YEAR: 1986
INITIAL PRICE: $999, $2,372 in 2020
The Apple IIGS (styled as IIgs) is the fifth and most powerful model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The “GS” in the name stands for “Graphics” and “Sound”, referring to its enhanced multimedia capabilities, especially its state-of-the-art sound and music synthesis, which greatly surpassed previous models of the line and most contemporary machines like the Macintosh and IBM PC.
The machine is a radical departure from any previous Apple II, with its true 16-bit architecture, increased processing speed, direct access to megabytes of RAM, wavetable synthesis audio, graphical user interface, and mouse. Fully backward compatible with earlier Apple II models, it blended the Apple II and aspects of Macintosh technology into one. Keeping with Apple’s “Apple II Forever” slogan of the time, the IIGS set forth a promising future and evolutionary advancement of the Apple II line, but Apple paid it relatively little attention as the company increasingly focused on the Macintosh platform.
| Discontinued | December 1992 |
|---|---|
| Operating system | Apple ProDOS, Apple GS/OS |
| CPU | 2.8 MHz 65C816 |
| Memory | 256 kB or 1 MB (expandable up to 8 MB) |
| Graphics | VGC 12-bpp palette, 320×200, 640×200 |
| Sound | Ensoniq ES5503 DOC 8-bit wavetable synthesis sound chip, 32-channels, stereo |
All you need to know and how to boot this machine can be found HERE.
