Introduced:March 1987
MSRP:$2900
CPU:Motorola 68000
CPU speed:8 MHz
Shipped with system version:4.1
RAM:1 MB, expandable to 4 MB
Discontinued:August 1, 1989

The Macintosh SE was introduced at the same time as the Macintosh II. It fit in the same size case as the original Macintosh computer.

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, or, if the user preferred, dual floppy drives.
  • First compact Macintosh that featured an expansion slot (SE stood for "System Expansion").
  • Used the new Apple Desktop Bus for keyboard and mouse interface.

In August 1989, Apple started shipping a new version of the SE with their new "FDHD", or "SuperDrive", floppy disk drive, which could handle the 1.4MB HD floppy disks that became the standard on both the Macintosh and PC computers for the next decade.

After Apple introduced the Macintosh SE/30 in January 1989, they sold an SE/30 motherboard as a rather expensive, optional upgrade for the SE.