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This is an Apple IIe with the original Disk II drives and an "AppleColor" Composite Monitor IIe. This IIe has 128 KB of RAM with 64 KB on the 80-Col card and 64 KB on the motherboard. It sports a lightning fast 1 MHz, 6502 processor and has an 8 bit data bus. This is the same setup I used at school back in the mid-1980s. Back then; everyone learned AppleSoft BASIC and DOS 3.3. Windowing operating systems were still very rare. It would take a few more years for the Macintosh to catch up the Apple II's market share, especially in the education market.

Most schools began purchasing Macintosh for desktop publishing. They were used by media departments to create the school newspapers and yearbooks. However, the Apple II line still remained the dominant force in school literacy programs for most of the 1980s. Computer science or computer programming classes in high school or junior high tended to be Applesoft BASIC courses using the IIe and later the IIgs.

Drive 1 light is on indicating that it is reading from the disk

It is really amazing to think that this computer is over 20 years old. It still works like new. The IIe is a much-improved version of the Apple II. The IIe was introduced in 1983 and was in production for many years until finally replaced with the Platinum IIe, which has an improved keyboard layout. As you can see, the IIe does not have a numeric keypad. This makes entering numbers very laborious. Many opted for third party external numeric keypads that plugged into the numeric keyboard port on the motherboard.

The Disk II drives were revolutionary for their time. As with the Apple I and Apple II, the Disk II was substantially designed by Steve Wozniak. He figured out a way to build the drive for a fraction of the cost of comparable 5.25 inch magnetic drives in the late 1970s. Even at a cost of about $600 each (including controller card), these drives were an incredible bargain. They were fast, quiet, durable and relatively inexpensive. Woz accomplished with a small controller card the same thing it previously took a card many times the size with many more chips. The Disk II card is made to work with the Disk II. As you can see in a picture below, the drives are attached directly to the card, unlike the later generation Apple 5.25 inch drives, which had a 15-pin connector. The Disk II was built like a tank and designed to support the weight of the monitor.

Floppy disk ejected from Disk II, Drive 1

The top of the IIe easily pops off. As you can see below, my IIe has three cards on the motherboard. From the left to the right, it has an 80-Col card, a Super Serial card and in slot 2, a Disk II controller card. The 80-Col card gives the IIe the ability to show a screen display 80 characters wide. It also provides an additional 64 KB of RAM. The Super Serial card is used to connect external peripherals like the ImageWriter II printer.

IIe with the monitor removed

A quick snap removes the top

The IIe motherboard

Close-up view of the Disk II controller card

I have an Apple II Joystick connected to the joystick port in the back. The Apple IIe was a great game machine for its time. The AppleColor Composite Monitor IIe is still in great shape and displays clear, bright colors. I was really lucky to pick this one up on eBay a few years ago.

This computer is very important to Apple's history. It provided Apple with a steady stream of revenue that gave them the capital to develop and market the Macintosh. Many Gen-Xers like myself got our first taste of the personal computer using them in school. My IIe is over 20 years old. I can see it going strong for another 20.