LGR - Apple IIGS - Vintage Computer System Review
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- Опубликовано: 23 авг 2012
- The Apple II was one of the first major successes in personal computing, and as a result Apple released several variants, culminating in the IIGS in 1986. Although soon phased out in favor of the Macintosh, the IIGS was a worthwhile machine for years. But is it still worth owning to a current collector of vintage computers?
This is an overview of the history, hardware, and software of the IIGS from the perspective of a classic computer collector. How do the pros and cons stack up, and is it worth getting a IIGS considering the other, more popular 16-bit 80's computers? 
Развлечения
The song in the background is one of mine. Just made it for this review.
we're proud of you, son
groovy
“$50-$200” *cries in 2020*
They're still not worth very much.
2023 and getting worse lol
LGR causing prices to rise after a video, a classic.
All older/vintage Apple stuff is crazy expensive now. I picked up a bunch of Macintosh LC machines years back for less than $20 each, sometimes just for shipping. Now, they’re going for $100+ on eBay, even uncapped and in unknown condition. Crazy.
Ye I know makes me a 13 yr old tech collector sad
Nobody:
RUclips recommendations: here's a video from 7 years ago with Clint having a glorious beard
Pedro Fleck Same here. RUclips starts recommending really old videos in the last time. :)
Same here!
I totally forgot about the Clint's Rasputin phase!
I swear I watched this the first time around.
Same here
Thanks for the info, Rasputin.
haha
+Wizard of Ass Ikr. He looks just like Rasputin with that beard.
He will remember you in the next jihad.
@@meepk633
Was that a Vampire rpg-reference?!!
ra ra rasputin... my favorite song
I remember using these in Elementary school. I loved using it! It was a cool little machine.
Robert Santellan oh, hello. fancy seeing you here
The "didn't sell very well" statement seems odd to me seeing as how I remember all the public schools and libraries here were filled with IIgs systems back when I was in elementary school. Played plenty of Oregon Trail, Number Munchers, and Cross Country Canada on them. Way nicer than the sad PC clone w/CGA and PC speaker I had at home.
I remember around grade 10 or so, the main library branch had stacks and stacks of "Woz" signature units stacked outside exposed to the elements, probably waiting to be hauled off to a recycler. It stuck out to me because I hadn't seen them in years, long ago replaced by Macs. They were probably sitting in a storage room collecting dust.
We just came across 40 of them from a school. We are a recycling company.
Late reply here, but back then Apple would give computers away to schools so the kids would use them and then go tell their parents to buy them. The IIgs sold well until Apple said "by the way, we're done supporting anything that isn't a Mac."
Wait wait so I'm watching this for the 2nd or 3rd time and I suddenly notice 9:46, now that's an highly inappropriate sound effect, made my day. :)
*a highly (because "highly" starts with a consonant sound)
*effect. Made
Wow. Blast from the past. I had what would probably be considered a monster IIgs system. There was a card called the Ramkeeper that fit in the memory expansion slot, and you could piggyback 2 memory cards onto it, but its main feature was that it delivered power to the memory cards constantly, thus preserving their contents. What made my system a monster? I had 6 megabytes of powered ram holding my entire system, and I was running off it. My entire system was running off a ram disk which was always present. Reboots took seconds, Appleworks launches took less. I don't know if a Ramkeeper can be found today, but it's worth a look if anyone is going retro.
GS/OS was groundbreaking. The IIgs was around for several years, and for many of those years which coincided with the Macintosh, GS/OS was indeed superior to MacOS, and not just because the IIgs had color. MacOS was still evolving and maturing as an operating system, slowly adding things like hierarchical file handling, etc... and almost every new innovation came out FIRST in GS/OS. The IIgs was the leader, not the follower. I suspect Apple's plan all along was to leverage the gs in its twilight years as a training ground for the Mac.
One of the last things I bought for the GS was a Zip drive. The GS/OS file system has a 32mb limit, so I had to format a Zip disk as 3 volumes of 32mb ea. Doesn't sound like much today, but in Apple IIgs terms it was astounding. And huge. Good times.
6mb was unheard of back then
WO! That beard came out of nowhere!
ikr! Didn't see that coming! Glad he got rid of it because to me at least it doesn't suit him at all.
Beards tend to do that.
I disagree. The beard and longhair is epic !
Good to try a new look every now and then . I looked a lot different 6 years ago too.
He looks like Rasputin
I love when you add close-up shots of the boards and details in the videos, but the format is more fun than some boring videos people make showcasing boards and tech.
