The Macintosh 512K Personal Computer, the second of a long line of Apple Macintosh computers, was the first update to the original Macintosh 128K. It was virtually identical to the previous Mac, differing primarily in the amount of built-in memory (RAM), which quadrupled the original's. This large increase earned it the nickname Fat Mac.

The additional memory was significant because more ambitious users with computer experience stretched the capacity of the original Mac almost immediately, despite the limited number of applications. Like the 128K Macintosh before it, the 512K contained an 8 MHz Motorola 68000 connected to a 512 KB DRAM by a 16-bit data bus. Though the memory had been quadrupled, it could not be upgraded.

A 64 KB ROM chip boosts the effective memory to 576 KB, but this is offset by the display's 22 KB framebuffer, which is shared with the DMA video controller. It shared a revised logicboard with the re-badged Macintosh 128K (previously just called the Macintosh), which streamlined manufacturing. The applications MacPaint and MacWrite were still bundled with the Mac.

Soon after this model was released, several other applications became available, including MacDraw, MacProject, Macintosh Pascal and others. In particular, Microsoft Excel, which was written specifically for the Macintosh, required a minimum of 512 KB of RAM, but definitively solidified the Macintosh as a serious business computer. Models with the enhanced ROM also supported Apple's Switcher, allowing cooperative multitasking among (necessarily few) applications.

The LaserWriter became available for the first time shortly after the 512K's introduction, making home desktop publishing a possibility for the first time, although the LaserWriter's initial US$6,995 price put it far out of the reach of most individuals. It utilized Apple's built-in networking scheme LocalTalk which made it more affordable shared among several users. In addition, the 512K became the earliest Mac capable of supporting Apple's AppleShare built-in file sharing network, when introduced in 1987.

More importantly the expanded memory in the 512K allowed it to better handle large word-processing documents and take better use of the graphical user interface and generally increased speed. In particular, combined with the LaserWriter, the introduction of Aldus Pagemaker software, which took full advantage of the extra RAM, revolutionized the publishing industry and solidified the Macintosh as the de-facto desktop publishing computer.

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