The focus of this category is on vintage computers produced by Apple, from the 1976 introduction of the Apple I to other vintage or obsolete models produced by the company over the years.
Although "vintage" is generally used to refer to obsolete products of especially high quality, we will use the term to describe any model of Apple computer no longer in production.
Introduced in April of 1976, the Apple I was an 8-bit computer that sold for $666.66. Its operating system was Apple Integer BASIC with an optional cassette interface. It was quickly replaced by the Apple II in September of 1977. As of 2013, only sixty-three Apple I computers was known to be in existence, and only six in working condition.
Released in April of 1977, the initial price of the Apple II was $1,298. The first models of the Apple II were distributed with Apple Integer BASIC, but computers sold after June of 1978 shipped with Apple DOS. At the time that it was discontinued in 1979, about 40,000 computers had been sold.
In 1979, the Apple II Plus was released. It shipped with the Applesoft BASIC programming language in ROM and was powered by Apple DOS. Both the Apple II and the Apple II Plus had no lowercase functionality, no caps lock key, and no lowercase letters in the text-mode font stored in the computer's ROM. It was discontinued in 1982.
Intended as business computers, the Apple III and the Apple III Plus were released in May and December of 1980, respectively, and discontinued in 1984 and 1985, respectively. The Apple III series shipped with the Apple Sophisticated Operating System (SOS).
The Apple IIe and Apple IIe Enhanced models were introduced in 1983 and 1985, respectively. Shipping with an optional cassette interface, Disk II, or DuoDisk floppy drive, they used Apple DOS and ProDOS as an OS and loaded Applesoft BASIC in memory.
The Apple Lisa, the company's first 16-bit architecture, and the first personal computer to offer a graphical user interface was introduced in January of 1983 and discontinued a year later. It used the Lisa Office System 10 as an OS. Although a failure on the market, the Lisa line of computers offered several features that didn't reappear until they were implemented on the Macintosh platform.
Apple Lisa II came out in 1984 and was discontinued in 1986. It was less expensive than the original model and included a 10MB internal hard drive and 1MB RAM.
In 1984, the Apple Macintosh was released. Due to the high price of the Apple Lisa, the Macintosh was the first affordable computer with a graphical user interface. It was packaged in a small beige case with a black and white monitor built-in, and included was a keyboard, a mouse, and a floppy drive that took 3.5" disks, the first PC to do so. The first Macintosh sold for $2,495. While the first Macintosh was a 128K machine, a 512K/512Ke version was released later that year. It was a Mac 128K with 384 KB of additional RAM.
Released the following year, the Macintosh XL was a modified version of the Apple Lisa PC. It shipped with MacWorks XL, a Lisa program that allowed 64K Macintosh ROM emulation. Its RAM could be upgraded to 2MB, four times larger than the maximum capacity of earlier Macs.
The Apple IIGS was released in 1986 and enjoyed a long run before being discontinued in 1992. In 1986, it sold for $999. The OS was either Apple ProDOS or GS/OS. Departing from the existing Apple II series, the IIGS featured a 16-bit microprocessor, operating at 2.8 MHz, expandable to 8MB of RAM. The first 50,000 Apple IIGS computers came with Steve Wozniak's "Woz" signature silkscreened on the front and were known as the Woz Limited Edition.
The Apple II Plus was followed by the Apple IIe in 1983 and proved to be the most popular of the Apple II line. In 1987, the IIe was given a modernized look, matching the case color with other Apple products of the time, a built-in numeric keypad was added, and the processor was upgraded, creating the model known as the Apple IIe Platinum.
The last Apple IIe model was the Apple IIe Plus. Introduced in 1988, it was the same shape and size of the IIc, but the 5.25" floppy drive was replaced with a 3.5" drive, the power supply was moved inside the case, and the processor was upgraded.
The Macintosh Portable was Apple's first portable Mac. It had a bay for a 3.5" half-height drive and could support up to two Super Drives. It sold for $6,500 in 1989, but it didn't sell very well.
