Hand-built Apple computer by Steve Jobs could fetch up to $600,000 at auction

The original Apple computer, built by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak approximately 45 years ago, is said to go up for auction in the US on Tuesday. 

The computer, still intact and running, is the oldest version of what we know as Macbooks today. 

It is expected to be sold at the auction for $600,000, reports NDTV. 

Not only is it one of 200 computers built by the duo, but what makes it even more valuable is that the computer is encased in koa wood; a wood native to Hawaii. Not all 200 computers were built with the same materials. 

The auction house reported that Jobs and Wozniak sold Apple-1s as component parts and one shop which received 50 units decided to encase some in koa.

"This is kind of the holy grail for vintage electronics and computer tech collectors," Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen told the Los Angeles Times. "That really makes it exciting for a lot of people."

John Moran, one of the auctioneers explained how the deceived has had only two owners prior to this event. 

"It was originally purchased by an electronics professor at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California, who then sold it to his student in 1977," a listing on the auction house's website says.

The student had reportedly purchased the computer for only $650 at that time. 

A working Apple-1 that had come into the market in 2014 was sold off by Bonhams for $900,000.

"A lot of people just want to know what kind of a person collects Apple-1 computers and it's not just people in the tech industry," Cohen said.

Apple rose to success in the late 1970s and early 1980s. However, they experienced a slight setback after the departure of Jobs and Wozniak. 

Jobs was brought back as chief executive in the 1990s and stayed with the company until his death in 2011.