The Apple Macintosh Plus, released on January 16, 1986, was the third model in the original Macintosh line and the first significant upgrade to the groundbreaking 1984 Macintosh 128K. It brought much-needed expandability, greater memory, and improved reliability, extending the life of the classic compact Macintosh design and solidifying the Mac's place in desktop publishing, education, and creative industries.
The Macintosh Plus was developed by Apple's Macintosh division, building on the original design by Jef Raskin, Steve Jobs, and the core team including Bill Atkinson, Burrell Smith, and Andy Hertzfeld. By 1986, Steve Jobs had left Apple, and Jean-Louis Gassée oversaw the product line. The Plus refined the all-in-one compact form factor while addressing early limitations like closed architecture and limited RAM.
Announced on January 16, 1986, and priced at $2,599, the Macintosh Plus replaced both the Macintosh 512Ke and the short-lived Macintosh 512K. It remained in production until October 1990—an unusually long four-year run—becoming one of the longest-lived Macintosh models. Over one million units were sold, making it a commercial success during a period when Apple faced stiff competition from IBM PC compatibles.
The Macintosh Plus retained the iconic compact all-in-one design with key internal upgrades. Key features included:
The signature cream-colored case and "Hello" startup greeting remained.
Shipped with System 3.0 and Finder 5.1, introducing the Hierarchical File System for folders on disk. The SCSI port enabled external hard drives (like the landmark Apple Hard Disk 20SC), transforming usability. The larger ROM and RAM supported more sophisticated applications, including early desktop publishing tools like PageMaker and professional software that cemented the Mac's reputation in graphic design.
The Macintosh Plus stabilized the Macintosh platform during a transitional period for Apple, providing the reliability and expandability needed for serious professional use. It was the last of the original compact "snow white" design language Macs and the final model capable of booting Mac OS all the way from System 1.0 to System 7.5.5. Beloved for its durability, many units remained in service well into the 1990s. Today, the Macintosh Plus is an iconic collectible, prized for its role in establishing the Mac's user-friendly GUI paradigm that influences computing to this day.