How Apple’s most ambitious computer ended up in the trash

In 1983, Apple introduced the Lisa, which was meant to be the future of personal computing. It was sleek, powerful, and ahead of its time. The Lisa brought a new way to interact with computers, featuring a graphical user interface, a mouse, and a hybrid 16/32-bit Motorola 68000 processor. This was a significant upgrade from the older 8-bit Apple II line. At its launch, it was considered a technological marvel. It came with a 720 x 364 resolution monochrome display, dual 5.25-inch double-sided floppy drives, three expansion slots, and a parallel port for peripherals. With 1MB of RAM and good multitasking capabilities, it targeted mostly business professionals. The most notable feature was the GUI, which replaced the old command-line interface with icons, windows, and drop-down menus to make the machine easier to use. However, all this innovation came with a high cost. Priced at $9,995 (over $30,000 today), the Lisa was very expensive, even more so than IBM PCs at the time. Though it impressed tech enthusiasts and businesses, it struggled to reach a wider audience. The following year, Apple released the Macintosh. Although it was less powerful, with only 128K of RAM, it shared the Lisa’s GUI and mouse interface and was much cheaper at $2,495. The Mac’s lower price, attractive marketing, and a memorable Super Bowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott helped it sell 70,000 units in just a few months.

the company chose to take a different kind of write-off: a tax break…

In comparison, the Lisa sold only 50,000 units over two years. Apple attempted to save the Lisa platform by launching the Lisa 2 and later rebranding it as the Macintosh XL. Prices were cut, eventually dropping to $3,995 by 1985, but the situation was clear. In 1986, Apple officially discontinued the Lisa line. A third-party company called Sun Remarketing purchased about 5,000 Lisa computers, refurbishing and selling them under names like “Lisa Professional” and “Macintosh Professional.” But by 1989, Apple had a different plan. With the fiscal year closing and the machines still listed as depreciated assets, the company chose to take a different kind of write-off: a tax break. According to Apple spokesperson Carleen Lavasseur, getting rid of the remaining stock was “a better business decision.” By scrapping the old computers, Apple could claim up to $34 in tax benefits for every $100 of lost value. The company paid only $1.95 for each cubic yard of landfill space, using more than 880 cubic yards. Guards were reportedly on-site to make sure the machines were destroyed completely. Today, the Lisa serves as a cautionary tale in tech history. It shows that innovation alone isn’t enough. Without the right timing, market fit, and price point, even groundbreaking ideas can be forgotten.

image source: Pixabay.com

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the company chose to take a different kind of write-off: a tax break…

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