Apple III
| |
| Developer | Apple Computer, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Type | Computers |
| Release date | 1980 |
| Discontinued | 1984 |
| Predecessor | Apple II |
| Emulated | ✓ |
The Apple III (stylized as apple ///) was a failed successor of the Apple II line that was originally released in 1980 and discontinued in early 1984. Early revisions had major flaws that required a second revision and later a model known as the Apple III Plus to rectify interference issues.
Emulators
[edit | edit source]| Name | Platform(s) | Latest version | III | III A3S2 | III Plus | License | Active | Recommended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC | ||||||||
| MAME |    
|
0.289 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | GPLv2 BSD-3-Clause |
✓ | ✓ |
| Sara |
|
0.5.1 | ✓ | ? | ? | Proprietary | ✗ | ✗ |
Models
[edit | edit source]The Apple III was released in May of 1980 and retailed for $4340 ($16966 in 2026) and had a 6502A CPU at 1.8 MHz, 128K of RAM, a 80-column, 24-line display, 6-bit audio, built-in 140KB 5.25-inch floppy drive, two graphics modes 560x192 in black and white and 280x192 with 16 colors or shades of gray. It had 4 expansion slots. The original revision used a serial number beginning with A3S1, but it is also known as the 12v model as it used 12v power for memory.
To keep the noise of the Apple III down, a fan was not included, but it utilized the metal casing as heat dissipation. The high voltage, along with the poor heat dissipation qualities of the device and low quality connectors used on the PCB, caused the chips to raise out of their sockets causing "chip creep" and the resulting failure of the Apple III which required a small drop to re-seat the chips.
The Apple III A3S2 was released in the second half of 1981 and retailed for $3495 ($12383 in 2026) in response to the A3S1's failures. It utilized 5v power for the memory and utilized slightly higher quality connectors which was able to soothe the heat failures significantly. It was discontinued as the interference issues were not rectified and the FCC required Apple to change the model name when they had fixed it.
The Apple III Plus was released in December of 1983 and it retailed for $2995 ($9687 in 2026). After the FCC had ensured that the new model followed regulations, they discontinued the Apple III A3S2 and began selling the Apple III Plus at the very end of the Apple III's life (as the previous issues had effectively destroyed its reputation). It included a built-in clock, 55-watt power supply, and a //e-like keyboard. It utilized the same A3S2 serial code as the non-Plus second revision.
The Apple III was not a significant hit and was complex to reverse engineer, therefore the Apple III does not have a lot of emulators. The one that is almost always recommended is MAME.
Sources
[edit | edit source]apple3.org, incredibly solid resource on the Apple III.
en.wikipedia.org, provides good layman information on the Apple III
