LGR - Apple IIGS - Vintage Computer System Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- 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?
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
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
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
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
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.
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 think I'm finally starting to realize that this is my favorite TH-cam channel.
12:28, LOL that beard, man! Really weird seeing LGR with a full beard and no glasses!
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Thanks for such an awesome channel! Taking me back to being a teenager in the early 80s. ZX Spectrum, CPC464, Apple IIe... Memories :)
Love the hair Clint. Great content + info as always dude, Love it!
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.
WHOA! A freakin beard! This was way back in the day.
Maybe it's because I'm new to your channel, but I absolutely don't understand the channel name at all. There's nothing even remotely lazy about your videos. They're extremely well-researched and presented. Nice job!
Thanks! I don't understand it myself anymore, haha.
Lazy Game Reviews LOL
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!
holy crap you really have changed so much over the years. Anyway this machine was one of my favorites because my grandparents had one and they had a game called milestone 2000. I absolutely loved that game. I emulated it a few years back. The Apple II-C is another favorite as we had one in my 5th grade classroom. These days I don't give 2 shits about apple anymore.
This was my first computer and I have many fond memories of learning Visual Basic, learning how to type with Mavis Beacon, and playing Silent Service for hours.
Now I know where they got the idea for the iPhone 3GS. Absolutely brilliant.
"But it's kinda like fondling a block of cheese." I am dying now from that quote xD.
I'm impressed and a little jealous at how good Silpheed sounds on the IIGS. The organs sound so real and the drums are sharp and doesn't sound like a plastic toy drum.
This made me happy. The one title, and one of the few RPGs I've ever finished, that had a IIgs version was Ancient Land Of Ys. Great game for its day
Great review!
The sound of the Ensoniq chip is so amazing! Love it to death!
This is such a cool computer. I can't beleive it has that Macintosh interface. It looks awesome and the hardware looks amazing too
Still remember the brand new Gs’s in middle school. They had that new car smell and everything. I always liked how they looked with the external drives.
Had 5 of these once, sadly got rid of them as well as a trailer load of MacSEs, Apple IIcs and others cuz they filled a garage. Don't have much nostalgia over the other Apples but the IIgs was a machine I saw in high school and dreamed of owning for the awesome music capability. Only machine I kept was an original MacBook (Apple's first laptop).
The IIGS was such a fantastic machine and it really sucks that Apple neglected it in favor of the Macintosh (which, in 1986 was still non-expandable and not nearly as useful as an Apple II) even though it could do so much more than the Macintosh.
I was floored when I learned the IIgs was an entirely new 16-bit computer that ran legacy Apple II programs on a separate Apple II subsystem. The IIgs in its 16-bit native mode was roughly as capable as a Super Nintendo.
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
Stop with your Great Apple IIgs Videos. Now I am Obsessively looking for Apple IIgs Stuff. Thanks Lazy Game Reviews Guy !!!!
Great review! The Apple IIe was the first computer I ever used, which was in elementary school. I always wonder how Apple got so successful in schools. At any rate, at least with any Apple computer that you get, you don't have to worry about missing out on a lot of great PAL-only releases.
Damn. Computers like these existed in 1986 and I was "gaming" on an 8088 XT with CGA graphics and PC speaker. That "Rastan" port looks arcade perfect.
I had a IIgs with the AppleColor RGB monitor, a 5.25 drive, a 3.5 drive, keyboard, mouse, and printer, all that I got for free, and all in great condition, but I left it at my parents' place when I moved out, and before I could rescue it, it all got thrown out. Would have gone nicely in the retro corner.
Damn Wolfenstein 3d looked pretty darn good
Ahhhhh, a review of hardware from 20 years ago. Great way to start the day :3
Glorious beard. GLORIOUS.
Awesome video, as always.
I had one the Woz units. For a monitor, my cousin made a custom cable for the Sony 13" TV/monitor I've seen in at least one of your reviews. (Just saw it in the Sinclair review.) I just recently had the power supply go out on that monitor. It was a great monitor!
Applied Engineering in Carollton, TX was the best company for Apple II add-ons. I lived near their office. They made the Transwarp. I can't remember if I had that. I did have their PC Transporter making it a PC compatible system running DOS. I probably used them more on my Apple //e - 512KB 80-column card, Phaser (12-channel sound card), and a Z-80 card. For the IIgs, they had a hard drive / power supply called the Vulcan. Hmmm... Transwarp, Transporter, Phaser. Vulcan. I don't think they were Star Trek fans at all.
