Who remembers the HTC Thunderbolt? First shown off at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the phone set the stage for the Samsung Galaxy SIII and its rivals: big, beautiful, running on the latest LTE network, and power hungry. Today, it’s been almost forgotten.

Years, and even decades ago, product cycles moved at a more deliberate pace. Iconic computers became the platforms for generations, slowly building an ecosystem of hobbyists, software developers, modders, beat reporters, and fans. Products like the Altair 8800 were featured in monthly magazines (yes, back then, magazines were printed monthly, and on paper) and debated for months. Information moved more slowly then. Today, a monthly magazine showing a particular smartphone model is almost out of date by the time it hits the newsstands.

That’s not to say that the iconic products of yesteryear can’t be yours, however. Thank goodness for sites like eBay, whose vintage computer listings seem to be inexplicably dominated by older IBM servers. Instead, true hobbyists can pick up a liquid-cooled Cray T94 for just thousands, while the originals cost millions. (Perhaps that’s why Cray is just another Intel house today.) Still, collecting is a timeless hobby, and many of the early engineers and innovators who struck it rich built up their own computig collections to rival the Computer History Museum (whose amazing exhibits are worth a visit).

Want to invest in a piece of computing history? First, you might want to click on over to Vintagecomputer.com – the site keeps track of auctions and other sales of iconic computers, such as the original Apple 1, which went on sale earlier this year. Unfortunately, it’s a bit late to bid on the German Enigma machine, which recently sold at auction for £85,250(Opens in a new window). But here are our other suggestions – and some are still available!