Released in January 1983, the IIe ('e' for enhanced) became the mainstay of the Apple II line, being manufactured and sold into the 1990s. While it still had the 1Mhz 6502 when first released (mostly for compatibility reasons with software such as games and the Disk II hardware), it had uppercase and lowercase text display built in, with working shift and capslock keys. (Early versions didn't have the shft key modification that was standard on the II+, but it was standard in later versions.)

The motherboard was also simpler due to custom chips, and had 64K RAM built in, and inherited all of the graphics modes from the II+. Slot 0 was replaced by an 'Auxiliary' slot for an 80 column card with optional extra ram. (The 'Extended 80 Column card' provided 80 display columns plus 64K more ram for a total of 128K; other vendors sold cards with more RAM, up to several megabytes of ram).

Several versions of the IIe were released; the very first motherboard revision (written on the motherboard in the back, by the power-on led) as version 820-0064-A. The first change to this was one to the motherboard to allow 'Double Hires' (560x192 in black and white mode; 140x192 in 16 fixed colors mode) graphics display if an extended 80 Column board was installed. You will need a motherboard which is not revision 820-0064-A to do this.

The other main change, released in March 1985, and which can be done independently, such as to an original motherboard, was the ability to 'Enhance' the 'enhanced' Apple II. This was done to bring the IIe's processor and ROMs up to the level that the Apple IIc which had come out in April 84. This enhancement was accomplished by swapping 4 socketed chips on the motherboard: the CPU (6502 to 65C02, which provided more instructions, but the system speed remained the same), character generator (replaced a normally unused set of uppercase inverse characters by 32 graphical symbols useful for doing a GUI on the 40 or 80 column screen) ROM, and 2 ROM chips (Monitor/Applesoft). This upgrade could be done by a user; Apple (and later Alltech Electronics) sold the 4 chips. Most current Apple II software requires an Enhanced IIe, and sometimes 128K too.

The easiest way to check if a IIe has been enhanced is to look at the top line of the screen when it is powered up or rebooted. If it says "Apple II", it is not enhanced. The enhanced computers will say "Apple IIe". These enhancements were built into all subsequent releases of the Apple II, such as the IIc+, and IIGS; the IIc was "enhanced" before the IIe. (It is technically possible to swap some but not all of the 4 chips to get a partially enhanced system, but that is very rare, and should be avoided).

In 1987, a third major revision of the IIe came out. This one has the Double Hires capable motherboard and is Enhanced, and is easily identifiable by the numeric keypad built into the platinum-colored case, which previous IIes, II+s, and IIs lacked. The motherboard also had some changes: one 16K ROM IC which replaced the two 8K Monitor ROM ICs (the CD and EF ROMs), two 64Kx4 RAM ICs replaced the eight 64Kx1 RAM ICs, the single-wire shift-key mod, and a miniaturized version of the Extended 80 Column Card.

The Apple IIe is still useful for three major reasons: 1) It runs AppleWorks, a simple to use, yet sophisticated Spreadsheet/Word Processor/Database. 2) There are many Apples in schools, so there is a ton of educational software for it. 3) It is was and will always be a personal computer. You can learn as little or as much as you want, and nothing stops you from learning about every nook and cranny in it. Ask any big name programmer in MS/DOS or Mac where they learned to program. Most of them taught themselves on a good ol' Apple II.

Good programs for an Apple IIe: AppleWorks (Spreadsheet/Word Processor/Database from Scantron Quality Computers) 3.0 (with 128K RAM), 4.x (with 256K RAM) or 5.x (with 256-512K RAM and drives larger than 140K) , Copy II+ (file utility from Central Point), ProSEL 8 (disk and file utilities from Glen Bredon/Charlie's Appleseeds) ProTerm 3.1 (communications/terminal emulator from InSync), Print Shop or The New Print Shop (sign/card/banner printer from Broderbund). With an enhanced IIe, other good programs are Publish It!4 (desktop publishing), and Dazzle Draw (drawing program).

Recommended configuration: an enhanced IIe with extended 80 Column card (gives you 128K) or Applied Engineering's RamWorks (512K to 1MB RAM). RGB video out could be provided with some third party cards. A Hard Drive is recommended if you use a lot of different programs. You can also speed it up with an accelerator.

Information Courtesy of the Apple FAQ, Part II