Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as apple ][) is an early personal computer that was created by Apple Inc. It was one of the first successful mass-produced microcomputer products, and it played a significant role in the early development of the personal computer industry. It has an 8-bit microprocessor.
Apple II in a common 1977 configuration, with a 9" monochrome monitor, game paddles, and a Red Book-recommended Panasonic RQ-309DS cassette deck | |
| Developer | Steve Wozniak (lead designer) |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Apple Computer, Inc. |
| Product family | Apple II series |
| Release date | June 1977 |
| Introductory price | US$1,298 (equivalent to $6,270 in 2022) |
| Discontinued | May 1979 |
| Operating system | Integer BASIC / Apple DOS |
| CPU | MOS Technology 6502 @ 1.023 MHz |
| Memory | 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 32, 36, 48, or 64 KiB |
| Storage | Audio cassette, Disk II (5.25-inch, 140 KB, Apple) |
| Display | NTSC video out (built-in RCA connector) |
| Graphics | Lo-res: 40×48, 16-color Hi-res: 280×192, 6-color |
| Sound | 1-bit speaker (built-in) 1-bit cassette input (built-in microphone jack) 1-bit cassette output (built-in headphone jack) |
| Input | Upper-case keyboard, 52 keys |
| Controller input | Paddles |
| Connectivity | Parallel port card (Apple and third party); Serial port card (Apple and third party); SCSI |
| Predecessor | Apple I |
| Successor | Apple II Plus |
The Apple II was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-molded plastic case, Rod Holt developed the switching power supply, while Steve Jobs was not involved in the design or development of the computer. It was introduced by Jobs and Wozniak at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, and marks Apple's first launch of a personal computer aimed at a consumer market—branded toward American households rather than businessmen or computer hobbyists.
Byte magazine referred to the Apple II, Commodore PET 2001, and TRS-80 as the "1977 Trinity". As the Apple II had the defining feature of being able to display color graphics, the Apple logo was redesigned to have a spectrum of colors.
The Apple II is the first model in the Apple II series, followed by Apple II+, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, Apple IIc Plus, and the 16-bit Apple IIGS—all of which remained compatible. Production of the last available model, Apple IIe, ceased in November 1993.
In 2006, PC World wrote that the Apple II was the greatest PC of all time.