I have found 2 for sale on Craigslist for 100 each. The first model is an enhanced Macintosh 512k. It comes with the computer, an official apple carrying case, and various disks. The second model is a Dual Floppy Macintosh SE, which according to the seller is in "pristine condition" because the original owner never used it and kept it in storage. That comes with an ImageWriter printer, and Apple Extended Keyboard. Both cost $100 and turn on and have no issues in their testing. Of course I'll be testing the one I buy, if I were to buy one. So I would like some advice on which one I should buy, because I honestly don't know that much about Compact Macs and I think this is a pretty good price for these vintage systems.
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Macintosh 512ke VS SE: Which to Buy?
- Thread starter Gamer9430
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The 512 is the more collectible of the two.
The SE is by far and away the more useable of the two(if any of these can be considered "useable" these days). It's also more expandable, and unlike the 512 the SE has SCSI(internal and external), RS-422 serial ports, and a lot of other "modern" conveniences that will make installing something like an external CD-ROM drive or ZIP drive a breeze. The SE can be easily upgraded to 4 or 5mb of RAM(I forget which-it depends on whether it has any RAM on board).
At one time, someone made a bracket to mount an internal hard drive in the SE in addition to two internal floppies(the default was either 2 floppies or 1 floppy+1 hard drive). If you could track one of these down-or if it's already installed-it would be a worthwhile upgrade.
Plus, there the Extended Keyboard II, which would seal the deal for me.
That's just one man's opinion, though.
The SE is by far and away the more useable of the two(if any of these can be considered "useable" these days). It's also more expandable, and unlike the 512 the SE has SCSI(internal and external), RS-422 serial ports, and a lot of other "modern" conveniences that will make installing something like an external CD-ROM drive or ZIP drive a breeze. The SE can be easily upgraded to 4 or 5mb of RAM(I forget which-it depends on whether it has any RAM on board).
At one time, someone made a bracket to mount an internal hard drive in the SE in addition to two internal floppies(the default was either 2 floppies or 1 floppy+1 hard drive). If you could track one of these down-or if it's already installed-it would be a worthwhile upgrade.
Plus, there the Extended Keyboard II, which would seal the deal for me.
That's just one man's opinion, though.
The SE30 was basically the desktop Mac II in the SE case and much faster than the SE. Motorola 68000 in the SE, Motorola 68030 in the SE/30.
I second the opinion that the SE is more usable but the 512K may appeal more to a collector.
I have an original Macintosh-128K and a dual floppy SE with a MB(!) of RAM. Both still work!