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Part of the reason the Apple I is so rare, is that Apple offered an Apple I trade in program. Apple would destroy the boards of Apple Is that were traded in for Apple IIs.

* Not that there was really many to begin with.

What was the reasoning behind that?

It's because the Apple I had no built-in BASIC, and booted to a Monitor prompt. It was hard to use without a manual in front of you.

Meanwhile, the Apple II just let you put in a disk and boot a program. Huge difference in usability.

Probably to reduce support costs.

I recall my junior high school had only Apple IIs in 1995.

But very really if you bought it and kept it until now.

Even better, what if I had invested that money in Apple stock instead? :)

I use to muse if I put the money I spent on computer gear back in the day instead into woodworking tools, I'd not only have a bigger, better shop than Norm Abrahm, all of the tools would probably still work.