# Apple II 46 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple II and 12 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended as an open, expandable, hacker-friendly 1977 computer that was everywhere in classrooms; critics cite its price and limited graphics and hardware. ## Why people recommend it - Open, hackable platform for programmers (6 comments): "it was very much still an open platform, with a very good reference manual written by Woz himself" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47607237)) "the apple II was a slight bit of a setback but it was very much still an open platform" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47608758)) "gently lazing my eyeballs each day as I clacked BASIC into the REPL" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46663373)) - Fond childhood memories of using it (5 comments): "I bought an enhanced IIe first because that was closest to the computer I grew up with." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49846049)) "Lots of computer joy early in my life was thanks to the IIe and IIc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48224667)) "has got to be up there at least for the novelty for me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47544327)) - Well-engineered for its era (4 comments): "The Apple's technical quality was head and shoulders above the other PCs of the epoch." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46263989)) "The Apple II was more stylish than any other personal computer in 1977." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47203614)) "Steve Wozniak was incredibly foresighted when designing the Apple II" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45822013)) - Long-running commercial success for Apple (4 comments): "Did his absolute best (but failed) to cut the Apple II product line, even though it was the only money maker for the company" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46394013)) "It was the first computer that I used and the product that launched the company." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47544523)) "the Apple II product line was a huge success for more than a decade" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48153062)) ## What people warn about - Clunky and harder to program (4 comments): "unrefined and clunky to use as compared to the Apple or even the Pet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576276)) "they had to rip out the mini-assembler in the Monitor ROM" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49815601)) "something that simple is quite difficult on an Apple ][" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46782323)) - Expensive for its time (2 comments): "The Apple computers were revolutionary, but to me they have never been affordable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46855650)) "they weren't exactly cheap, actually, and they couldn't do much." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48007901)) - Dated speed and graphics hardware (2 comments): "The original Apple II tried to do graphics but the tech to do it properly just didn't exist." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48344648)) "this locked the II to 1MHz for far too long" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48717742)) - Not robust; restrictive case design (2 comments): "The Apples were not that robust, but worked well enough to not be a big bother." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46737511)) "I hated how the Apple ][ forced a case on you." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48095848)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Apple Mac](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-mac.md): 453 recommend - [Apple Mac Studio](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mac-studio.md): 319 recommend - [Apple M1 Mac](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-m1-mac.md): 48 recommend - [Apple Macintosh](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-macintosh.md): 34 recommend - [Apple M-series Mac](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-m-series-mac.md): 34 recommend ## Where to get it - [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Apple+II+vintage+computer&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple II", https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-ii/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).