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Power Mac G4 Cube?
- Thread starter Apple1000
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The G4 cube is over 10 years old. I can think of very few situations outside of a museum that would make owning a G4 cube "worth it."
They're fun little Macs, provided they are well upgraded. But as miles said, they don't have much life left in them. Being a PPC Mac, most modern apps won't work on it anymore. Even though it has it's limitations, I love my Cube and use it as a media centre.
Hi all, just wondering if any of you know what the aforementioned Mac is like as i'm thinking of getting one with an apple studio display. Is it worth it?
Its worth it if you plan to use it. They generally sell between $150 and $250 so if you get it for less, you are doing very well.
They are reliable computers with great design. Unfortunately you will not be able to browse the web with them properly as the heavy flash-laden sites will not work with it . They are still ideal email/word processing computers so by no means they are "museum material”.
If you want one, be sure it's usable for the things you intend it to do.
If you want one, be sure it's usable for the things you intend it to do.
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It depends on how much you appreciate things in monetary value. Some will say it is not worth it, it all depends on you on how you appreciate it. In terms of its monetary cost? or to your satisfaction?
Is a G4 cube worth it ..what a question , of course it is ,
from a collectors point of view it is even a must have, Apple did only sell 150000 of them worldwide
and if you want to really use the cube every day ,make the Cube more modern fit it some extra wings a processor upgrade !
single or dual processor upgrades are available or had been available 1.0 ,1.3 , 1.5 ghz and even 1.6 ghz and a ati 9000 with 128mb was available too and a nvidia card with 64mb ..then Tiger will fly and it will easy keep up with the other powerMac G4's and even outperform the G4 mini's and iBooks , and surfing is a breeze , and you dont have to be scared about youtube crashing ..ok 320p will be absolute max..but thats pretty good for a 10 year old computer with some upgrades
from a collectors point of view it is even a must have, Apple did only sell 150000 of them worldwide
and if you want to really use the cube every day ,make the Cube more modern fit it some extra wings a processor upgrade !
single or dual processor upgrades are available or had been available 1.0 ,1.3 , 1.5 ghz and even 1.6 ghz and a ati 9000 with 128mb was available too and a nvidia card with 64mb ..then Tiger will fly and it will easy keep up with the other powerMac G4's and even outperform the G4 mini's and iBooks , and surfing is a breeze , and you dont have to be scared about youtube crashing ..ok 320p will be absolute max..but thats pretty good for a 10 year old computer with some upgrades
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My G4 Cube is probably one of only a few Macs I will never sell. I use it when I can, but in 2011 there isn't a lot it can do unless you plan on being patient. Here are the specs for mine:
Single 500MHz G4
1.5GB RAM
120GB 7200rpm drive
Radeon 7500 w 32MB
USB speakers
20" Cinema Display
Leopard installed
Its very slow. I Will still get online with it, but I typically use it for CS2 and for playing music. The thing is absolutely beautiful, and a real conversation starter for people who aren't familiar with it. If you can nab one for less than $100 you've done well. Just remember, these were built for Mac OS 9, so barring some heavy upgrading its not going to be a performer. You can spend as much as you'd like and get a really fast one though. Up to 256MB of VRAM and dual 1.8GHz processors.
Single 500MHz G4
1.5GB RAM
120GB 7200rpm drive
Radeon 7500 w 32MB
USB speakers
20" Cinema Display
Leopard installed
Its very slow. I Will still get online with it, but I typically use it for CS2 and for playing music. The thing is absolutely beautiful, and a real conversation starter for people who aren't familiar with it. If you can nab one for less than $100 you've done well. Just remember, these were built for Mac OS 9, so barring some heavy upgrading its not going to be a performer. You can spend as much as you'd like and get a really fast one though. Up to 256MB of VRAM and dual 1.8GHz processors.
Hi all, just wondering if any of you know what the aforementioned Mac is like as i'm thinking of getting one with an apple studio display. Is it worth it?
I have one on my desk next to my Mac Pro that is slightly upgraded (I've been bringing it up to a "stock" but high end configuration.)
They're totally unsuitable for normal use, but it looks pretty, and can play my old classic games. More difficult to keep in good shape though. A lot of potential issues with them.
Then I'd say go for it and enjoy and amazing Mac!
Be sure to install Flash 8 (still works with Youtube) to have the most optimized Flash performance on the PPC platform.
I never found the Cube very practical. It being small does nothing to help anything and it actually exposes all the hardware inside to more heat than is needed.
It's really more of an aesthetically driven design and doesn't have anything practical about it unless you live in a closet. A G4 tower will be cheaper and faster along with having better longevity.
It's really more of an aesthetically driven design and doesn't have anything practical about it unless you live in a closet. A G4 tower will be cheaper and faster along with having better longevity.
