0100), the power cable, the original box with matching serial, the system disks, the manuals, the bag. On the 128K a complete boxed set with bag is worth about two to three times a bare unit.
- Note any recap or restoration. A board that has been professionally recapped is worth more than one that has not, and a receipt or a photo of the work helps. Retrobrighting of a yellowed case is accepted and should be disclosed.
- Search sold listings for the model number. Match working or not, complete or not, and whether the comparable was shipped. Compact Macs ship badly and heavy towers ship worse, so local sale comparables run lower.
What the common Macs sell for
Prices assume a working, booting unit with the matching keyboard and mouse where applicable, without box, as of late 2026.
| Model | Model number and year | Working, with keyboard and mouse | Not booting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Macintosh 128K | M0001, 1984 | About $1,500-5,000 | About $600-1,500 |
| Macintosh 512K, 512Ke | M0001W, M0001E, 1984 to 1986 | About $500-1,500 | About $200-500 |
| Macintosh Plus | M0001A, 1986 to 1990 | About $200-600 | About $80-200 |
| Macintosh SE | M5011, 1987 | About $150-400 | About $50-150 |
| Macintosh SE/30 | M5119, 1989 | About $300-900 | About $100-300 |
| Macintosh Classic, Classic II | M0420, M4300, 1990 to 1992 | About $100-300 | About $40-100 |
| Macintosh Color Classic | M1600, 1993 | About $300-800 | About $100-250 |
| LC, LC II, LC III, Performa 400 series | 1990 to 1994 | About $50-150 | About $20-50 |
| Quadra 700, 840AV | 1991 to 1993 | About $150-450 | About $50-150 |
| Macintosh Portable | M5120, 1989 | About $400-1,200 | About $150-400 |
| PowerBook 100, 170, 180 | 1991 to 1992 | About $100-400 | About $30-100 |
| Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh | M3935, 1997 | About $2,000-6,000 | About $800-2,000 |
| iMac G3 Bondi Blue | M5521, 1998 | About $150-400 | About $40-100 |
| iMac G3, five flavors and later colors | 1999 to 2001 | About $100-300; Flower Power and Dalmatian about $200-500 | About $30-80 |
| iBook G3 clamshell | M6411, 1999 to 2000 | About $150-400; key lime and graphite about $250-600 | About $50-150 |
| Power Mac G4 Cube | M7886, 2000 | About $300-800 | About $100-250 |
| Power Mac G3 and G4 towers | 1997 to 2004 | About $60-250 | About $20-60 |
| Apple Lisa, Lisa 2, Macintosh XL | 1983 to 1985 | About $20,000-60,000 | About $8,000-20,000 |
The middle of that table is where most finds land. A Performa or an LC from a school clear-out is a working piece of 1990s computing worth about $50-150, and a G4 tower in the garage is worth about $60-250 depending on the model and whether it has its original graphics card. Those are fair prices for what they are; they are not treasure.