The LCD screen for the Apple IIc in the box is one of those rare peripherals that gets mad attention when they're on ebay.
I love the episode The 8-Bit Guy (I think he was The iBook Guy back then) did about the IIgs vs the Macintosh and how Apple should have focused on growing the IIgs because it was a superior yet more affordable product. 4,096 colors vs. two!
Hell, wouldn't it have been nice if the original Macintosh even had 16 or 256 colors?
@Daniel Dougan . . . and it would have also been nice if the original Mac had a larger monitor screen.
Jobs was obsessed with being some kind of computer *hardware* genius, even if people couldn't afford it and there was no software (1984 Mac). An upgraded Apple II machine would not have allowed him to inflict his massively expensive nonsense. It is super-interesting listening to Bill Mensch lamenting Apple completely missing the opportunity 8-Bit talks about.
@@bloqk16 Look, Jobs felt that was all you needed OK?
Ultimately, there is no-way in hell that Jobs would allow the IIgs to out-perform the non-upgradeable, no-software Mac. Then suddenly, he was gone, yet Apple still stuffed it up.
My first ever computer was an Apple IIgs. I still remember playing the old gold box D&D games on there while other kids were still trying to beat Super Mario Brothers.
You can tell how old those parts are if they say "Made in USA" on them.
Don't make me cry.
Yeah, how many years BC (Before China) :(
I think I'm finally starting to realize that this is my favorite RUclips channel.
That deep base background music you got going on throughout is very soothing and fun to listen to.
Every time I go back and watch one of these old reviews I'm always shocked by the beard.
12:28, LOL that beard, man! Really weird seeing LGR with a full beard and no glasses!
dayum 10 years ago and it has more quality than the most of RUclips videos nowadays!
Another classic review Clint! Having fun doing back viewing of these classic LGR reviews of Apple products! Looking forward to the next one! More power and God bless from the Philippines!
I love these "old Clint" vids. That beard is amazeballs.
11:49 Wow. That floppy drive has a badass clunk to it. Like reloading a gun
A shotgun.
HK MP5
OMG you could hear it grinding from several rooms away lol.
when the badass kid on your block shows off his iigs.
STOP CURSING!
I dont want to see Wolf3D Run that slow ever again
Even at full speed the game moves sluggishly. Maybe that's just because I don't find it very fun.
But he had an accelerator board.
thats not an "accelerator board" those boards price is gold
Apples were not meant for gaming, even in the past *master race intesifies*
Nazi
Thanks dude, I always enjoy your hardware reviews of old stuff!
Back i the old days my school had these. I even ended up getting one as a thank you from my school as I was able to reconstitute two working ones out of three dead ones so as a thank you the computer teacher let me take one home. It even had a PC transporter card. I could basically run DOS and DOS programs on my IIGS. That thing is still kicking around somewhere. (buried in my locker with my Tandy CoCo3)
My school had these same computers in the early 90s. I can still recall playing Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego, Number/Word Munchers on them, good times!
@@markportuondo2483 Carmen Sandiego, fuck yeah!
Thank you! I love that shirt :)
We has some IIc computers I was like 12. They came out in like 84 and the push came in the late 80s, then it was Apple and edutainment games galore. One that still has a cult following come to think of it, and yes I noticed the shirt. They persisted with different Apple II generations throughout my entire generation and most of the next. That is a grip of time for computer tech. Ah the memories, learned Apple Basic and Merlin so having them around did teach us things the teacher intended.
This was my first computer I ever had. Thanks for letting me reminisce and for as always providing high quality reviews.
Also bonus points for epic beard.
9:46 .....
Jesus Christ....
Ryan Cavitt
Nep moans(?
Nep?
Ryan Cavitt waaaaaa
jesus
I remember my friends and I racing to play Oregon Trail on the one GS our school library had. The graphics upgrade was legitimate.
Same. Oregon Trail, Carmen SanDiego and Number Munchers.
Thanks for such an awesome channel! Taking me back to being a teenager in the early 80s. ZX Spectrum, CPC464, Apple IIe... Memories :)
your hardware reviews never fail to disappoint!
Oh man, a time when Apple would actually want you to upgrade if you wanted to.
Great little machine.
Woz version of Apple... ^^
Another World/Out of This World is an incredible port to Apple IIGS. The game's creator even gifted the programmer a print of the game's box art in a frame as a compliment.
