Macintosh SE

Overview

The Macintosh SE was introduced at the AppleWorld conference in Los Angeles on March 2, 1987. The "SE" is an initialism for "System Expansion". Its notable new features, compared to its similar predecessor, the Macintosh Plus, were:

• First compact Macintosh with an internal drive bay for a hard disk (originally 20 MB or 40 MB) or a second floppy disk drive.
• First compact Macintosh to feature an expansion slot.
• First Macintosh to support the Apple Desktop Bus (ADB), previously only available on the Apple IIGS, for keyboard and mouse connections.
• Improved SCSI 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.{{cite web | access-date = October 15, 2017 | archive-date = October 4, 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171004155624/http://www.vectronicsappleworld.com/archives/vintage/0014.php | url-status = usurped
• Additional fonts and kerning routines in the Toolbox ROM{{cite magazine
• Disk First Aid is included on the system disk

The SE and Macintosh II were the first Apple computers since the Apple I to be sold without a keyboard. Instead the customer was offered the choice of the new ADB Apple Keyboard or the Apple Extended Keyboard.

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.

Operating system

The Macintosh SE shipped with System 4.0 and Finder 5.4; this version is specific to this computer.{{cite web | access-date = October 15, 2017 | archive-date = November 26, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211126143151/http://www.earlymacintosh.org/index.html#software | url-status = live | access-date = October 15, 2017 | archive-date = March 10, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140310055815/http://support.apple.com/kb/ta31885 | url-status = dead

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 above. After-market brackets were designed to allow the SE to accommodate two floppy drives as well as a vertically oriented hard drive above them; however, this 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 which could support three floppy drives, though its increased storage, RAM capacity and optional internal hard drive rendered external drives less of a necessity than for its predecessors. The hard disks were 20 and later 40 MB SCSI units that featured an activity LED visible from the front. Such indicators were customary on PCs of the era, while the SE was the first Macintosh ever to have one.

Battery: A 3.6 V 1/2AA lithium battery, which must be present in order for basic settings to persist between power cycles, is located on the logic board. Macintosh SE machines which have sat for a long time have experienced battery corrosion and leakage, resulting in a damaged case and logic board. Some SE models feature a board-mounted battery holder, while others have the battery soldered directly in place.

Expansion: A Processor Direct Slot 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 screws.

Upgrades: After Apple introduced the Macintosh SE/30 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 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.

Models

Introduced March 2, 1987:

• Macintosh SE{{cite web | access-date = January 26, 2014 | archive-date = June 23, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130623233709/http://support.apple.com/kb/sp191 | url-status = live
• Macintosh SE 1/20 with 1 MB RAM, one 800K drive and a 20 MB hard disk

In December 1987 Apple began using a quieter fan after many complaints, and offered it to existing customers for $90.

Introduced August 1, 1988:

• Macintosh SE 1/40 with 1 MB RAM, one 800K floppy drive and a 40 MB hard disk Introduced August 1, 1989:
• Macintosh SE FDHD with the new SuperDrive, a floppy disk drive that can handle 1.4 MB High Density (HD) floppy disks. FDHD is an initialism for "Floppy Disk High Density"; later Macintosh SE FDHDs were labeled Macintosh SE SuperDrive, to conform to Apple's new marketing name for this drive. HD 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 chips and a new disk controller chip, to replace the originals.{{cite web | access-date = October 9, 2017 | archive-date = July 8, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140708035256/http://support.apple.com/kb/SP192 | url-status = live

Timeline

References

References

1. Goodin, Sue. (April 1987). "Programming the New Macs".
2. "Transparent Macintosh SE". Low End Mac.
3. Trammell Hudson. (1999-09-12). "Macintosh Plus Easter Egg - Image of Designers in ROM". [[NYC Resistor]].
4. "Macintosh SE Specs: EveryMac.com".
5. Flynn, Laurie. (18 January 1988). "Apple Provides Quieter Fan For Owners of Its Macintosh SE".