Condition, faults and what adds or subtracts
| Factor | Effect on price |
|---|---|
| Boots to the desktop, screen clear, keyboard and mouse working | The baseline for the prices above |
| No chime, no boot, no visible corrosion | About 30-50 percent of working; a recap candidate |
| Leaked clock battery with board damage | About 10-30 percent; often a parts unit unless rare |
| Leaked capacitors, no board damage yet | About 40-60 percent; the recap is about $100-300 in labor |
| Analog board or flyback fault on a compact Mac | About 40-60 percent; repairable |
| Yellowed case | About 10-30 percent off; retrobright restores it, disclose it |
| Upgraded logic board in an early case | About 30-60 percent off a 128K or 512K; neutral on a Plus |
| Matching keyboard and mouse present | The baseline; missing them costs about $50-200 on early models |
| Original box with matching serial, manuals, disks | About 1.5-3 times the bare price on 1980s models |
| Original bag for a compact Mac | Adds about $50-200 on the 128K to SE/30 |
| Professionally recapped, with receipt | Adds about 20-40 percent on the SE/30, Color Classic and Portable |
| Sealed, never opened | Separate market; a sealed 128K or Cube has sold for five figures |
Why some Macs are worth more than others
The 128K is the first Macintosh and the one in the 1984 commercial, and complete early examples with the team signatures inside are bought as artifacts rather than computers. The SE/30 is the most powerful compact Mac and the favorite of the hobbyist community, and its boards are the ones most often destroyed by leaking batteries, so clean working units are scarce. The Color Classic is collected in Japan and modified with faster boards. The G4 Cube is a design object with a famous cracking problem on its acrylic shell. The clamshell iBook is pure 1999 nostalgia, and the rare colors (key lime, graphite, indigo) are the ones collectors want. The Twentieth Anniversary Mac was sold at $7,499 in 1997 to a few thousand buyers. The Lisa sold poorly at $9,995, most were scrapped by Apple, and the survivors are museum pieces.
Later Apple hardware follows the same curve; the first-generation models with the box are the ones that hold value. See our guides to old iPod value and old iPhone value. For the mechanical writing machine that often sat on the same desk a generation earlier, the old typewriter value guide applies.
How WorthPic reads Macintosh photos
WorthPic runs on the newest and most capable AI model available, tuned for exactly this kind of identification. From a photo of the back label it reads the model number and the serial, which fix the model and the manufacturing week, and from the front badge and the port layout it checks that the case and the board agree, which is how upgraded early Macs get caught. From the screen, powered on, it reads whether the unit boots and what the display looks like. From the open case, where there is a photo, it looks for the signatures, the capacitor leakage and the clock battery state. From the whole-unit photos it judges yellowing, cracks and completeness. It then gives an honest value range for working or not-working as the photos show, and says plainly when a detail is missing: for a 128K, the board photo and the inside of the rear case settle originality; for any compact Mac, the powered-on screen settles whether it boots; for an SE/30 or LC, the area around the clock battery settles whether the board has a future. It identifies and estimates. It does not authenticate a prototype, it does not test electronics and it does not appraise for insurance. A 128K, a Lisa, a Twentieth Anniversary Mac, a sealed unit or anything it places above about $500 should be seen by a retro computing specialist or a vintage technology auction house with the machine in hand.
Common mistakes
- Assuming every beige Mac is valuable because it is old. A Performa is a $50-150 computer.
- Plugging in a Mac that has sat for twenty years without removing the clock battery first.
- Throwing out the keyboard, mouse and bag because they look worn. On a 128K they are a large share of the value.
- Selling a 128K as a 128K when it has a 512K or Plus board inside. Buyers check.
- Pricing from asking listings. Vintage Apple asking prices run two to three times what sells.
What to photograph
- The back or underside label with the model number and serial, sharp enough to read. This is the photo that identifies the Mac.
- The front straight on, powered on if it is safe, showing the badge and the screen. This settles whether it boots.
- The back, showing the ports, which should match the model.
- The inside of the case if it opens easily: the logic board, the capacitors, the clock battery area and, on early compacts, the molded signatures.
- Each side and the top, showing yellowing, cracks and missing pieces.
- The box, manuals, disks and bag laid out, with the box serial visible.
When to get it looked at in person
A 1990s beige desktop, a G3 or G4 tower or a late PowerBook can be sold on the open market or offered to a local retro computing group without expert help. A 128K or 512K, a Lisa, a Macintosh Portable, a Twentieth Anniversary Mac, a sealed box, anything with a prototype label or a non-standard case color, or any early Mac with a suspected board upgrade should go to a retro computing specialist or a specialist reseller, who will open the case, confirm the board, recap it if that is worthwhile and route it to a vintage technology auction if the price justifies it. Compact Macs travel badly and the heaviest units are best sold locally or packed by someone who has done it before.