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Power Mac G4 Cube

A Power Mac G4 Cube
Developer	Apple Computer, Inc.
Product family	Power Mac
Type	Desktop computer
Release date	July 19, 2000 (2000-07-19)
Introductory price	US$1,799
Discontinued	July 3, 2001 (2001-07-03)
Dimensions	Height: 9.8 inches (25 cm) Width: 7.7 inches (20 cm) Depth: 7.7 inches (20 cm)
Mass	14 lb (6.4 kg)
Related	Power Mac G4

The Power Mac G4 Cube is a small form factor Macintosh personal computer from Apple Computer, Inc., sold between 2000 and 2001. Designed by Jonathan Ive, its cube shape is reminiscent of the NeXTcube from NeXT, acquired by Apple in 1996. The New York Museum of Modern Art holds a G4 Cube, along with its distinctive Harman Kardon transparent speakers, as part of its collection.

Overview

The G4 Cube is a small 8×8×8 in (20×20×20 cm) computer. The cubic machine is suspended in a 7.7×7.7×10 in (20×20×25 cm) acrylic glass enclosure, giving the impression of floating. The enclosure houses the computer's vital functions, including a low-profile, slot-loading optical disc drive. The Cube requires a separate monitor with either an ADC or a VGA connection. The machine has no fan to move air and thus heat through the case. Instead, it is passively cooled, with heat dissipated via a grille at the top of the case.

To fit the components of a personal computer in the size of the case, the Cube does not feature expansion slots. The Cube does have a video card in a standard AGP slot, but could not fit a full-length card. The power supply was located externally to save space, and the Cube features no input or outputs for audio on the machine itself. Instead, the Cube shipped with round Harmon Kardon speakers and digital amplifier, attached to the computer via Universal Serial Bus (USB). Despite its size, the Cube still fits three RAM slots, two FireWire 400 ports and two USB 1.1 ports for connecting peripherals in its frame. The computer's I/O and power cable are located on the underside of the machine. Access to the machine's innards is a simple task accomplished by inverting the unit, pushing a button, and using a pop-out handle to slide the internals out of the shell.

The base model shipped with a 450MHz G4 processor, 128MB of RAM, 20GB hard drive, and an ATI Rage 128 Pro video card. A higher-end model was available only through Apple's online store.

Development

The Cube was an important product to Apple, and especially to Jobs, who said the idea for the product came from his own desires as a computer user. "I wanted the Cinema display but I don't need the features of the PowerMac," he told Newsweek. Jobs minimalist aesthetic influenced the core components of the design, from the lack of a mechanical power button, to the trayless optical drive and quiet fanless operation. The design team at Apple, lead by Jonathan Ive, attempted to fit the power of a desktop in a much smaller form factor; Ive saw traditional desktop tower computers as lazy, designed around what was easiest for engineers. The Cube represented a shift in Apple, as the designers held increasing sway over product design.

As the G4 Cube has no fan, the design started with the heat sink. It represented an effort to simplify the computer to its barest essentials, while remaining easy to access the interior. The "magic" power button that turned on with a wave or touch was accomplished via the use of capacitive sensing. The effort spent developing the Cube would pioneer new uses and processes for materials at Apple that would benefit later products. Due to the technology included in the G4 Cube, Apple's engineers had a tough time keeping the total cost low. Advertising director Ken Segall recalled that Jobs learned of the product's price shortly before an ad agency meeting, and was left "visibly shaken" by the news, realizing that it might spell the product's failure.

Release and reception

The G4 Cube was announced at Macworld Expo on July 19, 2000. Rumors of a cube-shaped Apple computer had leaked out weeks in advance, and some sites had posted purported pictures. The machine's size and looks were immediately divisive, which Macworld editor Andrew Gore took as an indication that Apple had succeeded in a cutting-edge product. The design was a point of praise, as well as jokes—the computer was compared to a Borg cube, toasters, or a box of Kleenex. Others compared it to the NeXT Cube. Ive and the design team were so amused by the comparison to a tissue box that they used the Cube's shells for that function in their studio.

Popular Mechanics noted that in order to get easy access to plug and unplug peripherals via the I/O ports, users would have to tip the entire machine and risk accidentally having it go to sleep.

The Cube won several international design awards on release.

Sales

The introduction of the Cube did not fit with Jobs' four-quadrant product matrix he had introduced since his return to Apple, leaving it without a clear niche in Apple's lineup. It was as expensive as a similarly-equipped Power Mac, but did not feature extra room for more storage or PCI slots. It was likewise much more expensive than a specced-up consumer iMac. Jobs said that he believed that creative professionals and designers would want one, and that the product was so great that it would inform buying patterns.

