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---
title: Apple MACINTOSH II
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1987'
cpus:
- Motorola MC 68020
params:
name: MACINTOSH II
image: /media/museum/photos/apple_mac2.jpg
company: /companies/apple
company_name: Apple
specs:
- label: NAME
value: MACINTOSH II
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Apple
- label: TYPE
value: Professional Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: '1987'
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
value: None
- label: KEYBOARD
value: |-
Full stroke 81 keys with numeric keypad and cursor keys\
Optional extended 105 key keyboard with 15 function keys ($229!)
- label: CPU
value: Motorola MC 68020
- label: SPEED
value: 15.66 MHz
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: Motorola 68881 (numeric coprocessor)
- label: RAM
value: 1 MB, up to 8 MB on board and 2 GB via NuBus add-on slots
- label: ROM
value: 256 KB
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: 640 x 480 (The MAC II uses a NUBUS video card, this card could be replaced with any other more powerful one).
- label: COLORS
value: 16 or 256 among 16.7 millions
- label: SOUND
value: Apple sound chip - 4 voices 1 channel. Can drive external stereo equipment
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: 47.4 (W) x 36.4 (D) x 14 (H) cm / 12 Kg
- label: I/O PORTS
value: 'Six Internal NUBUS slots (10 MHz, 32 bits), ADB (2 : Keyboard, mouse), RS232/422 (2), Disk, Monitor'
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: 1 or 2 3.5'' floppy disc drives
- label: OS
value: Macintosh System 4.0 + Finder 5.4 (can boot up to System 7.5.5)
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: Self configuring switching power supply unit
- label: PERIPHERALS
value: 20 to 80 MB SCSI hard disk
- label: PRICE
value: |-
$3769 (1 x 800 KB FDD, 1 MB of RAM)\
Hard discs: 20 MB ($999), 40 MB ($1599), 80 MB ($2699)
tabs:
- photos
- adverts
- emulators
- links
photos:
- title: MAIN BOARD EXPLAINED
subtitle: ''
text: |-
**(1)** SCSI, VIA1, VIA2, SCC and ADB chips\
**(2)** 1 to 8 MB RAM in SIMM modules\
**(3)** 256 KB toolbox ROM\
**(4)** Memory management custom chip\
**(5)** Motorola 68020 processor\
**(6)** Custom gate array chip\
**(7)** 68881 floating-point coprocessor\
**(8)** Apple Sound chip\
**(9)** Internal floppy disk connectors\
**(10)** NuBus control logic\
**(11)** NuBus tranceivers\
**(12)** NuBus slots\
**(13)** Internal SCSI connector
image: /media/museum/photos/apple_macii_mainboard_s1.jpg
adverts:
- title: MOTOROLA AD.
subtitle: ''
text: |-
In fact, this advert didn't promote the Macintosh II computer but the 68020 microprocessor.\
Advert said:
...While Apple's choice of the MC 68020 was a smart move, there's no licence on genius: the 68020 is the microprocessor of choice in advanced business system design by such industry leaders as Altos, Alpha Micro, Casio, C.Itoh, Fujitsu, Honneywell Bull, NEC, NCR, Olivetti, Plexus, Ricoh, Sanyo, Sharp, TI, Toshiba and Unisys...
image: /media/museum/pubs/apple_macii_pub_1.jpg
emulators:
- title: Executor
url: http://www.ardi.com/
platform: Windows
text: Demonstration version of a commercial software (MS DOS & Win95)
- title: Executor
url: http://www.ardi.com/
platform: Windows
text: Demonstration version of a commercial software (MS DOS & Win95)
- title: Gemulator
url: http://www.emulators.com/
platform: Windows
text: A commercial Software which emulates the Atari ST/TT and the Mac 128/Plus/2 (Win95 / Win NT)
- title: Gemulator
url: http://www.emulators.com/
platform: Windows
text: A commercial Software which emulates the Atari ST/TT and the Mac 128/Plus/2 (Win95 / Win NT)
- title: LisaEm
url: http://lisa.sunder.net/
platform: Windows
text: Same as Apple lisa emulator for unix but ported to windows
- title: PearPC
url: http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/
platform: Windows
text: PearPC is an architecture-independent PowerPC platform emulator capable of running most PowerPC operating systems.
- title: SoftMac
url: http://www.emulators.com/
platform: Windows
text: good 68K Emulator For Windows
- title: vMAC (Virtual MAC)
url: http://www.leb.net/vmac
platform: Windows
text: A Mac 128 Emulator for MS DOS / Win97 (available for OS/2 too)
- title: vMAC (Virtual MAC)
url: http://www.leb.net/vmac
platform: Apple
text: A Mac 128 Emulator for Macintosh !!!
