The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. It was released in January 1983 as the successor to the Apple II Plus. The e in the name stands for enhanced. It is the first Apple II with built-in lowercase, 80-column text support and 64K RAM standard, while reducing the total chip count from previous models by approximately 75%.

Improved expandability combined with the new features made for an attractive general-purpose machine to first-time computer shoppers. As the last surviving model of the Apple II computer line before discontinuation, and having been manufactured and sold for nearly 11 years with relatively few changes, the IIe was the longest-lived computer in Apple's history.

History

thumb|right|250px|Apple IIe with [[Disk II#DuoDisk|DuoDisk and Monitor II]]

Apple Computer planned to discontinue the Apple II series after the introduction of the Apple III in 1980; the company intended to clearly establish market segmentation by designing the Apple III to appeal to the business market, leaving the Apple II for home and education users. Management believed that "once the Apple III was out, the Apple II would stop selling in six months", cofounder Steve Wozniak later said.

By the time IBM released the rival IBM PC in 1981, the Apple II's technology was already four years old. In September 1981 InfoWorld reported—below the PC's announcement—that Apple was secretly developing three new computers "to be ready for release within a year": Lisa, Macintosh, and "Diana". Describing the last as a software-compatible Apple II replacement—"A 6502 machine using custom LSI" and a simpler motherboard—it said that Diana "was ready for release months ago" but decided to improve the design to better compete with the Xerox 820. "Now it appears that when Diana is ready for release, it will offer features and a price that will make the Apple II uncompetitive", the magazine wrote.

"Apple's plans to phase out the Apple II have also been delayed by complications in the design of the Apple III", the article also said. BYTE reported in October 1982 a rumor that the next Apple II would be called the IIe. After the Apple III sold poorly, management decided in 1981 that the further continuation of the Apple II was in the company's best interest. After years of the Apple II Plus, essentially at a standstill, came the introduction of a new Apple II model — the Apple IIe (codenamed "Diana" and "Super II"). The Apple IIe was released in January 1983, the successor to the Apple II Plus. The Apple IIe was the first Apple computer with a custom ASIC chip, which reduced much of the old discrete IC-based circuitry to a single chip. This change resulted in reducing the cost and size of the motherboard. Some of the hardware features of the Apple III (e.g. bank-switched memory) were borrowed in the design of the Apple IIe, and some from incorporating the Apple II Plus Language card. The culmination of these changes led to increased sales and greater market share of home, education, and small business use.

New features

thumb|Apple IIe computer chassis with a selection of original documentation

thumb|Rear view of an Apple IIe computer and monitor

thumb|Front view of an Apple IIe system, including computer chassis, monitor, and external 5¼" floppy disk drive

thumb|A selection of Apple IIe software

One of the most notable improvements of the Apple IIe is the addition of an ASCII-equivalent printable character set and keyboard. The most important addition is the ability to input and display lower-case letters. Other keyboard improvements include four-way cursor control and standard editing keys ( and ), two special Apple modifier keys (Open and Solid Apple), and a safe off-to-side relocation of the key. The auto-repeat function (any key held down to repeat same character continuously) is now automatic, no longer requiring the key found on the keyboards of previous models.

The machine came standard with 64 KB RAM, with the equivalent of a built-in Apple Language Card in its circuitry, and had a new special "Auxiliary slot" (replacing slot 0, though electronically mapped to slot 3 for compatibility with earlier third-party 80-column cards) for adding more memory via bank-switching RAM cards. Through this slot it also includes built-in support for an 80-column text display on monitors (with the addition of a plug-in 1K memory card, via bank-switching of 40 columns) and could be easily doubled to 128 KB RAM by alternatively plugging in Apple's Extended 80-Column Text Card. As time progressed, even more memory could be added through third-party cards using the same bank-switching slot or, alternatively, general-purpose slot cards that addressed memory 1 byte at a time (i.e. Slinky RAM cards). A new ROM diagnostic routine could be invoked to test the motherboard for faults and also test its main bank of memory.

The Apple IIe lowered production costs and improved reliability by merging the function of several off-the-shelf ICs into single custom chips, reducing total chip count to 31 (previous models used 120 chips). The IIe also switched to using newer single-voltage 64x1 DRAM chips instead of the triple-voltage 16x1 DRAM in the II/II+. For this reason the motherboard design is much cleaner and runs cooler as well, with enough room to add a pin-connector for an (optional) external numeric keypad. Also added was a backport-accessible DE-9 joystick connector, making it far easier for users to add and remove game and input devices (previous models requiring plugging the joystick/paddles directly into a 16-pin DIP socket on the motherboard; the IIe retained this connector for backwards compatibility). Also improved were port openings for expansion cards. Rather than cutout V-shaped slot openings as in the Apple II and II Plus, the IIe has a variety of different-sized openings, with thumb-screw holes, to accommodate mounting interface cards with DB-xx and DE-xx connectors (removable plastic covers filled the cutouts if not used).

Although the lower IC count improved reliability over previous Apple II models, Apple still retained the practice of socketing all ICs so that servicing and replacement could be performed more easily. Later-production IIe models had the RAM soldered to the system board rather than socketed.

Despite the hardware changes, the IIe maintained a high degree of backwards compatibility with the previous models, allowing most hardware and software from those systems to be used. Apple provided technical information on the IIe to hundreds of developers before its release, and claimed that, as a result, 85 to 90% of Apple II software worked with it.

Reception

IIe sold well in 1983 despite the IBM PC's great success. Sales rose in late 1983 and early 1984 despite aging technology as the company cut prices, possibly to reduce inventory before announcing IIc. Customers who visited stores curious about Macintosh, or the new IBM PCjr, often bought IIe instead.

BYTE wrote in February 1983 that the IIe was "like having an Apple II with all the extras built in ... with a variety of exciting new features and capabilities" for about the same price as the Apple II. It found the computer to be highly compatible with the Apple II and praised the quality of the documentation for developers and beginners. The review concluded, "Congratulations, Apple Computer, you've produced another winner". InfoWorlds reviewers, Apple II Plus owners for four years, wished that the IIe's price were lower but stated that it "does give you more for your money, however". They also found compatibility to be very high, and concluded that "we are generally pleased with the changes Apple has provided with the IIe". Creative Computing said in December 1984 that the IIe and IIc were the best home computers with prices above $500, with the IIe better for those wanting expansion cards, color graphics, and educational and entertainment software. The magazine also chose the IIe as the best educational computer above $1000, citing Apple's strong early commitment to the market and large number of third-party education-related peripherals.

Specifications

thumb|Apple IIe with external [[Disk II floppy drive at the Universum museum in Mexico City]]

  • Microprocessor
  • 6502 or 65C02 running at 1.023 MHz
  • 8-bit data bus
  • Memory
  • 64 KB RAM built-in
  • 16 KB ROM built-in
  • Expandable from 64 KB up to 1 MB RAM or more
  • Video modes
  • 40 and 80 columns text, white-on-black, with 24 lines
  • Low-Resolution: 40×48 (16 colors)
  • High-Resolution: 280×192 (6 colors)
  • Double-Low-Resolution: 80×48 (16 colors)