Editing Apple IIe (section)

==Upgrades==

===Apple IIGS upgrade kit===
[[File:IIGS upgrade markings.jpg|thumb|300px|The replacement ID badges for the front lid, used in the Apple IIe-to-IIGS upgrade]]
{{Main|Apple IIGS}}

When the [[Apple IIGS]] computer was introduced in September 1986, Apple announced it would be making an upgrade kit for the IIe. The upgrade cost US$500, plus the trade-in of the user's existing Apple IIe motherboard and baseplate.

Users would bring their Apple IIe machines in to an authorized dealership, where the 65C02-based IIe motherboard and lower baseboard of the case were swapped for a 65C816-based Apple II<small>GS</small> motherboard with a new baseboard. New metal sticker ID badges replaced those on the front of the Apple IIe, rebranding the machine.  Retained were the upper half of the IIe case, the keyboard, speaker, and power supply. Original II<small>GS</small> motherboards (those produced between 1986 and mid-1989) had electrical connections for the IIe power supply and keyboard present, although only about half of the units produced had the physical plug connectors factory-soldered in.

[[Image:IIe to IIGS upgrade ports.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Back view of IIGS upgrade. Note the new port openings and connectors.]]

The upgrade kit proved unpopular as it did not include a mouse; the keyboard did not mimic all the features of the Apple Desktop Bus keyboard; and some cards designed for the Apple II<small>GS</small> did not fit in the Apple IIe's slanted case.  In the end, most users found they were not saving much, once they had to purchase a 3.5-inch floppy drive, analog RGB monitor, and mouse.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

For a time, the [[Western Design Center]] (the company that designed the 16-bit [[WDC 65C816|65C816]] processor used in the Apple II<small>GS</small>) also sold a 16-bit [[WDC 65C816#W65C802|65C802]] processor that was a drop-in, pin-compatible replacement for the 65C02 that made the full 16-bit 65C816 instruction set available to the IIe, but using the same 8-bit data bus as the 65C02; however, this upgrade was insufficient, by itself, to allow II<small>GS</small> software to run, as II<small>GS</small> software additionally required the II<small>GS</small>'s firmware and specialized hardware.

{{Timeline of Apple II Family|headerextension==}}