- title: Executor
url: http://www.ardi.com/
platform: Unix / Linux
text: Demo version of a commercial software (Linux / NextStep)
- title: Executor
url: http://www.ardi.com/
platform: Unix / Linux
text: Demo version of a commercial software (Linux / NextStep)
- title: Macintosh Application Environment (MAE)
url: http://www.mae.apple.com/
platform: Unix / Linux
text: for HP-UX and Solaris
- title: The Official ShapeShifter Home Page
url: http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bauec002/SSMain.html
platform: Amiga OS
text: ''
- title: vMac - The Virtual Macintosh Emulator Project
url: http://www.leb.net/vmac/
platform: Other platform
text: ''
- title: Basilisk II
url: http://basilisk.cebix.net/
platform: Multiplatform
text: Basilisk II is an Open Source 68k Macintosh emulator. Good emulator, runs on several platforms, even Amiga
- title: Mini vMac
url: http://minivmac.sourceforge.net/
platform: Multiplatform
text: Mini vMac, a spin off of the program vMac, emulates a Macintosh Plus and Macintosh SE. So far it works on Macintosh OS, Microsoft Windows, and the X Window System.
links:
- title: Apple History
url: http://www.apple-history.com/
text: History of Apple computers with detail information about all of the computers to come out of Apple.
- title: Applefritter
url: http://www.applefritter.com
text: Excellent site about all Apple models,clones,prototypes,etc... A must see !
- title: CMQ - Groupes d'usagers Apple
url: http://www.cmq.qc.ca/cmq.html
text: (french)
- title: CMQ - Groupes d'usagers Apple
url: http://www.cmq.qc.ca/Groupes.html
text: (french)
- title: Everything for the Mac
url: http://www.everythingmac.com/
text: ''
- title: Homepage of Gamba
url: http://home.earthlink.net/~gamba2/index.html
text: A lot of interesting Mac links, for example "How To Transfer Files From PC to MAC "
- title: Jag's House
url: http://www.jagshouse.com/
text: Lot of info on all non PowerMac models
- title: Low End Mac
url: http://www.lowendmac.com
text: Great site with a full catalog of ALL old macintoshes.
- title: Mac Forums at MacForumz.com
url: http://www.MacForumz.com
text: Mac forums, a resource on the latest and greatest, as well as vintage, Macintosh hardware, software, and internet. Free registration.
- title: MacDebate
url: http://www.macdebate.com
text: Macintosh discussion forum
- title: Nerd World MACINTOSH COMPUTERS
url: http://www.nerdworld.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?MACINTOSH_COMPUTERS/503
text: ''
- title: The Vintage Mac Museum
url: http://www.d4.dion.ne.jp/~motohiko/
text: Nice dedicated website with tons of screenshots !
- title: Titlemax - Apple products
url: https://www.titlemax.com/discovery-center/lifestyle/every-product-apple-has-made-so-far/
text: Nice graphic of every product Apple Has Made So Far (thanks Lily)
- title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA
url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com
text: Discussion of Macintosh software system
comments:
- author: Dean Filliol (Canada)
date: Thursday 25th March 2021
text: I was wondering if I could get some feed back about the value on these computer parts I picked up this is what''s on the motherboard Macintosh II Apple computer 1987 820-0163-03 630-0140 The cpu is Motorola 68881RC16A OB79C8726 Thanks Dean any Info
- author: Régis Schmidt (France)
date: Saturday 20th August 2016
text: The first Color Macintosh of the lab. It drived a double-line CCD sensor for astronomical applications.
- author: mike brohez (United States)
date: Wednesday 16th November 2011
text: i need to talk to a macII owner about software copy
- author: Ernest
date: Saturday 15th October 2011
text: |-
To Wally from Ohio, I think your statistics are a bit skewed. I would like to know how a 15Mhz difference in CPU speed (25Mhz of the A3000 to 40Mhz of Mac IIfx) would result in a 10 fold performance increase.
I could go on at length as to why the Amiga was superior to the Macintosh. The Amiga 3000 started at just over $3000, while the Mac IIfx started at $9000 and went up to $12000. For less than half the base price of a Mac IIfx I could have added a few extras to an A3000 that would run circles around even a higher end Mac IIfx.
Hardware aside, even the AmigaOS was superior to MacOS. The first AmigaOS supported true pre-emptive multitasking since it''s initial release in 1985. A feature that Mac didn''t get until OSX was released in 1999.
While Mac and Amiga did at times play leap-frog with each other capability wise, Amiga held it''s lead for the first 2+ years of it''s release and continued to release hardware that would outstrip a comparable Mac at a fraction of the Mac''s price tag.