I've been a fan of the channel for a good while, and I keep finding myself going back to the older videos. I went to school for programming, but I kinda fell out of love with the whole scene. Watching these vids always makes me want to reconsider that. Very interesting. I really miss the classic systems. This was the first computer I ever played a game on. So was pretty much my first experience playing a game sitting down not surrounded by people, lol. I can't remember if it was Oregon Trail or Deja Vu. The whole concept was pretty new to me. I used to be in the arcades daily. My school had nothing but these systems, and I always remembered pissing around with them. At the time they seemed advanced as hell for some reason. Of course I didn't have much to base that opinion on. Keep the videos coming. Really enjoy them. There's a few I've seen tons and tons of times, and like I said, I'm not really a PC guy, so you are doing something right. Really enjoy the LGR Thrifts series. I've been a console gamer going on 25+ years now, so that's more my thing. I always like seeing the big box PC games though. Nowadays games don't even give you a manual. You open the case and half the time they don't give you an advertisement even, lol. I've even seen those DVD style cases with holes cut out around the spindle portion. Crazy to think they used to come with huge manuals and all that. I had a copy of Wing Commander IV on the 3DO that came with a ton of crap. I feel like those really helped with immersion. A lot of the times you were into the game world before you even made it back home to play the time. Anyways I got way off base, but nostalgic stuff always gets me thinking.
Thanks for the kind words, sir! Iteration and refinement is where it's at.
I wish you luck on your IIGS search, should you decided to give in to your new-found desires :D
Wow... Never seen it before! Clint's Wizard Phase, I love it... Now he's a regular computer nerd! Yet still amazing! Kudos LGR!
DAT BEARD!
He looks just like a Russian Orthodox priest or monk, even today. They still often have hair like that.
WHOA! A freakin beard! This was way back in the day.
thanks LGR, been waiting for a apple II GS review for a while
Holy.......those TransWarp GS cards are going on ebay for over $800!!
Yeah, they're supremely sought-after D:
+Lazy Game Reviews The're mostly sought after due to their ability to make gsos run faster, and another reason is that it was rumored that jobs made the possessor less efficient so it did not compete with the Macintosh counterparts.
+PINKBOY1006 Yep, and it just sounds like they came out late in the GS's life, gave a huge performance boost yet few people were looking for a boost at that time for that machine so it didn't make much of a splash. So they were very useful for that machine, few people had them and they likely only had one manufacturing run. The perfect storm for highly sought-after collectible tech.
+Damien Hartley Are you talking about the Apple I? If so, that is a pretty different beast. Those are historically significant because they were just made by hand by Steve Wozniak for early CA computer club members. There are only a few dozen known to still exist. At least, that is the only old Apple computer I know of that sells for thousands of dollars (actually tens of thousands).
+Damien Hartley I would believe those are still worth several thousand dollars even not working. Working ones sell for around $30,000 I think.
Indeed, and that was running with an 8MHz CPU. It's still playable, but yeah, it's more of a curiosity unless you have an accelerator board with something like 12-18MHz or so. Forget playing it on the stock machine, it makes slide shows look too fast.
Great review!
The sound of the Ensoniq chip is so amazing! Love it to death!
Love the hair Clint. Great content + info as always dude, Love it!
"But it's kinda like fondling a block of cheese." I am dying now from that quote xD.
I had the woz edition, my wife threw it in the garbage because it was outdated and got an ibm compatible.
This was the very first computer my family owned! My dad bought it in 1986 when I was 4 and it was the computer I learned just about everything on - we didn't replace it for another TEN YEARS when we finally upgraded to a Dell in 1996. I loved to write as a kid and I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours penning stories with the white-on-blue word processor. In fact I wrote soooo prolifically that finally when I was 12 I saved one file too many and literally perma-bricked the 256kB hard drive lol. RIP Apple IIGS, you had my heart first.
Ahhhhh, a review of hardware from 20 years ago. Great way to start the day :3
Had a IIGS growing up and didn't realize there was a lot of games for it that looked like NES caliber. I still have it at my parents house with the dot matrix printer and everything else in box. I don't think any of the components were upgraded inside
9:45 That's the sound a block of cheese makes when you fondle it.
I’m 52 and for me this is the most beautiful computer ever made, along with the first Mac. My father gifted me in Christmas when a was a boy. Stills i have one with me. It remembers me that wonderful times.
My friend's older brother had the the Apple IIGS. I loved playing on that thing. Some excellent franchises were ported to the IIGS including the Space Quest series and Rampage.