Sales for the G4 Cube were much lower than expected. Apple had eleven profitable quarters before the Cube's announcement after being on the brink of bankruptcy, but Apple's end-of-year financials for 2000 missed predicted revenues by $180 million.. Part of the drop in profit was attributed to the Cube, which sold only a third as many units as Apple had expected, creating a $90 million shortfall in their revenue targets. The Cube counted for just 29,000 of the Macs Apple shipped in the quarter, compared to 308,000 iMacs. Retailers were awash in excess product, leaving Apple with a large amount of unsold inventory heading into 2001 they expected to last until March. The computer appealed to high-end customers who wanted a small and sleek design, but Jobs admitted that audience was smaller than expected. In February 2001, Apple lowered the price on the 500MHz model and added new memory, hard drive, and graphics options. These updates made little difference, and sales continued to decline. The G4 Cube sold just 12,000 units in the first quarter of 2001, representing just 1.6% of the company's total computer sales.

In addition to the product's high price, the G4 Cube suffered from other issues. Early buyers noticed cracks caused by the injection-molded plastic, and the idea of a design-focused product having aesthetic flaws turned into negative public relations story for Apple, as well as turning off potential buyers for whom the aesthetics were its main appeal. The Cube's radical departure from a conventional personal computer alienated potential buyers, and exacerbated Apple's struggles in the market competing with the performance of Windows PCs. Macworld wrote that consumers treated the Cube as "an underpowered, over-expensive toy or—in contrast with the anthropomorphized everyman's iMac—an emotionally inaccessible, ultra-geometric gray box suspended in an untouchable glass prison." The lack of internal expansion and reliance on less-common USB and FireWire peripherals also hurt the computer's chances of success.

Despite Jobs' clear love of the computer, he was quick to axe the underperforming product. On July 3, 2001, an Apple press release made the unusual statement that the computer – rather than being canceled or discontinued – was having its production "suspended indefinitely" due to low demand. Apple did not rule out an upgraded Cube model in the future, but considered it unlikely. Jobs' ability to quickly move on the mistake left the G4 Cube a "blip" in Apple's history, according to Segal—a quickly-forgotten failure amidst other successful innovations.

Legacy

Apple CEO Tim Cook called the G4 Cube "a spectacular failure". Since the Cube's demise, a number of Cube enthusiasts have made modifications to their machines. Some of the more popular upgrades are high-performance video cards (duct tape may be used to allow the GPU fan to work correctly in the small Cube case) and third-party CPU upgrade cards (up to 1.8 GHz); a few people have even modified their Cubes to take a dual-processor upgrade. A popular upgrade is the GeForce2 MX, which exists in a version specially created for the Cube. Case modifications, such as lighting and extra cooling, are also popular. The Cube uses the same type of memory and hard drive as many other desktop computers, thus making upgrades for the said components popular. Although the Cube uses a fanless, convection-based cooling system, the mounting holes make it possible to install a standard desktop cooling fan.

In 2003, the G4 Cube received a brief return to the spotlight after a series of articles in Wired charted its cult popularity. The articles, focusing on upgrades installed by individual users and retailers such as Kemplar, led to a sharp rise in the Cube's resale value. Nevertheless, with the release of the relatively inexpensive Mac Mini (seen by some as a replacement), coupled with Apple's switch to G5 processors and eventually Intel Core-based processors, the Cube again faded into the background.

The G4 Cube and its peripherals were showcased at The Museum of Modern Art, and at the Digital Design Museum (a division of Design Museum). G4 Cubes are also a popular candidate for "Macquariums"—fish tanks made from the chassis of Apple computers.

While the G4 Cube failed commercially, it influenced future Apple products. The efforts at miniaturizing computer components would pay off in future computers like the flatscreen iMac. Jason Snell wrote that the Mac mini was the "rightful heir" of the Cube; it fit an entire computer in a shell one-fifth the size of the Cube and retained some of the G4 Cube's design philosophies. The main difference between the products was price, costing just $499 when it was released, and the Mac mini became a success that remains part of Apple's lineup today. Macworld's Benj Edwards wrote that the G4 Cube was simply ahead of its time, with its appeal to a dedicated group of fans years after it was discontinued a testament to its visionary design. The translucent cube shape would return with the design for Apple's flagship Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City, and the capacitive power button in the iPod and iPhone, while the vertical thermal design and lattice grille pattern were echoed by the 2013 and 2019 versions of the Mac Pro.

The Cube's unconventional appearance earned it a spot as a prop in several films and television shows, Absolutely Fabulous, The Drew Carey Show, and24. The computer was parodied in The Simpsons episode "Mypods and Boomsticks." The Cube is also seen in films such as Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, 40 Days and 40 Nights, About a Boy, August and The Royal Tenenbaums. In William Gibson's 2003 novel Pattern Recognition, the character Cayce uses her film producer friend's Cube while staying in his London flat. In the movie Big Fat Liar, a G4 Cube and a Studio Display can be seen in the background of Wolf's kitchen.

