WaveyDipole
Experienced Member
I have an old Tek 4051 computer that I was able to repair and get back to working order. I am currently using for it developing a particular project. The repair has actually cost me around 250GBP including replacement parts and a 6 hour round trip to London to pick it up.
I was also thinking about buying a Commodore PET, but the prices on eBay have taken me by surprise. Current listings start at just under 500GPB and that may be a broken one, are typically around the 800-1k mark and can be as much as almost 4k! I expect the almost 1k and upwards are "collectors prices", however even the low end seems relatively expensive. For example, last night there was a spares/repairs SuperPet 9000 on eBay. The seller pointed out that it had gone bang but it would have been an ideal repair project and a having done some research is appears it is a little unusual in that it has two different processors and would have been an ideal machine for a programming hobbyist. I had spotted it at 200GBP with 3 hours to go and decided on a budget up to 350GBP and felt reasonably confident. As it happens, it shot up to 425GBP about an hour before the auction was due to end due to a bidding war between two bidders. I did not expect this last hour hike but it eventually sold for over 500GPB. I seriously considered increasing my bid but was hesitant as to its worth bearing in mind that it is in an unknown state and needing repair which is always something of a gamble. There was also a lengthy trip to go and pick it up. In addition, with bidding wars things can get carried away so was it really worth that much? In the end I decided to drop out and not to go beyond my budget. That is just one example, but not the only recent one.
I am curious though as to why Commodore PETs seem to go for so much more than a lot of other vintage computers and whether my budget is unrealistic. On the other hand I am not THAT desperate to own a PET that I would pay upward of 500GBP for one! At the end of the day its basically a 6502 machine with a monitor and I am not a collector, just a hobbyist that likes repairing and experimenting.
I was also thinking about buying a Commodore PET, but the prices on eBay have taken me by surprise. Current listings start at just under 500GPB and that may be a broken one, are typically around the 800-1k mark and can be as much as almost 4k! I expect the almost 1k and upwards are "collectors prices", however even the low end seems relatively expensive. For example, last night there was a spares/repairs SuperPet 9000 on eBay. The seller pointed out that it had gone bang but it would have been an ideal repair project and a having done some research is appears it is a little unusual in that it has two different processors and would have been an ideal machine for a programming hobbyist. I had spotted it at 200GBP with 3 hours to go and decided on a budget up to 350GBP and felt reasonably confident. As it happens, it shot up to 425GBP about an hour before the auction was due to end due to a bidding war between two bidders. I did not expect this last hour hike but it eventually sold for over 500GPB. I seriously considered increasing my bid but was hesitant as to its worth bearing in mind that it is in an unknown state and needing repair which is always something of a gamble. There was also a lengthy trip to go and pick it up. In addition, with bidding wars things can get carried away so was it really worth that much? In the end I decided to drop out and not to go beyond my budget. That is just one example, but not the only recent one.
I am curious though as to why Commodore PETs seem to go for so much more than a lot of other vintage computers and whether my budget is unrealistic. On the other hand I am not THAT desperate to own a PET that I would pay upward of 500GBP for one! At the end of the day its basically a 6502 machine with a monitor and I am not a collector, just a hobbyist that likes repairing and experimenting.
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