9:40 That's just a sampled sound of someone striking his hand flat on a table.
You really made out getting a IIgs with the TransWarp GS and everything else that came with it - that's literally like a $1,000 computer even today. Yours is also in seemingly perfect cosmetic condition (well, except for the keyboard) - doesn't look yellowed at all. I bought mine recently because my first ever computer was a IIc in 1985 and its floppy drive went bellyup (probably too many years in the temperature extremes of my attic), so I figured to replace it I may as well get the best Apple II ever made, and the one I wanted but couldn't afford in those days. The thing about the IIgs is that it'll run all the regular II software *plus* IIgs stuff. I feel like if you're thinking about buying an Apple II at all, there's really no logical reason to get any other II. The IIgs runs the most software, and it runs older II stuff at least as well as any other II.
Dude, I am not sure how receptive you are to hugs, but if you were here, you would be getting a big bear hug right now. 1st grade just came rushing back to me.
This is helping me with my research on classic computers. Thanks.
Only game I remember is "tass times in tonetown". I had a GS back in about 1989 with a 20mb HDD and I purchased another one about 10 years ago (A Woz). Both now sold. But I still have my old Apple 2's. I think Apple deliberately undersold the GS to push the Macintosh. I mean it was B/W, slow and had it own odd connector. I cannot see why it took off. The GS was way better.
datasilo uk The GS was considered underpowered in '86, compared with the 286s in IBM machines, which could account for low sales. I'm not sure how many units they actually shipped, but they weren't really all that uncommon. I knew someone who had one, and I wanted one to replace my //e.
"It kind of feels like fondling a block of cheese" But isn't that a good thing?
Excellent video matey - really well done :) Brings back some great memories!
My elementary school had the IIGS in every classroom. Learned to use a mouse and floppy disks with it at around 8-9 years old. Neat little machine.
"feels like you're fondling a block of cheese" i lost it lol
9:45 UUUUUNNHHHH!!
Love your videos, I have watched almost all of them over the years and I just came across this amazing bearded video!! Holy crap! :D
Thanks for the video LGR! When I was young in grade school these Apple 2 E's was my go to system. I remember using the Apple 2 GS with 512 megs of ram? It's been a long time but fondly remember some of those games and wanting a system like the GS for my own. I used to have thousands of games and programs for Apple 2 series (didn't own my own computer) I had a lot of fun and someday hopefully find one myself :) Thanks again for posting this :)
The apple III was a huge error and cost apple future sales. The IIGS should have been the only one to follow the apple IIe.
Agreed, just bad timing and pushing too hard. Steve was known to push without purpose. People weren't ready for a Lisa or Mac. They were happy with command lines. They should have taken 3 years and developed a suit of software and services around the Mac. Even a 1987 mac release would have been before it's time. Haste makes waste.
They got the timing of the Ipod, IPhone and Ipad correct. A more mature Steve Jobs.
+Laura Kane how was the apple III ahuge error?
GreenAppelPie im not.i dont know much about apple stuff thats before the iPod
+xj0462 In addition to just not being that compelling of an upgrade, it was horribly engineered and built. There were no cooling fans or even ventilation slots, so they would overheat like crazy with the only fix being to pick it up and drop it to reseat the chips. Steve Wozniak described it as having "a 100% failure rate".
Arkanoid sounded so good!
Hey man, amazing reviews. Glad I found them. Greeting from Mexico. Gracias.
Love your geeky enthusiasm and passion. Keep it up man!
Has more ports than the new Mac's.
*Macs
So, if this is backwards compatible with previous versions of the Apple 2, couldn't you get this as a sort of all-in-one solution for Apple 2 software?
That was the idea behind it, yes!
Lazy Game Reviews Awesome, so despite the lack of Apple IIgs specific software it's still sounds like a good buy if you're into Apple II in general.
Disthron Or want to relive the boredom of playing Oregon Trail in school!
Great review as always!
Thanks for the reply!
You know, you are (probably) the only YT partner who replies to questions and that's awesome!
Stop with your Great Apple IIgs Videos. Now I am Obsessively looking for Apple IIgs Stuff. Thanks Lazy Game Reviews Guy !!!!
Damn Wolfenstein 3d looked pretty darn good
Very nice review, Clint. You seemed a lot more relaxed, but focused this time around. Well done!
thanks LGR, once again you've saved the day
I call this the "real" Macintosh
I remember trying these when new and wondering why anyone would by a Mac! Granted I was a PC guy, But I knew all about the Apple ][ line and the ass ton (1.61 Metric Butt Tonne) of software for them. To me, for the Apple fan,the GS made more sense than the early Mac as an "upgrade path".
holy crap... beard.