Sixteen Cubes were used to power the displays of the computer consoles in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Specifications

References

1. MoMA: The Collection: Jonathan Ive
2. ^ Kahney, Leander (2014). Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products. Penguin. pp. 155–158. ISBN 9781591847069.
3. ^ Gore, Andrew (October 2000). "Your Assimilation Starts Here; The Cube". pp. 11, 26, 28. ISSN 0741-8647. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
4. ^ Grumet, Tobey (November 2000). "Technology; Apple³". Popular Mechanics. Vol. 177, no. 11. Hearst Magazines. pp. 80–81. ISSN 0032-4558.
5. ^ Cook, Tim (October 11, 2017). "In Conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook - The Oxford Foundry Launch". Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Event occurs at 1:03:21–1:04:20. Retrieved October 9, 2020 – via Youtube.
6. ^ Levy, Steven (July 30, 2000). "Thinking Inside The Box". Newsweek. The Washington Post Company. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
7. ^ Staff (October 2001). "Resistance is Futile". MacAddict. No. 50. Future US. p. 30–31. ISSN 1088-548X.
8. ^ Segall, Ken (2012). Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success. Penguin UK. ISBN 9780670921201.
9. Linzmayer, Owen. Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World's Most Colorful Company. No Starch Press. p. 209. ISBN 9781593270100.
10. ^ O'Grady, Jason (2009). Apple Inc. ABC-Clio. pp. 103–104. ISBN 9780313362446.
11. ^ Levy, Steven (July 24, 2020). "20 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Built the 'Coolest Computer Ever.' It Bombed". Wired. Condé Nast Publications. Retrieved October 7, 2020. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
12. Siracusa, John (July 28, 2000). "MacWorld Expo NY 2000". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Publications. pp. 1–8. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
13. ^ Sammis, Ian (January 2001). "Get Info; Too Many Cubes". MacAddict. No. 53. Future US. p. 14. ISSN 1088-548X.
14. https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-we-expected-to-sell-3-times-more-cubes/
15. https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-we-expected-to-sell-3-times-more-cubes/
16. https://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/02/07/cube.price.cut.idg/index.html
17. ^ https://www.macworld.com/article/1153341/cube-10thanniversary.html
18. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/04/business/apple-will-halt-production-of-its-cube-shaped-computer.html
19. https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/photos_of_the_cracks_in_the_cube
20. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2000/10/g4-cube/
21. ^ https://www.macworld.com/article/1153342/g4cube_macmini.html
22. Toporek, Chuck. Mac mini: Steve Jobs gets his Cube Back, O'Reilly Mac Dev Center, January 2005.
23. Kahney, Leander (July 28, 2003). "APPLE CUBE: ALIVE AND SELLING". Wired Magazine.
24. http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A7237&page_number=1&template_id=6&sort_order=1
25. Sayej, Nadja (June 20, 2016). "Where Do Old iMacs Go Anyway? Right, They're Upgraded Into Aquariums". Motherboard. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
26. Snell, Jason (September 20, 2020). "20 Macs for 2020: #14 – Mac mini". Six Colors. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
27. Deconstructing Product Design: Exploring the Form, Function, Usability, Sustainability, and Commercial Success of 100 Amazing Products. Rockport Publishers. 2011. pp. 152–153. ISBN 9781592537396. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |author1first= ignored (|author-first1= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |author1last= ignored (|author-last1= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |author2first= ignored (|author-first2= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |author2last= ignored (|author-last2= suggested) (help)
28. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/06/at-long-last-apple-announces-new-mac-pro-with-cylindrical-design/
29. https://512pixels.net/2019/06/on-the-mac-pro-the-g4-cube-and-their-shared-vent-design/
30. http://www.trektoday.com/articles/enterprise_set_visit.shtml
31. https://support.apple.com/kb/SP116?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

External links

• Apple – Power Mac G4 Cube at the Wayback Machine (archived December 16, 2000)
• Video of Jobs launching G4 Cube at Macworld 2000
• Power Color Classic G4 upgrade at The Mac 512
• Power Mac G4 Cube at apple-history.com

• Gallery of customised G4 Cubes
• The television ad for the Cube (QuickTime format)
• Upgrades and Technical Specs for G4 Cube – http://www.g4cube.com renamed
• Experimenting with high-intensity LEDs to illuminate a G4 Cube on YouTube

• PowerPC Macintosh computers
• Macintosh desktops
• Power Macintosh
• Macintosh case designs
• Computer-related introductions in 2000