Described as little more than a "turbocharged version of the IIc with a high-capacity 3½ disk drive" by one magazine review of the time, some users were disappointed.

To accommodate the increased data flow of the new drive, specialized chip circuitry called the MIG, an acronym for "Magic Interface Glue", was designed and added to the motherboard along with a dedicated 2 KB static RAM buffer (the MIG chip is the only exception to there being no new technological developments present in the machine).

The CPU acceleration was a last-minute feature addition, which in turn made the specialized circuitry for the use of a 3.5-inch drive unnecessary at full CPU speed as the machine was now fast enough to handle the data flow; that circuitry was left in place and put into operation nonetheless to support 1 MHz mode.

Above the keyboard, the rarely used "40/80" switch was replaced by a sliding volume control (gone was the left side volume-control dial, and as a cost-cutting measure, the audio headphone jack disappeared with it).

In the rear of the machine the most obvious change was a three-prong AC plug connector and power switch where the voltage converter had once been, a Kensington security slot at the top left corner, and the standardization of the serial port connectors (changed from DIN-5 to mini DIN-8, but still providing an identical signal).

The ROM firmware (now labeled revision "5", following in the sequence from the original IIc) remained the same size, as did RAM, meaning the machine continued to ship with only 128 KB of memory.

The reason for this is the vast majority of software for the 8-bit Apple II series shipped on 5.25-inch disks (often hardcoded for the medium) making the machine of limited use unless an external 5.25-inch drive is added.

While user adjustable, the IIc Plus had no automated method to lock-down or "remember" the CPU speed (e.g. a physical turbo button or software-based Control Panel), meaning it would always default back to 'fast' 4 MHz operation if power cycled, reset or simply warm-booted.

Acceleration could only be temporarily disabled with a special key press, making it inconvenient for users to repeatedly lower the clock speed manually (for example, booting games on different floppy diskettes).

While the built-in power supply made the IIc Plus a more integrated one-piece unit for desktop use, the negative aspect was the loss of the ability to operate the machine from a battery source.

This, in turn, eroded the portability aspect of the IIc series–a main selling point even despite its lack of a built-in screen, rooting it further to a desktop-only environment.

Though for many years it was believed that there had been no changes or revisions made to the machine, in 2008 hobbyists discovered the existence of two versions of the motherboard.

Consequently, from this point forward, the Apple II was milked for financial gain as much as possible, while at the same time a cap was placed on its evolution and advancement so it wouldn't overshadow and compete with the Macintosh, the company's then-new focus and chosen future.

[citation needed] Further proof of this was that, a year after the release of the oddly out-of-place and retro-designed Apple IIc Plus, only a minor maintenance release of the Apple IIGS was introduced (mainly boasting more RAM and improved firmware) rather than any of the desperately needed hardware changes required to keep the machine viable.