The Apple I sold for $666.66 in 1976

The first Apple computer, called the Apple I, cost $666.66 when it launched in July 1976. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs built the first units by hand in Jobs's parents' garage in Los Altos, California. The price covered the circuit board and components only — no case, no monitor, no keyboard, and no power supply. A buyer had to provide those parts separately or build them.

That $666.66 figure was not arbitrary. Wozniak set the price by adding a 33 percent markup to the wholesale cost of the parts, which came to about $500. The odd decimal came from the way Wozniak calculated the markup. He wanted a clean profit margin, and the math landed on $666.66.

The Apple I remained in production for less than a year. By early 1977, Apple had moved on to the Apple II, which cost $1,298 when it shipped in June of that year. The Apple II included a case, a keyboard, and a power supply — making it a more complete machine, though still requiring a separate monitor and disk drive.

Key Takeaways

  • The Apple I cost $666.66 in 1976 and included only the circuit board and components, not a case or peripherals.
  • Steve Wozniak set the price by adding a 33 percent markup to the parts cost of roughly $500.
  • Fewer than 200 Apple I units were ever sold before the Apple II replaced it in 1977.
  • The Apple II cost $1,298 and included a case and keyboard, making it a more finished product than the Apple I.

What $666.66 meant in 1976 dollars

In 1976, $666.66 was a significant amount of money for a hobbyist or small business. The median household income in the United States that year was around $15,000 annually, which means the Apple I cost roughly 4 to 5 percent of a year's household earnings. For comparison, a new car cost between $4,000 and $6,000, and a house in many parts of the country sold for $40,000 to $60,000.

The Apple I was not marketed to the general public. It was sold through the Byte Shop, a computer store in Mountain View, California, and through mail order to hobbyists and electronics enthusiasts who belonged to the Homebrew Computer Club. These were people who already owned soldering irons and understood circuit boards. They were willing to pay for a machine that let them experiment with computing.

Why the Apple I was so cheap compared to other computers

In 1976, most computers cost thousands of dollars more than the Apple I. The Altair 8800, which launched in 1975 and sparked the home computer movement, cost $395 for a kit version — but that was just the processor and memory board. A fully working Altair system with a power supply, case, and peripherals ran $2,000 to $5,000. The IBM System/3, aimed at small businesses, cost around $5,000 to $10,000.

Wozniak's engineering made the Apple I cheap. He designed the circuit board to use fewer chips than competing computers, which meant fewer parts to buy and assemble. He also wrote the BASIC programming language interpreter in machine code by hand, rather than licensing it from another company. That saved money and gave the Apple I a real advantage: a user could turn it on and start programming when ready, without buying additional software.

The low parts cost also reflected the era. Memory chips, processors, and other components were cheaper in 1976 than they would be a few years later, partly because demand was still small. As the personal computer market grew, component prices actually rose for a time before falling again in the 1980s.

How many Apple I computers were actually sold

Apple sold somewhere between 150 and 200 Apple I units before discontinuing the line. The exact number is not documented — Apple did not publish sales figures at the time, and many of the early records have been lost. Most estimates come from interviews with early employees and from the serial numbers on surviving machines.

The Apple I was never a mass-market product. It was a stepping stone. The real business began with the Apple II, which sold in the tens of thousands and established Apple as a computer company rather than a hobbyist curiosity. By 1980, when Apple went public, the Apple II had become the standard computer for small businesses and schools.

The Apple II and the shift to a complete system

The Apple II, released in June 1977, cost $1,298 for the base model with 4 kilobytes of memory. For $1,595, you could get 16 kilobytes. These prices included the case, keyboard, and power supply — everything the Apple I lacked. You still needed to buy a monitor and a cassette recorder or disk drive separately, but the Apple II felt like a finished product.

The higher price reflected better engineering and a broader target market. The Apple II had color graphics, sound, and expansion slots that let users add memory or other hardware. It came with Applesoft BASIC built in, so users could program it out of the box. Apple also released VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, which made the Apple II essential for small business accounting.

The jump from $666.66 to $1,298 was steep, but the Apple II was a different machine for a different audience. The Apple I was for people who wanted to build a computer. The Apple II was for people who wanted to use one.

Why the Apple I price still matters today

The Apple I's price tells a story about how personal computing began. It was cheap enough for hobbyists to afford, but expensive enough to be a serious purchase. It was straightforward enough to assemble and program, but powerful enough to do real work. That balance — between affordability, simplicity, and capability — became the template for every personal computer that followed.

The $666.66 price also reflected a philosophy. Wozniak and Jobs were not trying to maximize profit on each unit. They were trying to get computers into the hands of people who would use them and build on them. That approach shaped Apple's early identity and helped establish the personal computer as a category that mattered.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the $666.66 price include a monitor?

No. The Apple I was just the circuit board and components. Buyers had to provide or build their own case, keyboard, power supply, and monitor. This made the total cost of a working system much higher than $666.66.

How much would $666.66 in 1976 be worth today?

That depends on how you measure inflation. Using the Consumer Price Index, $666.66 in 1976 would be roughly $3,500 to $4,000 in 2024 dollars. But computer prices have fallen so dramatically that a direct comparison is misleading — you can buy a far more powerful computer today for much less.

Why did Wozniak choose that exact price?

Wozniak calculated the wholesale cost of the parts at about $500 and added a 33 percent markup for profit and overhead. The math came out to $666.66. He was not trying to create a memorable number — it was straightforward the result of his markup formula.

How many people actually bought an Apple I?

Between 150 and 200 units were sold before Apple discontinued the line in 1977. It was never a mass-market product. Most buyers were hobbyists and electronics enthusiasts who belonged to computer clubs or read about the machine in specialized magazines.

Was the Apple I better than the Altair 8800?

They were different machines for different purposes. The Altair was a processor and memory board that required significant assembly and external hardware. The Apple I was a complete computer on a single board that could run BASIC when ready. The Apple I was easier to use, but the Altair came first and sparked the home computer movement.