The Macintosh SE is a

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

designed, manufactured, and sold by

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

, from March 1987 to October 1990. It marked a significant improvement on the

Macintosh Plus The Macintosh Plus computer is the third model in the Macintosh line, introduced on January 16, 1986, two years after the original Macintosh and a little more than a year after the Macintosh 512K, with a price tag of US$2,599. As an evolutiona ...

design and was introduced by Apple at the same time as the

Macintosh II The Macintosh II is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from March 1987 to January 1990. Based on the Motorola 68020 32-bit CPU, it is the first Macintosh supporting color graphics. When introduced, a basic sy ...

. The SE retains the same

Compact Macintosh A Compact Macintosh (or Compact Mac) is an all-in-one Apple Mac computer with a display integrated in the computer case, beginning with the original Macintosh 128K. Compact Macs include the original Macintosh through to the Color Classic sold ...

form factor as the original Macintosh computer introduced three years earlier and uses the same design language used by the Macintosh II. An enhanced model, the SE/30, was introduced in January 1989; sales of the original SE continued. The Macintosh SE was updated in August 1989 to include a SuperDrive, with this updated version being called the "Macintosh SE FDHD" and later the "Macintosh SE SuperDrive". The Macintosh SE was replaced with the

Macintosh Classic The Macintosh Classic is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from October 1990 to September 1992. It was the first Macintosh to sell for less than US$1,000. Production of the Classic was prompted by the succe ...

, a very similar model which retained the same

central processing unit A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, an ...

and form factor, but at a lower price point.

Overview

The Macintosh SE was introduced at the AppleWorld conference in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

on March 2, 1987. The "SE" is an initialism for "System Expansion". Its notable new features, compared to its similar predecessor, the

, were: * First

compact Macintosh A Compact Macintosh (or Compact Mac) is an all-in-one Apple Mac computer with a display integrated in the computer case, beginning with the original Macintosh 128K. Compact Macs include the original Macintosh through to the Color Classic sold ...

with an internal

drive bay A drive bay is a standard-sized area for adding hardware to a computer. Most drive bays are fixed to the inside of a case, but some can be removed. Over the years since the introduction of the IBM PC, it and its compatibles have had many form f ...

for a hard disk (originally 20 MB or 40 MB) or a second

floppy drive A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...

. * First compact Macintosh that featured an expansion slot. * First Macintosh to support the

Apple Desktop Bus Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) is a proprietary bit-serial peripheral bus connecting low-speed devices to computers. It was introduced on the Apple IIGS in 1986 as a way to support low-cost devices like keyboards and mice, allowing them to be connect ...

(ADB), previously only available on the

Apple IIGS The Apple IIGS (styled as II), the fifth and most powerful of the Apple II family, is a 16-bit personal computer produced by Apple Computer. While featuring the Macintosh look and feel, and resolution and color similar to the Amiga and Atari ST ...

, for keyboard and mouse connections. * Improved

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, electrical, optical and logical interface ...

support, providing faster data throughput (double that of the Macintosh Plus) and a standard 50-pin internal SCSI connector. * Better reliability and longer life expectancy (15 years of continuous use) due to the addition of a cooling fan. * 25 percent greater speed when accessing RAM, resulting in a lower percentage of CPU time being spent drawing the screen. In practice this results in a 10-20 percent performance improvement. * Additional fonts and kerning routines in the Toolbox ROM *

Disk First Aid Disk First Aid is a free software utility made by Apple Inc. that was bundled with all computers running the classic Mac OS. This tool verifies and repairs a limited number of directory structure problems on any HFS or HFS Plus hard disk or volume ...

is included on the system disk The SE and

were the first Apple computers since the

Apple I The Apple Computer 1, originally released as the Apple Computer and known later as the Apple I or Apple-1, is an 8-bit desktop computer released by the Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in 1976. It was designed by Steve Wozniak. The i ...

to be sold without a keyboard. Instead the customer was offered the choice of the new ADB

Apple Keyboard Apple Inc. has designed and released dozens of keyboard models since the introduction of the Apple II in 1977. The current models in use are dual-mode (Bluetooth and USB) keyboards with integrated batteries: Magic Keyboard (silver only), and Mag ...

or the

Apple Extended Keyboard The Apple Extended Keyboard (AEK, model M0115) is a keyboard that was first sold separately alongside the Macintosh II and SE starting in 1987. It was replaced in 1990 by the Apple Extended Keyboard II (AEKII, model M3501) which was pre-packag ...

. Apple produced ten SEs with transparent cases as

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

s for promotional shots and employees. They are extremely rare and command a premium price for collectors.