Yeah that ....beard..
it Surprised me when i saw it
Beard happens...
Had no idea the IIGS could run Out of This World. Damn!
My hometown made the IIGS the official computer of all the public schools. Each had two computer labs of 30 of the things. They were supposed to be used as word processors to type up papers, but most kids used them to play Oregon Trail.
The real shocker was the school kept them well into the mid 90s, at least.
PHREAKINDEE YOU ARE FREEKING BOSSSSSS , always first thing i do when i get on the Internets after a hard day or a couple of hard days is check out your channel ,you always have content and it is always made of pure awesome .
back when apple's devices had headphone jacks
And scsi ports.. what were they thinking getting rid of those?
Sinus Lebastian nice name
@@jseden airpods
Back then, one of Apple's slogans was "Does more, costs less". How the times have changed...
Amiga 500 vs IIGS. Which one do you guys prefer?
Personally I go with the Amiga every time. Way, way more games. But the IIGS is just a wonderful machine in its own right that I would never turn one down!
kaww none.
I like the IIGS _system_ more, but the Amiga certainly has the better library of games. Unless you throw in the back catalog of old Apple II disks, I suppose....
Unfair. The Amiga was the high end machine of Commodore like the Mac was for Apple. If you want to compare machines they should be in the same range..
Theo Buunermond
I dunno. It makes sense to compare, say, the Amiga 1000 to the Macintosh, but both the Apple IIGS and the much more popular Amiga 500 were lower-end machines targeted at the more casual home market. Given that both of them (the IIGS and the 500) were particularly popular with artists and gamers, while the Macintosh really wasn't at this point, I think the comparison is better.
Another high quality review, keep up the good work :)
What a blast from the past! Nice review, I came here because I just found (and bought) a GS at a garage sale, Woz edition, with monitor, 2 Imagewriter II printers, a 5 1/4 floppy and 2 3 1/2 drives. and a box of books. I haven't opened it up yet, hope to do so soon. All for
$50.
What a beard you;ve had :)
When Apple let you customize
Great IIgs review! Nice demo of the games - many I have not seen before. I will look for them now to try and add them to my own IIgs software collection.
Thanks!!
Nice beard :D
i miss your beard
he is way sexier without the beard. srry
The sound on this machine is awesome!
I used to run a BBS when I was in high school off of a IIGS w/ an AE 1.5 MB RAM expansion board, two Apple 3.5" drives, a Chinook 40 MB external HD, a USRobotics Courier HST 9600 baud external modem and GBBS Pro software by Greg Shaffer. I also had some type of clock card that I didn't even know what it's function was but used to read about how awesome it is and how everyone loves it.
Before that I had the IIC w/ a ProAPP 20 MB hard drive that I ran GBBS Pro off of. Exciting times in the 80's!
Your beard is awesome p.s. You sounded like a complete nerd 95% of the video no offense XD
None taken, as I've never claimed to be anything but!
Its not you its the total computer talk. LOL
Geeks are into collecting but not using.
He is a nerd.
This video must have taken ages to complete. Thanks for your hard work.
Glorious beard. GLORIOUS.
Awesome video, as always.
Thanks! I hope to make one on the Apple II whenever I get an Apple II or II Plus.
And the shirt is from a website called 6 Dollar Shirts.
I don't understand half of what you're talking about, but your voice is just so freakin' calming...
Oh my lord, since 2009, we've seen the many looks of Clint, and your look in this video eclipses them all, awesome beard, my good man.
Cool, the old school computer reviews are my favourites, cheers!
Hi there. I found you vids by accident, but after viewing a couple about vintage computers, I was hooked and subscribed. I really like your reviews, and your sarcasm. As a 14 year old I really wanted a Mac 128K, but the price was too high, so my father got me a Commodore 64. I loved that computer. Peek and poke!
Wonderful review. While I'm quite familiar with the Apple IIe due to it being in my elementary/junior high schools growing up, I knew next to nothing about the IIGS. The one you have, with the upgrades, looks to be quite a bit more capable than the older Macintosh's. I had an IBM PC AT in my house as a kid, but I wouldn't have minded having one of these back in the day. Keep up the great reviews - they're informative, never boring, and you have a good sense of humor. Rockin' beard as well man!