- author: MIKE T (USA)
date: Thursday 10th February 2011
text: I have an Apple II, I was just wondering how much they go for. Like on ebay?
- author: wally (Ohio, US)
date: Thursday 6th January 2011
text: |-
The best thing about the Macintosh IIfx was that it stripped the then competing Amiga 3000 system 10 fold. A 40 MHz 68030 CPU was used and the Amiga 3000 only had 25 MHz
It was the only 32-bit clean variation of the Mac II series.
- author: Markus (Germany)
date: Wednesday 4th August 2010
text: |-
The Mac II series was quite good, for the most part.\
It was possible to swap the motherboards of the Mac II for the one of the Macintosh IIx or IIfx. THAT is compatibility. Every Mac II could have been upgraded with a FDHD SuperDrive upgrade, including disk drives and some chips (and the IWM disk controller was swapped in for a SWIM, compatible with OS/2, DOS/FAT 12 and Apple II ProDOS disks). And the design of the case still lookes good. But RAM was limited to 8 MB (due to the 24-bit addressing mode used) without Mode32, and limited to 20 MB with Mode32, but WITHOUT the SuperDrive upgrade. Maximum Mac OS is version 7.5.5 for Mac II and Mac IIx because of the "32-bit dirty" ROM.
- author: Erik N (Australia)
date: Friday 4th June 2010
text: I used to own a Mac II - well, my dad had one at his work and they were giving them away when I was 4-5 years old. I got one complete with working monitor, played games and stuff on it, sold it last year - but to this day I am still puzzled at how high resolution high quality images could fit on a 3.5" 800k disk.
- author: Andrew Pantini
date: Tuesday 1st April 2008
text: |-
I was working for an Apple computer dealer (yes, they had dealers in those days), when the Mac II came out and it was the hottest thing since sliced bread. Because Apple had made inroads in the desktop publishing market, this was highly prized by publishers because it was much easier to expand than the all-in-one Mac systems.
Two things stand out that come to mind. The first was that this was the first computer I knew that could support large monitors. It was not uncommon for customers to purchase 21 inch color monitors that would allow them to lay out publications in a side-by-side page format.
The second is the price. This was a VERY expensive computer - nearly $4000 just for the box and it wasn't uncommon to spend another $5000 on a large color monitor and 24-bit video card.
- author: Ricardo (Earth)
date: Friday 9th March 2007
text: The Macintosh II was a ultimateley expandable Mac for times, you can run it uo to System 7.5 which. The Mac II was an important computer in the Desktop publishing era.
- author: Link (Hyrule)
date: Friday 8th April 2005
text: Yes, the bondi iMac did use VGA. The internal monitor connects to a standard DB15 port inside the case.
- author: Thor Madsen (Chicago)
date: Monday 15th March 2004
text: Talk about a great design. I once sold graphic systems - and walked through setting up a card/software in a PC and then this. Nightmare v. Pleasure. The next day I went out and bought a Mac SE.
- author: The Clothist (Seattle)
date: Friday 2nd May 2003
text: Glad to see the Mac II in it's fair place in a museum such as this. I believe that the original Macintosh II series computers were some of the best products Apple ever put out, and I have gone to lengths to rescue them from garbage dumps, etc., and find them good homes. As a matter of fact, I am writing this on a model IIsi ^\_^
- author: Bennett Harris (Racine, Wisconsin)
date: Saturday 15th June 2002
text: Are you selling your Mac2 becase if you are I would be quit interested
related:
- /museum/apple-lisa-lisa-2-mac-xl
- /museum/apple-macintosh
- /museum/apple-macintosh-color-classic
- /museum/apple-macintosh-plus
- /museum/apple-macintosh-portable
- /museum/apple-macintosh-se
- /museum/apple-macintosh-se-30
oc_id: 160
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230528101509/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=160
date: '2023-05-28'
---
The Apple Macintosh II was launched in 1987 at the same time as the [Macintosh SE](/museum/apple-macintosh-se/). It was considered "revolutionary" because, for the first time, the Macintosh was expandable thanks to its internal slots and had colours (the previous Macintoshes all had monochrome displays). The Mac II also marked Apple's entry into the realm of serious computing.
It used a more classic keyboard (which looked like a PC keyboard) and proprietary RGB monitor (see 'Read more' section). The internal SCSI hard disk could be replaced with an 80 MB disk. It could run under A/UX (The Apple version of Unix System V version 2).
The Macintosh II was followed in September 1988 by the Macintosh IIx. The IIx had the same specifications as the Mac II. It used a 68030 CPU and a 68882 FPU instead of the 68020 and the 68881, an 1.44 MB 3.5" floppy drive and removable system ROMs for easier updates.
<table> <tr> <td></td> <td>We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>
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