It was June 5, 1977 that Apple released the Apple II for retail sale.

The first Apple II computers went on sale on June 5, 1977 with a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1 MHz, 4 KB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs. The video controller displayed 24 lines by 40 columns of upper-case-only text on the screen, with NTSC composite video output suitable for display on a monitor, or on a TV set by way of an RF modulator. The original retail price of the computer was US$1298 (with 4 KB of RAM) and US$2638 (with the maximum 48 KB of RAM). To reflect the computer’s color graphics capability, the Apple logo on the casing was represented using rainbow stripes,[1] which remained a part of Apple’s corporate logo until early 1998.

Wow; 4 KB of RAM standard. Another $1,340 to max it out to 48 KB!

Just for a fun comparison, that same $2,638 could buy you a brand spankin’ new 24″ iMac with 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB SDRAM, a 250GB hard drive, Bluetooth and AirPort wireless built-in, a SuperDrive 8X, iWork, a wireless keyboard & Mighty Mouse, and all of the bundled software that comes with the iMac. After all of that, you’d still have an extra $75 to take your sweetie out for dinner.

We’ve come a long way, baby!