The first truly portable Mac was the Macintosh PowerBook 100, released in 1991. It was similar to the older Mac Portable, but it sold for only $2,500 and was much better received.
In 1991, the Macintosh Quadra 700 was the first Mac to ship in a tower case, which was basically an Apple IIc case stood on its side. The Macintosh Quadra 900 was introduced at the same time as the Quadra 700 as the first in a line of Quadra Macintosh computers.
Recommended Resources
Created by Steven Weyhrich, the site has been online since the early 1990s, first hosted by GEnie, then in user group newsletters. The author of the book, Sophistication & Simplicity: The Life and Times of the Apple II Computer, presents a history of the Apple II computer, sorted into several chapters, as well as highlights of software developed for the Apple II between 1978 and 1994, achievement awards, and an Apple II timeline. A photo gallery of Apple II computers and components is included.
https://apple2history.org/
Apple Rescue specializes in rescuing and finding new homes for Apple II and Macintosh computers, often carrying complete systems along with hard-to-find parts, peripherals, and manuals to help keep these computers operational. Focused particularly on the Apple II and Apple III family and Macintosh 128k through the PowerPC, an online store is available. Apple Rescue also offers consulting services on location in the Denver region, and a variety of other services.
http://www.applerescueofdenver.com/
The Apple-1 Registry is a list of all known Apple-1 computers still in existence, created to preserve information, a history, and the whereabouts and condition of the few remaining Apple-1 computers. Besides its informational value, the Registry adds authenticity, provenance, and security for an Apple-1 machine, as any published photo could increase the safety of the computer, given the resulting difficulty in selling a stolen machine that has been listed.
https://www.apple1registry.com/
Although it has not been updated since 2015, this site includes a history of Apple computers developed from the Apple I in 1976 through 2015. For each, the essentials, processor information, video specs, and other information is given, and historical Apple products may be found by year, by family, or by CPU. Additionally, company histories are presented, from 1976-1981, 1981-1983, 1983-1985, 1985-1993, 1993-1996, 1996-1997, 1997-200, and 2000-2004.
https://apple-history.com/
While focused on vintage Apple products, the site also includes articles on contemporary computers. Anyone is welcome to submit an Apple-related hack, project, guide, review, or documentary for consideration. The site also includes an active blog and an Internet forum with discussion forums on vintage Macs, various operating systems used in Macs throughout the years, and a sell-trade-buy area. Active forum topics and recent content are highlighted.
https://www.applefritter.com/
Published quarterly, the print journal is designed for Apple II users, and prepared by a knowledgeable staff of Apple II experts who provide news, reviews, interviews, and tutorials for all Apple II users, having expanded beyond its original focus on the Apple IIGS. Founded in 1998, subscriptions and back issues are available for purchase in the site’s store, along with software and other Apple II items. Sample content, a gallery of covers, and a blog are included.
https://juiced.gs/
The abandonware archive is focused on software titles to support the Macintosh computer platform, and includes an emphasis on emulation, encouraging users to run vintage software on modern systems. The software featured here has been discontinued by their publishers and are no longer commercially available. Based largely on a wiki platform, the site allows contributors to upload files and screenshots, as well as to edit descriptions and other details. A forum is included.
http://macintoshgarden.org/
The site is maintained by Kevin Rye, who offers vintage operating systems, games, applications, and utilities on vintage floppy disks for classic Mac and Apple II computer systems. He does not sell software but offers titles, such as classic Mac OS software available as a download from Apple, as well as other abandonware titles, supplying them on a floppy drive that a classic Mac computer can read. A catalog of boot disks and game bundles are featured.
http://www.rescuemyclassicmac.com/
Concentrated on information from the early era of Apple and Apple computers, the site includes archives from MacWorld, MacUser, Byte, Mac Connection, Inside Macintosh, Softalk Magazine, and Apple Develop Magazine, as well as vintage Mac books, Apple Lisa information, Mac programming books, Apple II books, early Apple Mac manuals, and books about Apple and Steve Jobs. Updates to the site are cited on the page, and various projects relating to early Macs are cited.
https://vintageapple.org/
