The museum thread
Why this brand matters
Apple's early history contains two unusually durable platform transitions. The Apple II family kept a 1977 architecture commercially relevant deep into the 1980s through expansion and software continuity, while Macintosh made the graphical desktop, mouse and tightly integrated hardware/software design the centre of a new platform.
The museum currently represents the Apple IIe and 68000 Macintosh generations, but the surrounding machines — Apple I, Lisa, IIc, IIGS, compact Macs, Macintosh II, PowerBooks and Power Macintosh — explain why those exhibits mattered.
Major machines and families
This is a historical map of the machines relevant to this museum's story, not merely a list of the models currently emulated.
| Period | Machine / family | Why it belongs in the story | Museum status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Apple I | Single-board computer that preceded Apple's integrated consumer systems; the museum now includes a live architectural teaching model | Interactive lab · not emulated |
| 1977 | Apple II | Colour, slots and a long software life made it one of the foundational personal-computer platforms | Historical family |
| 1979 | Apple II Plus | Refined Apple II with Applesoft BASIC and broad software adoption | Not yet emulated |
| 1983 | Apple IIe | Long-lived enhanced Apple II and a major education platform | Playable |
| 1983 | Lisa | Commercial graphical workstation that foreshadowed Macintosh interaction | Not yet emulated |
| 1984 | Macintosh 128K / 512K | Compact 68000 machines that established the Macintosh GUI platform | Not yet emulated |
| 1984 | Apple IIc | Portable all-in-one refinement of the Apple II architecture | Not yet emulated |
| 1986–1987 | Macintosh Plus / SE / Macintosh II | Expansion, SCSI and colour moved Macintosh beyond the original sealed compact model | Playable: Plus / II |
| 1986 | Apple IIGS | 16-bit evolution of Apple II compatibility with Ensoniq sound and richer graphics | Not yet emulated |
| 1991 | PowerBook 100-series | Helped define the modern laptop layout and mobile Macintosh line | Not yet emulated |
| 1994 | Power Macintosh | PowerPC transition while preserving the Macintosh software platform | Not yet emulated |
| 1998 | iMac G3 | USB-era simplification and a major reset of Apple's consumer hardware identity | Not yet emulated |
Continue the story
Apple in context
Brand histories overlap: CPUs, operating systems, standards, classroom adoption and software ecosystems routinely crossed manufacturer boundaries.
Technical specifications and chronology on this manufacturer page are intended to remain traceable to original documentation and established archives. See the source path for this family →