Apple II Plus (1979-1982)

Apple II Plus The Apple II Plus, introduced in June 1979 for $1,195, was the refined successor to the original Apple II and the machine that solidified Apple’s dominance in the burgeoning home and educational markets. Its most significant upgrade was the replacement of Wozniak's "Integer BASIC" with Applesoft BASIC in ROM, a Microsoft-authored version that supported floating-point arithmetic and allowed for more complex scientific and financial calculations. The II Plus also debuted the Autostart ROM, which eliminated the need for users to manually enter machine-language commands to boot a disk; instead, the computer could automatically search for a Disk II controller upon power-up. Standardized with 48 KB of RAM (expandable to 64 KB via a "Language Card"), the system featured eight internal expansion slots that invited a wave of third-party hardware, from CP/M-compatible Z80 cards to the revolutionary VisiCalc spreadsheet software. With its rugged beige plastic case and iconic rainbow logo, the Apple II Plus became the face of personal computing for a generation, proving that a microcomputer could be a powerful professional tool rather than just a hobbyist's curiosity. Acquired from: Elephants Trunk Flea Market