Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Apple Archive

The Cube: Just What We Ordered?

- 2000.08.11

With the introduction of the amazing new "Apple Pro Keyboard" (welcome back, full-sized keys) and the "Apple Pro Mouse" by Apple at Macworld New York, came something so new, so different, Power Mac G4 Cube so amazing - the new Power Macintosh G4 Cube. Yes, it's only about 8" square. Yes it's a G4. Yes, it does look like the NeXT Cube (well, sort of, it is a Mac, it's silver, and it's only a small fraction of the size of the NeXT).

This new computer is most likely Steve Jobs' idea, almost a reincarnation of his NeXT Cube. The G4 Cube is essentially a monitorless iMac with a G4 processor and several other options. All you have to do to use it is plug in the power adapter, plug in the monitor, plug in your phone line (and/or ethernet network), and turn it on. That is four steps to set up your new G4 Cube.

Pretty easy for a supercomputer.

After you have bought tons of PCI cards for your new computer, figuring it must have at least three slots, you will look at the back and notice there are none. No PCI slots. There go your plans to use all those new cards, and there go quite a few people possibly interested in the new G4 Cube. They are doing what they did to the Macintosh IIsi and LC back in 1990, purposely crippling it so it doesn't hurt the sales of the faster models, in this case the G4 MP.

The G4 Cube does come with some great improvements, like the new Apple display cable, which integrates all of the previous cables into one that plugs right into the back of your computer. You may be wondering what that little slot in the top is. No, it's not for toast. It's for a DVD or CD! The new G4 Cube has a CD drive mounted vertically so that you can just drop your CDs in like it was toast going in a toaster. Pretty cool.

The G4 Cube also features a separate power supply, which reduces case size. It, like the iMac, uses Apple's "special" air cooling system, which means no fan, just a bunch of slots on the top (hello out there, Apple, remember the 128, 512, and Plus? They had slots too, yet still overheated). The parts that tend to get warm are positioned around a centre column with vents at the top. Twentieth Anniverary Mac The G4 Cube comes complete with new digital stereo speakers from Harmon/Kardon.

After thinking about all its features, you might be wondering, "Who the heck is gonna buy this thing?" It's for those who buy for looks, those who bought the Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh and the Macintosh TV, those who want the coolest looking thing on their desk.

If you want to be practical, you can buy a much more expandable G4 for $1,599, so the G4 Cube is just not worth buying. Without the PCI slots, it is a Mac IIsi with a high price.

Recent Apple Archive articles

iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07. Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19. Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14. The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02. Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
More in the Apple Archive index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Apr. 2006 - The top-end MacBook Pro includes a 1680 x 1050, 2.16 GHz Core Duo CPU, and supports Apple 30" Cinema Display.
Group of the Day: G4 List is for those using Power Mac G4s or G4 upgrades.
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best iPod nano Deals, 11.25. Refurb 8 GB 4G nano, $99; new, $126; refurb 16 GB, $129; new, $150; new 5G/8 GB, $134.60; 16 GB, $161.12. Shipping included.
Best Classic Mac OS Deals, 11.25. System 6.0.8 floppies, $10; 7.1, $12; 7.5, $20; 7.6 $13; 8.1, $11; 8.5, $20; 8.6, $90; 9.0, $20; 9.2.2, $30.
Best 15" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.25. Used 1 GHz Combo, $400; 1.5 GHz SuperDrive, $449; 1.67 GHz hi-res, $600.
Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.