page_title: Macintosh 512K
section_title: Upgrades
hierarchical_section_title: Macintosh 512K / Upgrades
context_page_description: The Macintosh 512K is a personal computer that was designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer, inc. from September 1984 to April 1986. It is the first update to the original Macintosh 128K. It was virtually identical to the previous Macintosh, differing primarily in the amount of built-in random-access memory. The increased memory turned the Macintosh into a more business-capable computer and gained the ability to run more software.
  The Mac 512K originally shipped with Macintosh System 1.1 but was able to run all versions of Mac OS up to System 4.1. It was replaced by the Macintosh 512Ke and the Macintosh Plus. All support for the Mac 512K was discontinued on September 1, 1998.
context_section_description: An updated version replaced the Macintosh 512K and debuted as the Macintosh 512K enhanced in April 1986. It differed from the original 512K in that it had an 800 kB floppy disk drive and the same improved ROM as the Macintosh Plus. With the exception of the new model number (M0001E), they were otherwise cosmetically identical. The stock 512K could also use an 800 kB floppy disk drive as well as the Hard Disk 20, the first hard disk manufactured by Apple exclusively for use with the 512K, but required a special system file (not required by the 512Ke) that loaded the improved  ROM code into RAM, thus reducing the available RAM for other uses. Apple offered an upgrade kit which replaced the floppy disk drive and ROMs essentially turning it into a 512Ke. One further OEM upgrade replaced the logicboard and the rear case entirely with that of the Macintosh Plus.
  As with the original Macintosh, the 512K was designed with no slots for upgrade boards and had no hard-disk controller, so the few internal upgrades that were available for the 512K, such as General Computer's US$2,795 Hyperdrive hard drive, had to plug directly into the 68000 processor socket. Other such upgrades included "snap-on" SCSI cards and RAM upgrades of 2 MB or more.
caption: Mac 512K with accessories
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