Apple Macintosh SE

 Home > Browse Our Collection > Computers > Apple Computers > Apple Macintosh SE
 

The Macintosh SE was a personal computer manufactured by Apple. This computer marked a significant improvement on the Macintosh Plus design and was introduced by Apple at the same time as the Macintosh II. It had a similar case to the original Macintosh computer, but with slight differences in colour and styling.

The SE's notable new features, compared to its similar predecessor the Macintosh Plus, were:

    * First compact Macintosh with space for an internal hard disk (originally 20 MB or 40 MB), or, if the user preferred, dual floppy drives.
    * First compact Macintosh that featured an expansion slot (SE stood for "System Expansion").
    * Used the Apple Desktop Bus (ADB), introduced with the Apple IIGS, for keyboard and mouse interface.
    * Improved SCSI support with faster data throughput.
    * Better reliability.
    * Longer life expectancy.[citation needed]

The SE was designed to accommodate either two floppy drives or a floppy drive and a hard drive, although an after-market bracket was designed to allow the SE to accommodate two floppy drives as well as a hard drive. After Apple introduced the Macintosh SE/30 in January 1989, an SE/30 motherboard was marketed as a high-cost upgrade for the SE.

Additionally the SE had a special PDS slot that allowed for expansion cards, such as accelerators, to be installed. Later on the SE/30 continued by having one slot. Still today accelerators can be purchased and installed in this machine. The SE can be upgraded to 50 MHz and more than 5 MB with the MicroMac accelerators, which are still sold. In the past other accelerators were also available such as the Sonnet Allegro.

Apple produced ten SEs with transparent cases as prototypes for promotional shots and employees. They are extremely rare and command a premium price for collectors.

Manufacturer: Apple
Date: March 1987



Comment on This Page

Apple Macintosh SE Manuals:

Item Manufacturer Date
SuperPaint 1.1 Manual Silicon Beach Software 1988

Other Systems Related To Apple Macintosh SE:

