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Apple IIc Plus

Apple Computer, Inc. released the Apple IIc Plus in 1988 as the final revision of the Apple II line, integrating a built-in 800kB 3.5-inch floppy drive and eliminating the external power supply, though it was never made available outside the United States.

Apple iic-plus, archival photo
Photo: Thomas Vogt from Paderborn, Deutschland, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. source

The Apple IIc Plus arrived quietly in 1988, a machine caught between eras. It was neither a true successor nor a mere stopgap2. Marketed as a luggable personal computer, it was the last revision of any Apple II-series machine, marking the quiet close of a lineage that had defined educational and home computing for over a decade13. Despite its name, the “Plus” designation proved misleading. Many users found it underwhelming, offering few substantive upgrades over its predecessor and lacking the expected enhancements that the suffix implied2. It was, in essence, a repackaging exercise: streamlined, slightly faster in disk access due to microprocessor caching techniques, but otherwise conservative to the point of stagnation4.

Its most notable hardware change was the integration of an 800kB 3.5-inch floppy drive, a nod to the evolving storage standards championed by the Macintosh line2. Gone was the external power brick that plagued earlier IIc models. The IIc Plus housed its power supply internally, a long-overdue refinement that finally made the machine genuinely portable in practice, not just in theory1. However, this integration came at a cost. The audio output connector, present on the original IIc, was omitted entirely from the Plus model, a detail noted in Apple’s own peripheral interface guide1. No official explanation was provided, but the removal likely stemmed from space constraints or cost-cutting measures, as Apple’s engineering focus had decisively shifted toward the Macintosh13.

The machine was explicitly excluded from certain documentation. A service manual covering “all models of the Apple IIc” explicitly stated it did not include the IIc Plus, indicating a fragmented support structure even at launch4. Conversely, Apple published a dedicated 685-page reference guide titled *Class 1*, which covered all Apple IIc family members including the IIc Plus, offering developers detailed specifications on hardware, memory organization, I/O, and the newly implemented microprocessor caching techniques, suggesting some internal effort to legitimize it as a development platform4.

Despite being designed and manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc., the IIc Plus was never released outside the United States2. This was partly due to the absence of a UK keyboard variant, a conspicuous omission for a company with international reach2. The UK retail price was listed at £675 in some catalogs2.

In software, the IIc Plus was recognized as a distinct machine version. Titles such as *Magic Spells* and *Children’s Writing and Publishing Center* by The Learning Company included it as a selectable platform option alongside the Apple IIGS, IIe, and others, confirming its compatibility within the broader Apple II ecosystem1416. It could interface with standard peripherals like the Image Writer series, Daisy Wheel Printer, and modems, requiring the proprietary cable part number 590-0550 for connectivity1.

The surviving documentation is silent on key specifications. The processor model, clock speed, RAM capacity, ROM size, display capabilities, sound hardware, physical dimensions, and weight are all absent from the source material. The discontinuation date and sales figures remain undocumented in the provided references. While the 65C02 processor is mentioned in relation to the Apple IIe Card, it is not explicitly confirmed for the IIc Plus itself2.

References

  1. PN 072-0213F Apple Service Technical Procedures Peripheral Interface Guide-Jan 1991 (1991)
  2. Computers that made Britain v1
  3. Interface Age-1981-06 (1981)
  4. APDAlog 199104 (1991)
  5. MICRO Vol47-04 82
  6. micro 47 apr 1982[ocr] (1982)
  7. Compute Apple Vol 05 02 Issue 06 1987 Dec (1987)
  8. Houghton Mifflin Sound Ideas Consonants for Apple II manual
  9. micro 34 mar 1981[ocr] (1981)
  10. 1983 03 BYTE 08-03 Mass Storage (1983)
  11. 1984 12 BYTE 09-13 Communications (1984)
  12. micro 50 jul 1982[ocr] (1982)
  13. RetroManiac 12
  14. Learning Company Magic Spells Apple II School Edition manual grades 1st-6th
  15. The Rainbow Vol. 03 No. 08 - March 1984 (1984)
  16. The Learning Company Childrens Writing and Publishing Center for Apple II manual