Are you taking the mickey? First computer to come with a mouse could fetch £25,000 at auction


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They are part of everyday life and are even being gradually replaced by touchpads and touchscreens.

Yet the first desktop computer to come with a mouse is expected to cost far more than the latest tablet and could fetch an eye watering £25,000 ($42,000) at auction.

Launched just over 30 years ago, the rare Apple Lisa 1 came with the iconic hardware and was the brainchild of Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Taking the mickey? The first desktop computer to come with a mouse (pictured) is expected to fetch an eye watering £25,000 at auction in Germany

Taking the mickey? The first desktop computer to come with a mouse (pictured) is expected to fetch an eye watering £25,000 at auction in Germany

THE APPLE 1 LISA

Features: First computer to come with a mouse, use icons instead of simple text, overlapping windows, pull-down menus and the recycle bin

Processor: 5MHz and one megabyte of RAM

Launch date: 1983

Creators: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Cost: $10,000 in 1983 - The equivalent of $24,000 or £14,000 pounds today

Biggest customer: Nasa, which used the machine for project management

Auction estimate: £25,000 ($42,030)

Rarity: Less than 100 left in the world

The machine was also the first to use icons instead of simple text and introduced features still common on computers today, such as overlapping windows, pull-down menus and the recycle bin.

 

It was hailed as the most important development in personal computing on its launch in 1983 but despite its ground-breaking technology, the machine was a commercial failure, and consequently more valuable today.

The machine was flawed with temperamental disk drives and cost a whopping $10,000 - the equivalent of $24,000 or £14,000 pounds today.

First: The machine was also the first to come with a mouse, (pictured) use icons instead of simple text and introduced features still common on computers today, such as overlapping windows, pull-down menus and the recycle bin

First: The machine was also the first to come with a mouse, (pictured) use icons instead of simple text and introduced features still common on computers today, such as overlapping windows, pull-down menus and the recycle bin

Just a year after its launch, it had been superseded by a better and cheaper model and Apple even offered Lisa 1 owners a refund and free upgrade.

The returned computers were destroyed and it is thought less than 100 still exist.

Compared to modern computers, Lisa's capabilities were minute, boasting a 5MHz processor and just one megabyte of RAM.

The biggest customer of the Lisa 1 was Nasa, which used the machine for project management and faced major problems when the computer was finally discontinued in 1986.

Meet Lisa: Launched just over 30 years ago, the rare Apple Lisa 1 (pictured) came with a mouse and was the brainchild of Apple founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who named it after his daughter

Meet Lisa: Launched just over 30 years ago, the rare Apple Lisa 1 (pictured) came with a mouse and was the brainchild of Apple founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, who named it after his daughter

Apple claimed that the name Lisa stood for Local Integrated System Architecture but Steve Jobs later admitted that he named it after his first daughter who was born in 1978.

The rare computer is expected to fetch £25,000 when it goes under the hammer at auction in Cologne, Germany, on May 24.

It comes complete with a user manual and original advertising brochures.

'It is incredible to think that the Apple 1 is really where modern computing began,' said Uwe Breker, auctioneer at Team Breker.

Precious Lisa: The rare computer is expected to fetch £25,000 when it goes under the hammer at auction in Cologne, Germany, on May 24. It comes complete with a user manual and original advertising brochures (pictured)

Precious Lisa: The rare computer is expected to fetch £25,000 when it goes under the hammer at auction in Cologne, Germany, on May 24. It comes complete with a user manual and original advertising brochures (pictured)

'Apple had made previous computers but the Lisa 1 was the first to have many of the features we still use today like a mouse, an icon-based interface and of course the recycle bin.

'Although it was very technologically advanced for its time it was hugely overpriced and it was a financial flop.

'The Apple Lisa 1 may not have been very popular at the time of their release but now they are very sought after indeed.

'This computer is incredibly basic by today's standards but it is part of computing history.'

Complex: Although the computer was very technologically advanced for its time it was hugely overpriced and it was a financial flop. Among its inner workings, it is possible to see the shipping date in this image

Complex: Although the computer was very technologically advanced for its time it was hugely overpriced and it was a financial flop. Among its inner workings, it is possible to see the shipping date in this image

The biggest customer of the Lisa 1 was Nasa which used the machine for project management faced major problems when the computer was finally discontinued in 1986. The computer's manual is pictured

The biggest customer of the Lisa 1 was Nasa which used the machine for project management faced major problems when the computer was finally discontinued in 1986. The computer's manual is pictured



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