Macintosh II - Definition and Overview

Macintosh II was the first personal computer model of the Macintosh II series in the Apple Macintosh line. (Not to be confused with the Apple II family of non-Macintosh computers.)

Apple Macintosh II

The Apple Macintosh II was the first "modular" Macintosh model, so called because it came in a standard desktop case. All previous Macintosh computers used an all-in-one design with a built-in black-and-white monitor. The Mac II allowed Macintosh users a choice of larger displays, color displays, and even multiple displays.

Macintosh II motherboard

Introduced in 1987, the Mac II featured a Motorola 68020 processor operating at 16 MHz teamed with a Motorola 68881 floating point unit. Standard memory was 1 megabyte, expandable to 68 megabytes. RAM could be maxed out to 128 MB if the ROMS were upgraded to IIx. A 40 megabyte internal hard disk was optional, as was a second internal 800 kilobyte 3.5-inch floppy disk drive. Six NuBus slots were available for expansion (at least one of which had to be used for a graphics card, as the Mac II had no onboard graphics).

The Macintosh II was followed by a series of confusingly-named modular Macs including the Macintosh IIx and Macintosh IIfx, all of which used the Motorola 68030 processor. It was possible to upgrade a Mac II to a Mac IIx or IIfx with a motherboard swap.

References

• apple-history.com (http://www.apple-history.com)
• Low End Mac (http://www.lowendmac.com)