My argument is not whether a 1987 Mac 512Ke would be Platinum or not. It's whether the 512Ke was sold with that badging after it became Platinum, or not.
Due to Apple's tight supply chains, the fact that the ED used the Mac Plus bezel would suggest that it switched when the Mac Plus did, that is, once they shut down the original Macintosh Plant, which could have happened well after the beginning of 1987. They weren't going to switch to Platinum before they had to. Now if they were making these in Cork as well in Freemont, they could have easily switched for the 512K/800 and kept the beige in the US, until they closed the plant. likewise with the Mac Plus keyboard.
So my question is, what is the latest documented 512Ke? If it's not past the release of the SE, I would seriously question whether the 512Ke was continued to be manufactured as a badged 512Ke, and instead became a Platinum ED at that point. If anyone has a 512Ke with a release date past April, then we should have our answer as to whether it was ever Platinum or not. Until then, I would suggest the badged 512Ke was discontinued while still a beige machine, and became the ED only, in Platinum, reusing the Plus bezel, updated with the Platinum Plus keyboard, and shipping with a universal/convertable power supply for all markets, possibly all coming out of Cork. Economy of means meant it used everything from the Plus except the logic board and rear bucket. And since the priority in 1987 was to switch the best-selling Plus over to Platinum, the 512Ke would have almost certainly taken a backseat to the changeover, considering it was the lowest priority of all the Apple products, with a new Platinum IIe and IIc, and especially with the SE & Mac IIs impending release as well. My guess it didn't happen until after they were released. The Mac Plus would have become the low-end consumer model on the spot, and the 512Ke would have been relegated solely to education.
Due to Apple's tight supply chains, the fact that the ED used the Mac Plus bezel would suggest that it switched when the Mac Plus did, that is, once they shut down the original Macintosh Plant, which could have happened well after the beginning of 1987. They weren't going to switch to Platinum before they had to. Now if they were making these in Cork as well in Freemont, they could have easily switched for the 512K/800 and kept the beige in the US, until they closed the plant. likewise with the Mac Plus keyboard.
So my question is, what is the latest documented 512Ke? If it's not past the release of the SE, I would seriously question whether the 512Ke was continued to be manufactured as a badged 512Ke, and instead became a Platinum ED at that point. If anyone has a 512Ke with a release date past April, then we should have our answer as to whether it was ever Platinum or not. Until then, I would suggest the badged 512Ke was discontinued while still a beige machine, and became the ED only, in Platinum, reusing the Plus bezel, updated with the Platinum Plus keyboard, and shipping with a universal/convertable power supply for all markets, possibly all coming out of Cork. Economy of means meant it used everything from the Plus except the logic board and rear bucket. And since the priority in 1987 was to switch the best-selling Plus over to Platinum, the 512Ke would have almost certainly taken a backseat to the changeover, considering it was the lowest priority of all the Apple products, with a new Platinum IIe and IIc, and especially with the SE & Mac IIs impending release as well. My guess it didn't happen until after they were released. The Mac Plus would have become the low-end consumer model on the spot, and the 512Ke would have been relegated solely to education.