Editing Apple IIGS (section)

=== Upgrading an Apple IIe ===
{{Original research|section|date=January 2019}}
[[File:IIe to IIGS upgrade ports.jpg|thumb|left|Back view of IIGS upgrade, with the new port openings and connectors]]
Upon its release in September 1986, Apple announced it would be making a kit that would upgrade an [[Apple IIe]] to a IIGS available for purchase. This followed an Apple practice of making logic board upgrades available that dated from the earliest days of the Apple II until Steve Jobs' return to Apple in 1997. The IIe-to-IIGS upgrade replaced the IIe [[motherboard]] with a 16-bit IIGS motherboard. Users would take their Apple IIe machines into an authorized Apple dealership, where the IIe motherboard and lower baseboard of the case were swapped for an Apple IIGS motherboard with a new [[baseboard]] (with matching cut-outs for the new built-in ports). New metal sticker ID badges replaced those on the front of the IIe, rebranding the machine. Retained were the upper half of the IIe case, the keyboard, speaker, and power supply. Original IIGS motherboards (those produced between 1986 and mid-1989) have electrical connections for the IIe [[power supply]] and keyboard present, although only about half of those produced have the physical plug connectors factory-presoldered in, which were mostly reserved for the upgrade kits.

[[File:IIGS upgrade markings.jpg|thumb|The replacement nameplates for the front lid, used in the Apple IIe-to-IIGS upgrade]]
The upgrade cost US$500, plus the trade-in of the user's existing Apple IIe motherboard. It did not include a mouse, and the keyboard, although functional, lacked a numeric keypad and did not mimic all the features and functions of the [[Apple Desktop Bus]] keyboard. Some cards designed for the GS did not fit in the Apple IIe's slanted case. In the end, most users found that the upgrade did not save them much money once they purchased a 3.5-inch floppy drive, analog RGB monitor, and mouse.{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}}