Item Manufacturer Date
Apple II Apple June 1977
Apple II Europlus Apple 1978
Apple II Plus Apple 1978
Apple III Apple June 1980
Apple Lisa Apple January 1983
Apple IIe Apple January 1983
Apple IIc Apple April 1984
Apple Macintosh 128K Apple September 1984
Apple Macintosh 512k Apple 9th October 1984
Apple Macintosh Plus 1MB Apple 10th January 1986
Apple Macintosh Plus Apple 10th January 1986
Apple II GS for Greengate DS:4 Apple 15th September 1986
Apple II GS Apple 15th September 1986
Apple II GS "Woz" edition Apple 15th September 1986
Apple IIe Platinum Apple January 1987
Apple Macintosh SE/30 (Douglas Adams) Apple March 1987
Apple Macintosh II Apple March 1987
Apple Macintosh SE/30 Apple 1989
Apple Macintosh IIcx Apple 7th March 1989
Apple Macintosh Portable Apple 1st September 1989
Apple Macintosh IIci Apple 20th September 1989
Apple Macintosh IIfx Apple 19th March 1990
Apple Macintosh IIsi Apple 15th October 1990
Apple Macintosh Classic Apple 15th October 1990
Apple Macintosh Performa 400 Apple 1992
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 145 Apple 1992
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 100 Apple Computer 1992
Apple Macintosh Quadra 950 Apple 18th May 1992
Apple Macintosh IIvi Apple September 1992
Apple Macintosh Performa 200 Apple 14th September 1992
Apple Macintosh Powerbook Duo 230 Apple October 1992
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 160 Apple October 1992
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 180 Apple 19th October 1992
Apple Mac LCIII Apple 10th February 1993
Apple Macintosh Centris 610 Apple 10th February 1993
Apple Macintosh Colour Classic Apple 10th February 1993
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 180C Apple June 1993
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 145B Apple July 1993
Apple Macintosh Quadra 650 Apple 21st October 1993
Apple Macintosh LC475 Apple 21st October 1993
Apple Macintosh Performa 450 Apple 4th December 1993
Apple Power Macintosh 7100/66 Apple March 1994
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 520C Apple 16th May 1994
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 540C Apple 16th May 1994
Apple Macintosh Performa 630 Apple 18th July 1994
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 150 Apple 18th July 1994
Apple Power Macintosh 7500/100 Apple 1995
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 1400c Apple 1995
Apple Macintosh Performa 5300 Apple 1995
Apple Macintosh PowerBook 5300cs Apple 1995
Apple Power Macintosh 6100/60 Apple 3rd January 1995
Apple Macintosh Performa 5200CD Apple 3rd April 1995
Apple Power Macintosh 7200/90 Apple August 1995
Apple eMate 300 Prototype designated A2015 Apple 1996
Apple Macintosh Performa 5400/180 Apple February 1996
Apple Macintosh Twentieth Anniversary Edition Apple 1997
Apple Macintosh Powerbook 3400c/200 Apple February 1997
Apple Power Macintosh 5500/225 Apple 17th February 1997
Apple eMate Apple 7th March 1997
Apple iMac G3 DV (Slot Loading) Apple 15th August 1998
Apple iMac G3 (Tray Loading, Strawberry) Apple 15th August 1998
Apple iMac G3 (Slot Loading, Indigo) Apple 15th August 1998
Apple iMac G3 (Slot Loading, Tangerine) Apple 15th August 1998
Apple iMac G3 (Tray Loading, Bondi Blue) Apple 15th August 1998
Apple iMac G3 (Tray Loading, Lime) Apple 15th August 1998
Apple Power Macintosh G3 300 Apple 5th January 1999
Apple Macintosh PowerBook G3 Apple May 1999
Apple Macintosh PowerBook G3/400 Apple May 1999
Apple iBook G3/300 (Orange) Apple 21st July 1999
Apple iBook G3/366 (Grey) Apple 21st July 1999
Apple iBook G3/300 (Green) Apple 21st July 1999
Apple Power Macintosh G4 400 Apple 31st August 1999
Apple iMac G3/350 (Slot Loading - Blueberry) Apple 5th October 1999
Apple iMac G3/DV (Slot Loading - Dalmation) Apple 5th October 1999
Apple iMac G3/DV (Slot Loading - Graphite) Apple 5th October 1999
Apple Power Macintosh G4 Cube (M7886) Apple July 2000
Apple iBook M6497 Apple 2001
Apple iBook Apple 2001
Apple iMac G3 M5521 Indigo Apple 2001
Apple iMac G3/500 Apple 22nd February 2001
Apple iMac G3 DV (Slot Loading Flower Power) Apple August 2001
Apple iMac G4 Apple 2002
Apple iMac G4 17 " Apple 2002
Apple iMac G4 Apple 2002
Apple iMac G4/800 Apple 17th July 2002
Apple Power Macintosh G4 1.42 DP (FW 800) Apple 28th January 2003
Apple Power Macintosh G5 Apple March 2003
Apple Macintosh PowerBook G4 17" Model A1052 Apple 16th September 2003
Apple iBook G4 Apple 22nd October 2003
Apple iMac G5 Apple 31st August 2004
Apple Mac Mini A1103 Apple Computers 22nd January 2005
iPod (5th Gen) Apple 12th August 2005
Apple Macintosh PowerBook G4 Model A1106 Apple October 2005
Apple Mac Mini A1176 Apple Computers 28th February 2006 to 6th September 2006
Replica Apple 1 Apple 2018

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH2051. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

 

Apple Macintosh SE

  Games Archive   [16]
  Software Archive   [37]

Click on the Image(s) For Detail


Articles

Help support the museum by buying from the museum shop

View all items

Founding Sponsors
redgate Google ARM Real VNC Microsoft Research
Heritage Lottery Funded
Heritage Lottery Fund
Accredited Museum