Macintosh SE

code name: Plus Plus, Maui, Aladdin, Chablis, Freeport

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Overview

Introduced along with the Mac II in March 1987, the SE came with 1 MB of RAM, one or two double-sided 800 KB floppies, and space to mount an internal SCSI hard drive (second bay held either a hard drive or second floppy -- no room for both, although that didn't stop some people from creating a bracket to mount a hard drive in a two-floppy SE). The SE was the first compact Mac with a built-in fan.

Note that the SE is sometimes referred to as the SE 1/40, 4/80, etc. These are not different models, nor should they be confused with the more powerful SE/30. These numbers refer to the amount of memory and size of the internal hard drive, respectively, so an SE 4/40 would have 4 MB of RAM and a 40 MB hard drive.

In August 1989 Apple began to ship the SE with their high density floppy drive, known as the FDHD (floppy drive, high density) or SuperDrive (for its ability to read and write IBM-format floppies with additional software). Not only did this provide 1.4 MB capacity, but the ability to work with 3.5" DOS disks using special software.

The SE was introduced as the low-end cousin of the hot new 16 MHz Mac II. The SE was the first compact Mac with an expansion slot. One of the first add-in cards was an MS-DOS card. Over time, color video and accelerator cards became popular accessories.

You can convert a non-working compact Mac into a Macquarium. (Please, don't even think of converting a working one -- you can always find someone interested on the Classic Macs or Vintage Macs lists.)

Details

SE introduced 2 March 1987 at $2,900 (dual floppy) or $3,700 (with 20 MB hard drive); discontinued 1 August 1989
SE FDHD (1.4 MB floppy) introduced August 1989; discontinued October 1990
requires System 4.1 to 7.5.5
CPU: 8 MHz 68000
performance: 1.0 (relative to SE); 0.37, MacBench 2.0 CPU; 0.98, Speedometer 3; 0.7 MIPS
see Benchmarks: SE for more details
ROM: 256 KB
RAM: 1 MB, expandable 4 MB using pairs of 256 KB or 1 MB 150ns 30-pin SIMMs (will not work with two-chip 1 MB SIMMs)
configurations included dual-floppy or one floppy plus 20, 40 or 80 MB hard drive
9" b&w screen, 512x342 pixels
ADB ports for keyboard and mouse
DIN-8 serial ports on back of computer
DB-25 SCSI connector on back of computer, maximum throughput of 5,248 kbps
floppy: 800 KB or 1.4 MB double sided
floppy connector on back of computer
size (HxWxD): 13.6" x 9.6" x 10.9"
weight: 17 lb.
Gestalt ID: 5
addressing: 24-bit only
single SE PDS slot
upgrade path: SE/30 motherboard

Accelerators & Upgrades

Some accelerators have onboard SIMM slots, allowing them to use more than 4 MB of RAM.

Macintosh SE/30 motherboard (16 MHz 68030)
I've seen used SE/30 motherboards for under $100.
MicroMac Multispeed (16, 25, or 32 MHz 68030), optional 32 MHz 68882 FPU
MicroMac Performer (16 MHz 68030), optional 25 MHz 68882 FPU
MicroMac Performer Pro (32 MHz 68030), 64 KB cache, optional 68882 FPU, available from Outpost.com
Sonnet Technologies Allegro SE (33 MHz 68030), 33 MHz 68882 FPU
603 upgrade for SE, Classic, and Color Classic (Japanese)

Discontinued accelerators (68030 unless otherwise noted) include the Applied Engineering TransWarp (16, 40 MHz), Dove Marathon Racer (16 MHz), Extreme Systems Vandal (50 MHz), Harris Performer2 (16 MHz 68000), MacProducts Railgun (33 MHz), Mobius (25 MHz), NewLife Accelerator! (16, 25, 33 MHz), Novy ImagePro (16, 25, 33 MHz), and Total Systems Mercury (16 MHz), Gemini Integra (50 MHz), and Gemini Ultra (33, 50 MHz).

Color? Aura Systems made ScuzzyGraph II, a SCSI peripheral that provided 8-color video for people who didn't want to buy (or couldn't afford) a Mac II. 1989 cost was $995-2,495, depending on resolution.

Tips

If you have less than 4 MB installed, upgrade to 4 MB. You can often find pulled 1 MB SIMMs (removed from other Macs during upgrade) inexpensively.
The SE cannot use two-chip 1 MB SIMMs.
Memory permitting, set the disk cache to 128k.
To use HD floppies on a pre-SuperDrive SE, look into the Applied Engineering AE HD+ external floppy drive. They are available from Que Computers for $99 (612-623-0903). Note that the "plus" is important -- the AE HD will not do the job.
Because of limited SCSI throughput, hard drives for the SE should usually be formatted with a 2:1 interleave. This is particularly true of older drives. (Unfortunately, other Macs may find it difficult or impossible to work with this interleave.)
If you need to create the smallest possible System file, you can delete Chicago 12, Geneva 9 and 12, and Monaco 9, since these fonts are in the SE ROMs.
To remove the hard drive: find the two screws holding the drive bracket in place. They will be facing the rear of the computer and underneath the drive itself. You'll need a fairly long Phillips screwdriver to reach them -- and you'll need to disconnect the power and data cables before you can get to them. Once the screws are loose, lift the back and it should come out easily.

Online Resources

System 6 for the Macintosh, Ruud Dingemans. If you have an older, slower, memory-limited Mac, System 6 is fast, stable, and still very usable.
Cruising the web in black & white, John C. Foster, MacWEEK, 10/20/1999
30-pin SIMM memory pricing, RAMseeker
Applied Engineering AE HD+ FAQ, Adam Takessian. The ins and outs of Applied Engineering's 1.4 MB floppy for the 512Ke, Plus, and 800 KB SE.
Mac Museum: Mac SE, SE/30, Mac Users Militia
Upgrades: Macintosh SE, MacSpeedZone
Teaching an old Mac new tricks, MacTeens
"Today we'll take a look at just the effort it takes to bring a Macintosh SE back from negligence and into a great world of productivity once again."
Transparent SE, a very rare edition
Faster browsing on older Macs, Mac Online Technical Journal
Old Macs on the internet, The Web Toolbox
SE fever: the lure and reward of vintage computing, Steve Wood
SE saga, Steve Wood
Email lists: Classic Macs Digest, Compact Macs
Macintosh SE support page, top notch, great links
Memory upgrade guide
Links to System 6.0.8 and 7.0.1
Internet Classic Mac Users Home Page
Review of MicroMac Performer accelerator.
Obsolete Computer Museum
Software Compatible with 68000 CPU
Apple Specs Online for SE
Mac Antiques (512Ke, Plus, SE)
Get your compact Mac on the web with tips from JAG's House.

Cautions

That monitor packs a lot of voltage. Read Compact Mac CRT Energy before working inside.
Macs with black-and-white only displays (1-bit, no grays) may find Netscape Navigator 3 makes it impossible to view some pages and sites. The workaround is to use Navigator 2.
Some early SEs had noisy fans; MacUser (11/92) recommends replacing them.
Reliably supports serial speeds to 19.2 kbps, although default is 9600 bps. May have better throughput at 28.8 kbps despite some dropped and retransmitted packets. Use of a high speed modem may be limited. See 56k modem page. For more information on Mac serial ports, read Macintosh Serial Throughput on the Macintosh Online Technical Journal.
Apple discontinued support and parts orders for this model on 31 August 1998. You may be able to find dealers with parts inventory either locally or on our parts and service list.

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