Vintage Apple gear is getting rarer and more valuable by the day – especially when it’s still working. There’s no replacement for vintage original parts like cases with cracked and yellowed plastic, logic boards with corroded tracks and floppy drives with broken motors. So when a part fails, the only way to replace it is to cannibalize a working part from another machine. That’s how the population of working machines continues to decrease.
Take the Apple IIe as an example. You could have found one in working condition in a thrift shop for $50 a decade ago. A decade before that you could have gotten one for free from a school that was upgrading their computer lab. Today a working Apple IIe will cost you at least $200 – and that’s if you only want one disk drive and no monitor. Other accessories like rare expansion cards and boxed software will cost even more.
You’re one of the lucky ones who own some vintage Apple gear. You have a piece of history that will only become more rare and valuable with time. Now you need to take care of it so you can enjoy it yourself and preserve its value for future generations. Here’s how to do it:
Keep the Plastic from Discoloring
Plastics from the 80s haven’t aged well. That’s because of the bromine used in the plastic as a flame retardant. Some of the bromine can migrate to the surface and turn the plastic yellow. Yellowed plastic is a common problem with all vintage computers that were originally white or beige, like Apple lle and early Macs. You can bleach the plastic back to its original color with hydrogen peroxide but that’s a huge project because you have to remove all the electronics and strip the computer down to the bare plastic. Much easier to prevent the plastic from yellowing in the first place by keeping the computer out of the sun and heat.
Also store your vintage Apple gear properly to prevent the plastic from discoloring. Don’t let the power cord or the cords for other accessories like joysticks touch the outside of the computer. The plasticizers in the cord will react with the plasticizers in the computer case and leave you with a dark streak or divot that can’t be removed.
Don’t Smoke Around Your Vintage Apple Gear
It’s certainly fun to compute like it’s 1982, but some relics from the ‘80s need to stay there – and that includes smoking around your vintage Apple gear. There are a million reasons why smoking around vintage computers is a horrible idea, but here are a few of the biggest ones.
· If the computer has an intake fan for cooling the smoke will get inside the machine and insulate the delicate components. Anything that hampers a computer’s ability to dissipate heat will cause components to fail early.
· It’ll accelerate the yellowing of the plastic – and as we just explained above, removing the stains from an old Apple II or Mac is a major project that’s not feasible at all for many people.
· It’ll reduce the value of your computers and old software. If you have a complete boxed copy of an old game like something from the “Ultima” or “King’s Quest” series you’re sitting on a lot of money. Buyers will be very unhappy if the item smells like smoke.
If you smoke we’re not here to judge – but don’t do it around your vintage Apple gear. Instead grab a Geek Bar and use that. It won’t harm your gear or make it smell.
How to Use a Soldering Iron
If you want to collect and use vintage Apple gear, you can’t avoid it – you’ll have to get good with a soldering iron. Every old Mac has a type of non-volatile memory called Parameter RAM or PRAM. The PRAM stores the system’s settings and has a battery that provides backup power so the settings don’t get erased when the computer is turned off. The problem is the expected life of the backup battery is about 10 years so the PRAM battery in every vintage Mac is now at risk of leaking if it hasn’t been replaced. Here’s a picture of the damage that can happen when this occurs. Don’t let an old battery ruin your vintage Mac or Apple IIGS – get good with a soldering iron and get that battery replaced now. You’ll likely have to replace leaking caps at some point too.
Keep Your Vintage Apple Computers Clean
Smoke isn’t the only thing that can insulate the components in your vintage Apple gear and prevent them from cooling. Over the years dust, pet hair and all kinds of other crud can get into the computers and cover the components and clog the fans. If you have an old Apple machine and have never opened it up to clean it, you’ll definitely want to do so before heat starts killing the components. Open the computer and get in there with a can of compressed air and a small brush made from a natural material that won’t build up a static charge. Make sure the computer is turned off and unplugged when you do this.
If you have a really dirty computer you can clean components like logic boards and add-on cards with water. You have to be very careful though since water and wires don’t mix. Rinse the dirty components with distilled or demineralized water – an ultrasonic cleaner works well – and let them air dry for several days.
Protect Floppy Drives When Moving Them
If you have a vintage Apple II computer then you have at least one 5.25-inch floppy drive – and you should know that the heads in these drives are very easily misaligned. Always put a head protector in a 5.25-inch drive before moving it. If you don’t have a head protector use a floppy disk that no longer works.