Introduced six months after the Macintosh IIx, the IIcx resembles the IIx and provides the same performance, but is seven inches (18 cm) narrower, ten pounds (4.5 kg) lighter, and quieter due to a smaller internal fan.

[1] The new case, Apple's first to be designed to operate in either a horizontal or vertical orientation, remained in use for its successors the Macintosh IIci and Quadra 700.

The idea for vertical orientation, one of the first minitower cases, was suggested by Apple CEO John Sculley, who was running out of space on his desk,[3] despite the fact that the new layout actually took more space once the monitor was taken into account.

[4] This made it less expensive to build, easier to repair, and earned it heavy praise and a warm reception amongst the Mac community.

[5] However, unlike the II and IIx, in many versions of the IIcx the CPU is soldered to the logic board and therefore cannot be upgraded.