The system has a compact, appliance design with an integrated 9" monitor, typical of the earliest of the Macintosh range.

The use of custom ICs, identical to those used in the LC, enabled the Classic II to have a lower component count than older Macs, which reduced manufacturing costs.

The Classic II is one of three machines to be originally repackaged as a Macintosh Performa when the brand was first introduced in September 1992 to compete in the home user space.

The exact packaged software varied by retailer but usually included the At Ease desktop alternative, which aimed to provide a simpler user interface experience than the standard Macintosh Finder.

The Classic II has a 50-pin internal expansion slot intended for either an FPU co-processor or additional ROM.