Nonetheless old capacitors degrade, despite predating the plague. It’s SOP among retro computer folks to recap 80s/90s micros to avoid electrolyte damaging the boards, and I’ve had 80s-era Unix workstations go pop when powered on.
For most things I’d expect there to be no difference between the value of a computer with original caps _and no damage_ and one with recaps _and no damage_, because the buyer is going to recap anyway. For this Apple I, which is a museum piece rather than a hobby piece, I really don’t know if that holds.
It was much later that cheap, but improperly copied, electrolytic capacitors started to be widely used.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
Even equipment from the 1950s rarely have to have their capacitors replaced, though sometimes they have to be "reformed".
Nonetheless old capacitors degrade, despite predating the plague. It’s SOP among retro computer folks to recap 80s/90s micros to avoid electrolyte damaging the boards, and I’ve had 80s-era Unix workstations go pop when powered on.
For most things I’d expect there to be no difference between the value of a computer with original caps _and no damage_ and one with recaps _and no damage_, because the buyer is going to recap anyway. For this Apple I, which is a museum piece rather than a hobby piece, I really don’t know if that holds.
I wonder what it will do to the value once they have to recap to keep it booting.