Apple IIe Enhanced (mar 1, 1985 – nov 1, 1993)

Description:

Although Apple hoped that 1984's Apple IIc would outsell the IIe, the latter was more popular because of its expansion slots. In March 1985, the company replaced the original machine with a new revision called the Enhanced IIe. It is completely identical to the previous machine except for 4 chips changed on the motherboard (and a small "Enhanced" or "65C02" sticker placed over the keyboard power indicator). The purpose of the update was to make the Apple IIe more compatible with the Apple IIc (released the previous year) and, to a smaller degree, the Apple II Plus. This change involved a new processor, the CMOS-based 65C02 CPU, a new character ROM for the text modes, and two new ROM firmware chips. The 65C02 added more CPU instructions, the new character ROM added 32 special "MouseText" characters (which allowed the creation of a GUI-like display in text mode, similar to IBM code page 437), and the new ROM firmware fixed problems and speed issues with 80-column text, introduced the ability to use lowercase in Applesoft BASIC and Monitor, and contained some other smaller improvements (and fixes) in the latter two (including the return of the Mini-Assembler—which had vanished with the introduction of the II Plus firmware).