Iconic Apple II Turns 35 Years Old
If the Apple II was made of flesh, blood, and bone, it would probably be out shopping a sports car today, one of the many rituals that seem to manifest when you reach middle age. The Apple II, you see, was introduced to the world 35 years ago at the West Coast Computer Faire. The 8-bit machine would go on sale to the general public less than two months later on June 5, 1977.
Widely considered Apple's first iconic product, long before the iPod, iPhone, and iPad ever came into sight, the Apple II was largely a Steve Wozniak creation. It kicked off the once popular Apple II line with a MOS Technology 6502 processor clocked at a whopping 1MHz, 4KB of RAM, and displayed 24 lines of 40 characters in low resolution color. In fact, it was one of the first computers to boast a color display. It also had a case and integrated keyboard, though it could also be purchased as a standalone board.
The Apple II sold for just shy of $1,300 ($1,298, to be precise) in 1977, while the standalone board sold for $598. Factoring in inflation, that works out to around $4,900 and $2,263, respectively, in 2012 currency
Widely considered Apple's first iconic product, long before the iPod, iPhone, and iPad ever came into sight, the Apple II was largely a Steve Wozniak creation. It kicked off the once popular Apple II line with a MOS Technology 6502 processor clocked at a whopping 1MHz, 4KB of RAM, and displayed 24 lines of 40 characters in low resolution color. In fact, it was one of the first computers to boast a color display. It also had a case and integrated keyboard, though it could also be purchased as a standalone board.
The Apple II sold for just shy of $1,300 ($1,298, to be precise) in 1977, while the standalone board sold for $598. Factoring in inflation, that works out to around $4,900 and $2,263, respectively, in 2012 currency
Can anyone remember using one of these?
