Looking back at Apple's Cube, ten years later

The Register has an excellent writeup posted with a look back at Apple's Power Mac G4 Cube (affectionately referred to as "The Cube"), which was ~~released to the public~~ 'suspended' from production 10 years ago this coming weekend.

At the time, back in 2001, the Cube drew a lot of jeers, mostly from PC enthusiasts who enjoyed making fun of Apple's whimsical and somewhat pretentious designs. For a number of different reasons, the Cube never really took off in the way that the iMac or, later, the iPhone did. Nevertheless, the Cube has its followers, and the idea -- a powerful computer put into a form very different than anything else seen at the time -- remains intriguing even today.

Perhaps that's why even today, modders are trying to push the limits of what the Cube can be. User Marcelo over at CubeOwner.com is actually building an "All Apple 10th Anniversary Cube" right now, which will rock an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two 100 GB SSD drives, a dual-layer DVD drive; the finished product will even support Mac OS X 10.7 Lion when it's released. That's a spicy meatball of a computer, all squeezed into that same floating box.

We have to be careful not to look back too fondly on the Cube itself -- I used one back in the day and there were some issues with the hardware and the way it all worked, no matter how you felt about the case. But the Cube came right near the end of the Think Different campaign, and in some ways, even before the iAge changed the form of computing completely, the Cube was the last word on what Apple Computers was trying to accomplish with the PC itself.

Thanks Laurie D.

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Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/30/ten_years_on_g4_cube…

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Apple Mac

We said farewell to the G4 Cube 10 years ago this weekend, but modders and fans are still improving it.

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Ian

I ran my G4 Cube up until earlier this year when I upgraded to an iMac. I had upgraded my cube with a 1.4GHz G4 CPU and a GeForce 6200 video board, so it ran fine up through the last version of OS X to support PowerPC (Leopard?). I used it for web browsing, email, and spreadsheet bookkeeping, and it was just perfect.

July 01 2011 at 10:37 AM Permalink rate up rate down

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Plushzilla

I just loved the feel of it when it came out. I did not get use it for long as I moved on my more powerful machine that had the bite, my just to think I had the chance to use it makes me tingle. It had make history. Now I own my very own iphone 4. Apple is worth every praise it gets not to mention the criticism as well.

BTW if you guys feel interested, you can check out this funny app. They call it Rand-o-Matic. Have different opinions about what to do this Saturday night? Should it be a long drive out of the city or a barbeque at your backyard? Having troubles to decide as all your friends are coming up with their own opinions? Well just pick your iPhone and run Rand-O-Matic, see what it says. Gladly accept its opinion and enjoy all the fun. To get this funny iPhone app. simply visit:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rand-o-matic-the-easy-decision/id437908886?mt=8&ls=1

July 10 2011 at 2:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Forty2

I just resurrected one I got for free. Once I found a bootable Tiger CD (not a DVD, which never finished loading) I reset the admin password and installed an ungodly number of system and app updates, it's running fine. Seems fairly snappy for a 450MHz 576MB system. Unsure what I'll do with it other than as a hi-tech tchotchke... I've read that installing Leopard really bogs it down, so I'm gonna leave it on 10.4.11.

July 04 2011 at 9:50 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Clint Johnson

I purchased the cube with a 450MHz G4 processor, 64mb RAM, a Rage 128 graphics card, and a 20GB HDD in 2001. When I passed it on to my GF in 2007 it had a 1.2GH G4, 1.5GB RAM, a GeForce 6200, and a 120GB HD. I always wanted to throw a dual core processor in it but could never justify the price. When it looked like the 6200 was the end of the line for graphics I moved on to a MBP. It was still running when I mothballed it a couple years ago. Maybe one day I'll get to use the case for a custom build. I'm still amazed at the longevity the little computer has enjoyed. I really think it was a great machine. I got a lot of compliments and oohs and aahs when people saw it on my desk. Miss that little sucker.

July 01 2011 at 6:41 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

BACL

We upgraded ours up to 1.4GHz and replaced the video card. It serves us well as a corporate webcam. Love it.

July 01 2011 at 2:53 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Peregrine

We still use one. The only replacement part is an 80Gb HD – everything else as it was when it came. We bought it as a refurb for the bursar, who was a solidly PC guy with a computer engineering background. When we opened it up he said "I would have been so proud to have designed that!". For two or three years it ran Kerio as our mail server. Now in venerable old-age, and still on Tiger, it runs as a FileMaker client in our college library, where its silence is perfect.

July 01 2011 at 1:47 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Cowicide

I scoffed at the cube when it came out because of it's lack of slots for upgrading hardware, so it wasn't for me. But I do remember being very impressed by the fan-less design and it's extremely low footprint. I think it's safe to say Apple was pushing limits with the cube and they are to be admired with that.

July 01 2011 at 1:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

superadaquabat

I totally forgot about this, but I instantly recalled the Purple Haze ad. Effective advertising!

July 01 2011 at 12:09 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

brianashe@mac.com

The reasons for the Cube's failure are not mysterious, nor are they numerous. Apple took a bit of flack for the seams/cracks, sure, but the main issue was that it cost too damn much! It was introduced at $1799 and it had the exact same specs (450 MHz, 20 GB HDD, and 256 MB RAM, IIRC) as a more-expandable entry-level PowerMac of the day, which cost $200 less! Now, you can sell less-for-more-in-a-smaller-package if people CARE about the size (like the MacBook Air) but there just isn't that much of a market for smaller-and-pricier desktops. The Mac Mini did well but it was CHEAP.

July 01 2011 at 11:01 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ian

July 01 2011 at 10:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Aargh-a-Knot

User Marcelo over at CubeOwners.com is actually building an "All Apple 10th Anniversary Cube" right now, which will rock an Intel Core 2 Duo processor...

lol...Core 2 Duo won't "rock" anything. Musak it maybe...

July 01 2011 at 10:05 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply