The Apple II (sometimes written as Apple ][ or Apple //) was the first popular microcomputer manufactured by Apple. Its direct ancestor was the Apple I, a limited production circuit boardcomputer for electronics hobbyists which pioneered many features that made the Apple II a commercial success.
The first Apple II computers went on sale on June 5, 1977with a MOS Technology6502microprocessor running at 1 MHz, 4 KB of RAM, an audio cassetteinterface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASICprogramming language built into the ROMs. The video controller displayed 24 lines by 40 columns of monochrome, upper-case-only text on the screen, with NTSCcomposite videooutput suitable for display on a monitor, or on a TV set by way of an RF modulator. The original retail price of the computer was US$1298 (with 4 KB of RAM) and US$2638 (with the maximum 48 KB of RAM). To reflect the computer's color graphics capability, the Apple logo on the casing was represented using rainbow stripes, which remained a part of Apple's corporate logo until early 1998. The earliest Apple IIs were assembled in Silicon Valley, and later in Texas; printed circuit boardswere manufactured in Irelandand Singapore.