Operating system

The Macintosh SE shipped with System 4.0 and Finder 5.4; this version is specific to this computer. (The Macintosh II, which was announced at the same time but shipped a month later, includes System 4.1 and Finder 5.5.) The

README In software development, a README file contains information about the other files in a directory or archive of computer software. A form of documentation, it is usually a simple plain text file called README, Read Me, READ.ME, README.TXT, R ...

file included with the installation disks for the SE and II is the first place Apple ever used the term "Macintosh System Software", and after 1998 these two versions were retroactively given the name "Macintosh System Software 2.0.1".

Hardware

Processor: Motorola 68000, 8 MHz, with an 8 MHz system bus and a 16-bit data path RAM: The SE came with 1 MB of RAM as standard, and is expandable to 4 MB. The logic board has four 30-pin SIMM slots; memory must be installed in pairs and must be 150 ns or faster. Video: The built-in 512 × 342 monochrome screen uses 21,888 bytes of main memory as video memory. Storage: The SE can accommodate either one or two floppy drives, or a floppy drive and a hard drive. After-market brackets were designed to allow the SE to accommodate two floppy drives as well as a hard drive, however it was not a configuration supported by Apple. In addition an external floppy disk drive may also be connected, making the SE the only Macintosh besides the

Macintosh Portable Macintosh Portable is a laptop designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer, Inc. from September 1989 to October 1991. It is the first battery-powered Macintosh, which garnered significant excitement from critics, but sales to customers ...

which could support three floppy drives, though its increased storage, RAM capacity and optional internal hard drive rendered the external drives less of a necessity than for its predecessors. Single-floppy SE models also featured a drive-access light in the spot where the second floppy drive would be. Hard-drive equipped models came with a 20 MB SCSI hard disk. Battery: Soldered into the logic board is a 3.6 V 1/2AA lithium battery, which must be present in order for basic settings to persist between power cycles. Macintosh SE machines which have sat for a long time have experienced battery corrosion and leakage, resulting in a damaged case and logic board. Expansion: A

Processor Direct Slot A processor direct slot (PDS) is a slot incorporated into many older Macintosh models that allowed direct access to the signal pins of a CPU, similar to the functionality of a local bus in PCs. This would result in much higher speeds than having ...

on the logic board allows for expansion cards, such as accelerators, to be installed. The SE can be upgraded to 50 MHz and more than 5 MB with the MicroMac accelerators. In the past other accelerators were also available such as the Sonnet Allegro. Since installing a card required opening the computer's case and exposing the user to high voltages from the internal CRT, Apple recommended that only authorized Apple dealers install the cards; the case was sealed with then-uncommon

Torx Torx (pronounced ) is a trademark for a type of screw drive characterized by a 6-point star-shaped pattern, developed in 1967, Bernard F. Reiland, "Coupling arrangement and tools for same", filed 1967-03-21 by Camcar Textron. A popular generic ...

screws. Upgrades: After Apple introduced the

Macintosh SE/30 The Macintosh SE/30 is a personal computer designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from January 1989 to October 1991. It is the fastest of the original black-and-white compact Macintosh series. The SE/30 has a black-and-white monitor ...

in January, 1989, a logic board upgrade was sold by Apple dealers for US$1,699 as a high-cost upgrade for the SE, consisting of a new SE/30 motherboard, case front and internal chassis to accommodate the upgrade components. ROM/Easter egg: The SE ROM size increased from 64 KB in the original Mac (and 128 KB in the Mac Plus) to 256 KB, which allowed the development team to include an

Easter Egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

hidden in the ROMs. By jumping to address 0x41D89A (or reading from the ROM chips), it is possible to display four images of the engineering team.; Macintosh SE Inside

Models

Introduced March 2, 1987: * Macintosh SE with 1 MB RAM and two 800k drives * Macintosh SE 1/20 with 1 MB RAM, one 800k drive and 20 MB hard disk. Introduced August 1, 1988: * Macintosh SE 1/40: The same of the Macintosh SE with a 40 MB hard disk in place of 20 MB. Introduced August 1, 1989: * Macintosh SE FDHD: Includes the new SuperDrive, a floppy disk drive that can handle 1.4 MB High Density (HD) floppy disks. FDHD is an acronym for "Floppy Disk High Density"; later some Macintosh SE FDHDs were labeled Macintosh SE SuperDrive, to conform to Apple's marketing change with respect to their new drive. High-density floppies would become the de facto standard on both the Macintosh and PC computers from then on. An upgrade kit was sold for the original Macintosh SE which included new

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

chips and a new

disk controller {{unreferenced, date=May 2010 The disk controller is the controller circuit which enables the CPU to communicate with a hard disk, floppy disk or other kind of disk drive. It also provides an interface between the disk drive and the bus conne ...

chip, to replace the originals.

Timeline

References

External links

1987 Apple Computer, Inc. promotional video "Own-a-Mac - The Movie"

The Mac SE Support Pages
Repair & upgrade advice.
Wayback Machine Archived Version

Mac SE
Low End Mac {{Authority control SE SE Computer-related introductions in 1987