For games, the IIgs also had some Sierra Online and Cinemaware games. The original Leisure Suit Larry was on it with better music than the PC version. The Cinenaware games were more like the Amiga versions - Defender of the Crown, Kings of Chicago, The Three Stooges. I loved Zany Golf and Alien Mind. With that sound chip, there were a few music composition software. I can only remember the name of Music Construction Set, but there was another one I loved too. I had a video capture card which I used to make ID cards for a group in college. Just for an informal name badge with a grayscale image of the person.
I had also gotten some neat demo programs that showed off the graphics and sound - cool music. I don't remember the name, but I think one was done by some French programmers.
I really liked the audio to thexker, it sounds great.
The IIgs was the first computer I have ever used, so for nostalgic reasons is why I will hunt for one. (Man alive, I went on a YT rabbit hole on old tech)
Perfect shirt for this review. My only memories of the IIG2 are, buying to much bacon and dying while playing "The Oregon Trail".
Great review. I didn't know games looked and sounded that good on the IIGS.
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".
Fun fact: The Apple IIGS was used quite extensively by developers to program games for the SNES as both systems had virtually the same CPU. Super Mario World is notorious among diehard Apple fans for being the first SNES game created on the IIGS. It may have not been a commercial success but it had life during the SNES years, therefore Apple didn't abandon it completely for the Mac.
This was our first computer! Only had 1 3.5" drive with the 5.25" but also had that exact joystick. Now I have to go look up the Alf game we had on this computer.
Wow these were in my elementary school computer lab. We learned how to type on these. We used to play some game with fish on it. Dolly varden and Angler is all I can remember about the game.
The graphics at 10:02 were AMAZING for 1986 holy crap
I see the GS part payed off, that is some really nice sound for a classic computer!
Defender of the crown probably had the best all-time 2gs soundtrack
Skate or Die was one of my favorite iigs games
thanks LGR, once again you've saved the day
Wow, that Arkanoid II port sounds fantastic.
Awesome review...now you need to make one of the Apple II. ;P
Amazing T-shirt btw.! Where did you get it?
i miss your beard
he is way sexier without the beard. srry
Cool, the old school computer reviews are my favourites, cheers!
I was reading something on my other monitor and I heard Crystal Quest and immediately was back in my childhood.
Hi there...2 days ago, i found one in the trash, along with 6 other Apple2's. Can't wait to get it working. :D
I'm so disappointed that didn't play Zany Golf. One of the best-looking and fun games on the IIgs, and although there were ports for other systems, the IIgs version reigns supreme.
Fire Fox is actually all I use, I had an add-on for that, but lost it when I updated Fire Fox and was too lazy to figure it out again, don't personally mind the commercials most of them are for stuff I like and they give the TH-cam channel a couple cents here and there.
I remember playing Rastan on the arcade as a kid. Awesome game.
Man I miss the old theme song when I go back to watching newer LGR, it was so catchy.
The IIgs can scan drives and auto start from one. Pr#5. How quaint. You can also set it to start in the control panel for whichever drive slot. But you knew all this. ;)
What 7 years does to ones voice! I can notice a difference, and hey, you sound better now than you did then!
that apple iigs keyboard uses ALPS SKCM orange switches, you can get a dell at101w or apple extended keyboard or get matias switches.
my elementary school had a computer lab full of these. i remember playing games like Gertrude's secrets and Gertrude's garden. some sort 2d car designing game where you could test aero dynamics and braking ability of the car.
Whoa, you got the TWGS with that machine? A heck of a deal! KEGS has a fork called GSport, might want to look into that for updates. The annoying Ensoniq bugs haven't been fixed though. Here in the US, IIgs systems and expansions are cheap compared to Amiga and ST stuff. Looking around Amibay, its quite apparent those folks have some deep pockets. It makes $250-300 Transwarp GS cards look cheap!
The Apple IIGS in on par with the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga from the looks and sounds.🙂
How come that original Mac and Mac Classic behind you look like they have their drive openings have been painted over on screen with black pixels?
great video! I was a c64 kid, and remember buying games, looking at the screenshots on the box, and the more impressive image would always say "Apple ii screen shown". I was wondering if you could do a video that explains Apple's decision to move away from games, as it seems like they gave up on something they were really good at. cheers!
Any chance of reviewing the Amstrad CPC or one of the many MSX systems? Or perhaps something even older, like the TRS-80 or TI-99/4? Actually I've enjoyed your series of vintage computer reviews, that I'd settle for anything :D
Also, do you have any interest in clones? Particularly Eastern European clones? It'd be awesome to own something like a Soviet IBM PC compatible or a Romanian ZX Spectrum clone, but I imagine they're very rare and probably more expensive than they're worth.
