A project has cloned the Apple II Plus, but instead of using emulation, it goes the harder route by rebuilding Apple’s classic computer in hardware.

If someone wants to get the experience of using Apple’s vintage products, they often turn to a software emulator. However, as one project proves, it’s possible to get the same effect by focusing on the hardware side.

Posted on Sunday by Simon Boak, the SB Mini II is referred to as a “Homebrew Apple II Clone.” It is a rebuild of the Apple II Plus from a hardware standpoint, but using modern components.

Boak saw that most of the basic logic chips are still available to consumers, including the 6502 CPU. That, combined with circuit diagrams in the original manual and a library of books on the topic, helped Boak come up with a gameplan and a shopping list of parts.

A modern(ized) marvel

The clone does use modernized alternatives compared to the original design, mostly due to advancements in technology.

A key one is the replacement of the dynamic RAM (DRAM) used in the original Apple II. While the original kept to DRAM to save on cost, Static RAM or SRAM is also cheap enough for the project.

As a result, one and a half 32K SRAM chips are used to get the required 48k the Apple II Plus needs. The change also means there was no need to use circuitry to refresh the DRAM, which allowed the memory to function.

Boak remarks that a lot of the original circuit generated a composite video signal. Instead, using an Apple II VGA card, he was able to get a sharper video output, as well as removing the video generation logic from the circuitry.

In effect, it is a “headless” clone if it is used without the VGA card.

This also helped simplify the clock and timing signals as well. In this project, Boak uses a 4.096 MHz crystal oscillator, divided down to 1.024MHz, which is close to the 1.023MHZ of the original machine.

A Raspberry Pi Pico, which in itself is more powerful than the Apple II Plus, is used as a way to connect a USB keyboard to the Apple II. The Pico does generate the same parallel data signals as the original keyboard, as well as eliminating the need to use voltage level shifters.

Smart case

The project was finished off by being placed in a specially created case, which was 3D printed in parts before being glued and painted together. Those part files have since been released via GitHub.

It’s based on the design of the Apple ProFile hard drive. However, there are extra vents and a rear panel added so that connections could be accessed.

Just as the original was designed for easy access to the internals, the enclosure’s lid clips shut, so it can be opened without tools.

To go with the clone, Boak has also designed a matching Studio II LCD monitor.

This is far from Boak’s first attempt at making clones of Apple products. In June 2024, he created an Apple 1 clone with a printer, which used an SD card for storage.

The Apple II Plus recreation is certainly impressive, since it’s a hardware recreation instead of just using an emulator. But sometimes, even those efforts can be just as astounding.

In 2024, a Hackintosh project aimed to recreate the original Macintosh Plus, using modern components internally. However, the effort used 3D printing to produce a highly-accurate full-scale recreation of Apple’s hardware.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope has captured the largest and most detailed visible-light image ever obtained of the Milky Way’s galactic bulge, the central region of our galaxy.

The image is a mosaic containing more than 60 million stars, as well as nebulae and star clusters. It will allow scientists to confirm the possible presence of exoplanets using a microlensing technique and measure their masses with greater precision.

The Power of Euclid

Although Euclid was designed to observe billions of distant galaxies, its visible-light camera is sensitive enough to resolve individual stars at the center of the Milky Way—a region that is both extremely bright and densely populated—without being overwhelmed by the intense light.

On March 23, 2025, Euclid turned its gaze toward the galactic bulge, capturing this enormous image in just 26 hours of observations. The result was remarkable: a mosaic composed of nine separate “pointings” (exposures) by its visible-light camera, each covering an area of sky larger than the full moon.

While the quality of Euclid’s visible-light images is comparable to that of the Hubble Space Telescope, there is one major difference: Each pointing that Euclid captures in just a few hours covers an area 270 times larger than Hubble’s field of view. It is also much faster. To put this into perspective, the Keck Observatory would require roughly 2,000 hours to observe the same mosaic.

The Image of the Milky Way

The new Euclid image captures more than 60 million stars, along with nebulae and star clusters, in one of the Milky Way’s most crowded regions—a location ideally suited for searching for exoplanets through gravitational microlensing.

“To catch microlensing, you need to observe parts of the sky that are crowded with stars, such as close to the centre of our galaxy,” said Jean-Philippe Beaulieu, who led the observing campaign, in a press release. “During the last 20 years, almost 300 exoplanets have been discovered using this technique, all with ground-based telescopes and all towards the center of our galaxy. This image from Euclid includes 51 known planetary systems—and it will assist in studying many more that will be found.”

Two of Amazon’s top Prime Day MacBook Air deals have been extended, resulting in discounts of up to $450 off.

After many M5 MacBook Air deals sold out during Prime Day, two of the top choices at Amazon have been extended into the weekend. Save $450 on the 13-inch MacBook Air M5 with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

On sale for $1,149.99, only select colors are available at press time due to the increased demand after Apple raised prices on Thursday.

Buy 1TB 13″ MacBook Air for $1,149.99

Need additional screen real estate? The standard 15-inch MacBook Air with Apple’s M5 chip, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD is also marked down to $1,149.99, reflecting a $350 price cut off Apple’s new MSRP.

