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Old 12-08-2007, 12:06 PM
Geoff Harrison Geoff Harrison is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 104
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Well it's your money so it's your choice, but if I had bought it, I wouldn't even think about building it.

Many collectors will say these machines were built to be used, so there's no point in collecting them and storing them away unused, and mostly I agree with them.

In this case, though, you paid big money for an absolutely unique machine in unusual condition. Leave it as it is and you'll still have a very special machine, build it and you'll have just another Altair 8800 that goes for $2000 - $3000 on eBay.

If you want the experience of building an 8800 from scratch then build one of Grant's kits. The experience is exactly what you would have had back in the 70's, and the end result is not just something that's kind of similar to an 8800, it is exactly the same as an 8800.

Whichever choice you make, please consider Grant's suggestion to let him archive hi-res scans of the boards. It would be a shame to lose that data.

Best of luck, whatever you decide.

Geoff.
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