Imagine one of these computer’s but connected to a modern computer so it can show modern things. It also can show the old fashioned things too so it can show both modern and old things.
Man, this Dayv99 is an awesome Dude! He's donated so much to you, LGR. That's a true fan. :3
Bring more Old school Apple History / tech tales / odd ware videos!
I just posted one last week!
th-cam.com/video/9UclHrIIaYA/w-d-xo.html
I would love to see a review of the original Apple II line at some point.
I once got a 2 GS with the accelerator board (no HDD controller though) and memory expansion for 5 bucks at a yard sale., when I was like 14. I would still have it to this day but the power supply blew HARDCORE when I was 16. What I mean by HARDCORE is that it caught fire and and melted the hardware by the time I put it out. I think I still have the disk drives and software. but that's about it. My parent's were not pleased that my computer almost burned that house down either. We look back on that time in life and laugh. I'm just so mad that I no longer have this computer in my collection anymore, I will have another one again sometime.
GREAT VIDEO AND THAT SHIRT!
Man, I used to love Crystal Quest, Wolf 3D, and Choplifter. Luckily, most of those were eventually ported to the Macintosh, where Doom, Marathon, and Glider joined my favorites. Sadly, only Choplifter 2, Marathon, and Glider seem available for current Macs. This computer is the very first (Mac or PC) in 20 years where Wolf 3D hasn’t been on my computer.
Thanks for the review, the II GS is something like the Super Nintendo is for the regular NES (NES has 6502, SNES has 65816 too). And we Atari 8 bitters are expanding our 8 Bit machine (Atari 800XL ... 130XE) with the 65816 chips aswell. At the moment I'm trying to get kegs to run, hopefully I will get this soon, I care a lot for the GS OS (I love old Graphical User Interfaces).
If I didn't know Oregon Trail, I would have thought your bread came with the shirt.
YES! Home run, home run. You and me Lucy. We're gonna show em baby.
I really need to ask my parents how, where, and why they managed to get a Woz edition IIgs. At the time practically no one else in our little town had a personal computer.
found an apple iie and iigs in a garage today, hell yeah! and an apple writer II
8:33 Illuminati much?! 10:22 awesome! i didnt know you had wolfenstein already in 84.
Very nice to see this stuff, most of the games look awesome to me. I would like an apple computer like that.
The Apple IIe was and still is kind of an enigma to me. It didn't seem to look or feel natural in any environment--except maybe a library. The schools I was in used them, but they kind of sucked compared to my Commodore 64. They have a beige tone that seems kind of office-like, but not near enough power for the office. I used a IIe in another family's home and formed the opinion that they really suck as home computers. The poor graphics and sound made them a bad fit for gaming. I can't figure out exactly what they are good for that another type of machine wouldn't be better for. It's like they tried to do everything and ended up doing nothing.
The IIc was *somewhat* better. It felt more office-like, although with that tiny screen I couldn't imagine using one as a daily driver even at that time.
But I feel that Apple truly arrived with the IIgs. It was as slick and homey-looking as the Amiga and Atari ST, and had graphics, sound, and productivity software easily on par with either of those machines. It *felt* like a home machine, and did pretty good in schools too where they could afford them.
The Mac got off to a rocky start, but came of age when they had they started using the same ideas that made the IIgs great.
If I could have owned an Apple in the late 80's/early 90's, I'd have picked a IIgs.
Ah dude awesome Oregon Trail shirt, that game never fails to ruin your trip to Oregon with the most random diseases when you least expect it.
Well, it's strange because it's 16-bit with built-in banking, so it has 8-bit (direct page), 16-bit and 24-bit addressing modes. It's a monster!
9:49 I wonder how they pull that off. It looks badass.
That's an awesome shirt, LGR!
I loved seeing "Made in the USA" on those boards. Wish that were the case today.
Bought Ultima V for the IIGS. I didnt own one. But my chemistry teacher had one in his CV classroom and I asked him if I could tey it on his just to see the diffrence from my C=64 version.
It did, and thank you :)
Great video, man, thanks!
Wow, you basically have a dream GS!!! I can't believe you got it for shipping. I've been looking for a transfer for ages and I'm willing to pay! they just don't show up.
I was wondering if you know if its possible to run really old apple 2 data cassette tapes using a program recorder with the GS? perhaps you need some expansion card or something. I have a few old apple 2 cassettes that would be cool to see working again
So this review got me all excited to go tinker around with the IIGS I have stored away, especially the prospect of using the CF drive adapter. Until I saw it was $140. Kinda hard to justify that :(