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The IIc, which debuted in 1984, is basically a "luggable" version of the IIe. It is compact and has no expansion slots but comes with most anything anyone really needs to put in any free slot available on the IIe. It is very iMac-like in that regard. The IIc has the following ports: mouse (or joystick), modem, RF modulator port, RCA jack, disk drive, and printer port. It sold with a miniature 5-inch, high-resolution green monochrome monitor as shown in the product shot to the left. I have one of those tiny monitors but prefer to use a larger Apple green monochrome monitor. As with the IIe, it can be hooked to a television via an RF modulator or through an RCA jack. The CPU is a SynerTek 65C02 running at 1.4 MHz. The IIc has 128K of RAM expandable to 1MB via third-party hardware. The IIc was considered a "closed system". Third-party products that allowed users to upgrade their RAM to 1MB would have voided the warranty.

I use the IIc extensively because of the IIc operating system. The IIc OS makes things like formatting disks (in DOS or ProDOS), copying disks, copying/deleting files, identifying the contents of a disk, and configuring the printer port or modem port very easy. It is far easier to use than DOS or ProDOS on the IIe because you really don't need to know text-line commands to use it. It is pretty much a no-brainer to use. Basically, you scroll through easy to use menus. I really don't play many games on it because of the green monitor. It is more of a work horse and is great for showing 80 columns in various programs.

The IIc has a built-in 5.25 disk drive, as shown above and to the left. As with any Apple II, you really need two disk drives to keep from constantly swapping disks. A good scheme is to use the internal drive as the master disk and the external drive as the program disk. The IIc has its own special "snow white" external disk drive but other than the design, it is basically the same as any other Apple II disk drive and will work with a IIe.

A few interesting features to note:
The IIc has a button on top to turn the IIc keyboard layout from standard to Dvorak. Dvorak keyboards have the keys laid out in a fashion that makes it easier for people who do not know how to type. I don't much care for it because I can type pretty good on a regular keyboard. There is also a button to toggle between 80 or 40 columns. There is a head phone jack with volume control on the left side of the computer. What anyone would use this for is beyond me. It is not like you can pop in an MP3 and jam out. About the only sounds the IIc can make are simple beeps with limited pitches.

The IIc is a "Jobs-so-fied" IIe. Steve Jobs had a hand in its design. It is an extreme example of Apple snow white design that later found its way into products like the flat screen iMac and snow iBook. Unlike the Apple IIe, the IIc is a closed system that is not easy to upgraded. It follows the "computer as an appliance" paradigm of the original Macintosh and the iMac of today.