Prime Day MacBook Air deals have been extended

You can compare prices across retailers in our MacBook Air Price Guide for offers on CTO models as well.

Apple is still expected to update the Mac Studio with the M5 Ultra in 2026 and an M7 Ultra version in 2028, but don’t expect major changes to the form.

The Apple Silicon chip series consists of four tiers, with the standard base model, Pro, and Max variants appearing in every generation. The fourth, the Ultra chip, hasn’t seen a release since the M3 Ultra, with the M4 Ultra skipped entirely.

The Mac Studio is the model of Mac to get if you want the massive number of cores that the Ultra model provides. If Mark Gurman’s “Power On” newsletter for Bloomberg on Sunday is accurate, you won’t have to wait long for the next release.

Gurman writes that there are two updates to the Mac Studio on the way. The near-term model will be the M5 Ultra, which is due to arrive later in 2026.

The second update is further in the future, with an M7 Ultra expected sometime in 2028.

The lack of an M6 Ultra release seems to correlate with another Gurman story from June 25. One that has Apple skipping the higher-end M6 chips in favor of bringing out AI-oriented M7 Pro and Max versions in 2027.

A spec-bump update, again

As for what to expect when those Ultra-equipped models arrive, Gurman provides bad news if you want more than just performance improvements.

He is informed that internal changes have been made to the Mac Studio. Chiefly, this consists of a better heatsink, which will improve thermal performance under heavy loads.

A major redesign is not anticipated for the M5 Ultra model. As for the M7, there’s a slightly better chance, but Apple’s tendency to stick to model designs for long periods of time doesn’t bode well for a revamp.

One curiously absent element from the report is any mention of the M5 Max model. Gurman only talks about the Ultra, and doesn’t refer to any other versions of Mac Studio in the newsletter.

Previously, in March, he did refer to Mac Studio models in plural form for the 2026 launches. The lack of a Max reference in the latest report could simply be a decision made during the writing process, in that he didn’t feel the need to bring it up.

Micron, the Boise, Idaho-based memory chip maker, has captured Wall Street’s heart. Whether the love affair endures will heavily depend on how long the AI-driven supply crunch for memory chips lasts.

Micron promises that it has shored up its position for the long term, which would allow it to withstand a sudden drop in demand or overcapacity of supply. And Wall Street has become a believer, helping Micron briefly surpass the market valuation of Meta and Tesla for the first time on Thursday, though it floated back down by Friday to nearly match them.

Specifically Micron closed Friday’s trading with a market cap close to $1.27 trillion, while Meta was at $1.39 trillion and Tesla was at $1.42 trillion. Micron’s stock has soared over 236% in the past month alone, closing Friday at $1,132 a share. In comparison, it spent years upon years before mid-2025 at below $100 a share.

It’s a dizzying rise for a company that most consumers associated with the tiny memory cards that, back in the day, were commonly needed to boost PCs, smartphones, or other device storage.

Wall Street isn’t sweating over that product line. Micron is benefiting from the AI data center buildout boom that has created a shortage of system memory chips, both DRAM and NAND, which Micron makes, particularly High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM). A single AI server requires magnitudes more memory than a laptop.

AI system makers like Nvidia, as well as the hyperscalers building their own systems, are buying up large quantities of memory, such as Microsoft, Amazon AWS, Google, Meta and Oracle. This is forcing all the other companies who need memory to hoard it as well, from PC makers like Dell and HP, to other kinds of device makers.

This lack of supply, which has been dubbed RAMageddon, is predicted to persist into 2027. And it’s already driving up the price of consumer electronics like Apple products and Xbox consoles.

With the whole tech industry clamoring for more memory, Micron’s delivered blockbuster third-quarter earnings last week. Revenue quadrupled year-over-year to $41.45 billion, and profits skyrocketed from $1.88 billion to $28.2 billion over the same period. Micron also provided a positive outlook, forecasting fourth-quarter revenue of between $49 billion and $51 billion.

And Wall Street, which has been eager to find more public AI-related companies that may do as well as Nvidia, became even more enamored.

The historic problem for memory chip makers like Micron and Samsung is that building out manufacturing facilities to increase capacity is a time-consuming, expensive endeavor. And demand often falls just as companies can increase capacity, creating a glut and subsequent price drop.

Micron got ahead of any AI bust chatter by emphasizing a series of long-term supply agreements, including with Nvidia and AI lab Anthropic, that would presumably protect it. The company said in its earnings presentation that it has signed 16 strategic customer agreements across the data center, consumer, and auto market segments, which it expects to fundamentally transform its business model.

That seemed to convince a number of analysts that this company could be another long-term, profitable investment. In a research note, William Blair tech analyst Sebastien Naji noted demand growth continues to outpace the rate that new cleanroom space can come online.

“Given the strong likelihood of continued ASP growth in the coming quarters and improving revenue visibility thanks to a rapidly expanding set of long-term agreements (SCAs) with key customers, we see potential for more durable earnings growth and reiterate our Outperform rating,” Naji wrote.

Whether Micron really can sustain itself for long-term without a bust cycle remains to be seen. But for a brief moment on Thursday, this U.S. company was more valuable than some of the industry’s giants.