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Apple Computer Dating and Serial Number Deciphering...any references out there?

C

collectorcraig

Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
46
Location
Minnesota
I have a collection of old Apple computers and am trying to locate a chart or reference that might help identify the model and date of production based on the serial number. The problem in identifying them mainly involves my various Apple II computers. I have probably 25 to 30 of them that were used by our programming staff who frequently took the covers off to keep them cool. Over the years, covers seemed to migrate from machine to machine. So, I have similar covers for the Apple II, Apple II plus, and Apple IIe. I have a general idea of where they belong, but would like to verify it. The most difficult group is the Apple IIGS computers. I have 12 of them and 10 are Woz Limited Edition computer and then 2 are plain. I am hoping that some resource will give serial number formats used by Apple and model specifics as to when they were manufactured.

I have started posting photos of some of my computers on my web site and plan to add more in the near future. If you want a look at some of the systems, the URL is: http://www.solomonson.net/Calculator3frameset.html
 
From what I can find, Apple may not have had a standardized "decodable" serial number until the Mac era. If you search for "Apple serial number decoder", you can find plenty that will decode early Macintosh serials; but I can't find any that will do it for Apple II hardware. I would assume that A2 hardware of similar vintage (IIe, IIc, IIc+, IIgs,) would be decodeable using the same means, though.
 
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