Apple Lisa

Description

Model: Apple Lisa
Type: all-in-One
Category: Apple Lisa
Year: 1983
CPU: 68000
CPU Speed: 5 MHz
Screen: 12″ Monochrome

Description: The Apple Lisa was released in 1983 and it was the first computer to have a graphical user interface and mouse. The operating software was very advanced for its time; it used a document centric approach, which was completely new for its time. The Lisa was released with a complete suite of applications for writing, spreadsheet, drawing, etc…

The Lisa took 5 years to develop and the major breakthroughs were made after a visit to Xerox Parc in 1979. It uses a separate 5 MB Apple ProFile hard disk to store the operating system.

There Steve Jobs had seen a computer called the Xerox Alto, which had a graphical user interface, mouse and networking support. The Lisa specifications where based on that computer. The later released Macintosh was also based on that same computer from Xerox. Bill Dresselhaus designed the odd shaped Lisa.

In 1984, after the release of the Macintosh it was clear that the Lisa was a failure. Only 6000 computers had been sold and over 4000 were still sitting in the warehouse. Apple at that very moment upgraded all existing Lisa for free and these Lisa were called the Lisa 2. Virtually all “Lisa” turned into “Lisa 2”.

The company also upgraded all models that it still had in inventory. All remaining casing parts of the prime Lisa have been destroyed by Apple and hidden in a remote dump site. So the original Lisa as shown here are among the rarest vintage Apple computers still in existence.

Less than 20 original Apple Lisa computers are known to exist. We could track only 11 Lisa computers in collections and museums. Only 6 are in mint and working condition.

Our particular Lisa has still the original box it was shipped with. This is the only one known box in the world of a Lisa. The serial number from the computer matches the serial on the box. The mouse and keyboard are original and still have their boxes as well.

This item is part the Philippe Poppe Apple computer collection.