Is the original Mac computer still widely available online?

You should go to some computer sharing stores or computer restoration shops. Maybe they will have some there

Here’s a few:

ebay
another from ebay
craigslist

I’m sure there must be people selling them around the world – whether from estate sales, personal collections or computer companies/repair services.

The ones I listed are the original Apple Mac pc’s ..Macintosh 128K.

Which original Mac- any one in particular? You often see some of the older models, such as the Mac Plus, in thrift stores. My boss keeps two in the basement at work :>)

Which Mac are you talking about I have a G4 from the late ninety’s with OS9 running on it.

I doubt that any Mac with a G in it’s name would qualify as “original” enough :)

But a “Lisa” might come close. Jobs named it after his girlfriend back in the day :)

@Buttonstc yes! The Apple Lisa was really the first Macintosh. It had their first mouse and desktop metaphor GUI. They did do significant refinement to make the first MacOS though. @jellyfish3232 just curious what are you going to do with one of either a Lisa or an original Mac? They were slow B&W low-resolution and lack multi-tasking and virtual memory… Up until OS X they were a real pain-in-the-ass unless you run just one program (e.g. photoshop),

Like many pieces of “classic” hardware, they will be split between the ones collecting dust in a thrift shop for $5 and those going to auction for $500. To call it “widely available” would be a stretch, but the internet being what it is, they are not impossible to find either. Trying to find one without paying hundreds of dollars though… that may be tricky.

@dabbler I was multi-tasking under System 6.0.x (though it sucked, especially with only 1MB of RAM), and could actually have multiple applications visible simultaneously in System 7 without issues. I would say that multi-tasking stopped being a pain in the ass earlier than you think. Or maybe it just seemed that way since it was so painful under System 6.

Some do it yourselfers have turned those old boxy beige ones into a fish tank. A little Aquarium grade glass/plastic, a bit of silicone sealant, some cool lights, etc and bingo !

I’ve seen pics of them on various Internet sites. Pretty clever. Definitely a conversation piece.

I wonder how much the ones which Steve and Woz hand built in their garage would fetch (and how many of them there are) ?
They both hand etched their names (or initials) on the inside of each one (with a soldering pen I believe.)

I would just love to own one of those, but doubt I could afford it. But the sentimentalist in me just finds it kind of charming.

”...from little acorns…”

@jerv You could have multiple applications visible but usually that meant most of them were completely dormant while you didn’t have focus on them. The MacOS resource-sharing counted on all your apps to be well behaved and surrender their computing and I/O resources at regular intervals.
But that was entirely possible to do, and clearly you got stuff done on yours. Apple accomplished a lot by letting people get done what they wanted to on their machines, reliably, it was revolutionary at the time. You got more readily available computing resources than on a typical IBM compatible, and for a fraction the cost of an industrial-strength graphic “workstation” with similar user experience.
The MacOS desktop GUI was the best thing around for years that a normal person could think about affording.

@dabbler I guess it depends on what degree of multi-tasking you demand, but I say that *NIX-oid systems (like Linux and OS X) have the edge there.