Virgin Cube
Power Mac G4 Cube
G4 Cube as it came -O/S 9 Virgin
ABSOLUTELY PERFECT
comes with all origional Black keyboard and mouse, Airport Card, Disks, Paperwork and manuals.
Spherical Harman Karden Speakers
very rare Bubble iSubwoofer
Origional Fish-Tank C.R.T. monitor with fantastic depth and color
(also have 15" CinemaDisplay)
SERIAL NO. SG109057 K59
EMC#1844
FIND BELOW A REVIEW OF MY SYSTEM WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT AND
SPECS TO FOLLOW.
let me start by saying one undeniable thing about the 22-inch Apple Cinema Display digital active matrix LCD: you want this monitor. Even if you don't yet know that you want this monitor, trust me, you do. Don't try to deny it. Its screen area is 22-inches on the diagonal and its thickness varies from 1.25 inches on the edges to about 2 inches in the center. It's completely digital. It has a single cord coming from the back of it: an ADC cable. There's not even a power cord. If you were to take this monitor back with you a decade or so into the past, it, perhaps more than anything else that exists in the world of computer hardware today, would look impossibly futuristic and magical. It's as elemental as computer display devices get these days: a flat, thin panel with single cable poking out of the back. And I suspect that if Apple could have made it wireless, it would have.
Obviously the system I tested is well beyond both the means and the common sense of most consumers. The $4K screen and the 1.5GB RAM certainly put it over the top. But even with a sane amount of RAM (say, 128MB), the "cheaper" 15-inch Cinema Display, and the $300 rebate Apple is now offering for Cubes purchased with an Apple display, the price is about $2,700. And remember that's $2,700 for a 450MHz G4, passable RAM and HD space, and a 1024x768 screen. This is an expensive system any way you slice it.
Removable
Mat****a DVD-ROM (on the same ATA bus as the HD)
Video
ATI Rage 128 Pro with 16MB VRAM on an AGP 2x bus
Ports
2 USB ports, each on an independent 12Mbps bus;
2 IEEE-1394 (FireWire) ports sharing a single 400Mbps bus
1 10/100Base-T Ethernet Port;
1 internal 56K V.90/K56flex modem;
1 Apple Display Connector (ADC) port;
1 VGA port; 28V DC power input
Price $1,799.00 plus
$4,350 for the RAM,
minus $300 when purchased with an Apple display.
APPLE CINEMA DISPLAY
Screen 22-inch diagonal
digital active-matrix liquid crystal display
1600x1024 native resolution
Ports 1 Apple Display Connector (ADC) port;
2 USB hub ports
Price $3,999
Power Mac G4 Cube
G4 Cube as it came -O/S 9 Virgin
ABSOLUTELY PERFECT
comes with all origional Black keyboard and mouse, Airport Card, Disks, Paperwork and manuals.
Spherical Harman Karden Speakers
very rare Bubble iSubwoofer
Origional Fish-Tank C.R.T. monitor with fantastic depth and color
(also have 15" CinemaDisplay)
SERIAL NO. SG109057 K59
EMC#1844
FIND BELOW A REVIEW OF MY SYSTEM WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT AND
SPECS TO FOLLOW.
let me start by saying one undeniable thing about the 22-inch Apple Cinema Display digital active matrix LCD: you want this monitor. Even if you don't yet know that you want this monitor, trust me, you do. Don't try to deny it. Its screen area is 22-inches on the diagonal and its thickness varies from 1.25 inches on the edges to about 2 inches in the center. It's completely digital. It has a single cord coming from the back of it: an ADC cable. There's not even a power cord. If you were to take this monitor back with you a decade or so into the past, it, perhaps more than anything else that exists in the world of computer hardware today, would look impossibly futuristic and magical. It's as elemental as computer display devices get these days: a flat, thin panel with single cable poking out of the back. And I suspect that if Apple could have made it wireless, it would have.
Obviously the system I tested is well beyond both the means and the common sense of most consumers. The $4K screen and the 1.5GB RAM certainly put it over the top. But even with a sane amount of RAM (say, 128MB), the "cheaper" 15-inch Cinema Display, and the $300 rebate Apple is now offering for Cubes purchased with an Apple display, the price is about $2,700. And remember that's $2,700 for a 450MHz G4, passable RAM and HD space, and a 1024x768 screen. This is an expensive system any way you slice it.
Removable
Mat****a DVD-ROM (on the same ATA bus as the HD)
Video
ATI Rage 128 Pro with 16MB VRAM on an AGP 2x bus
Ports
2 USB ports, each on an independent 12Mbps bus;
2 IEEE-1394 (FireWire) ports sharing a single 400Mbps bus
1 10/100Base-T Ethernet Port;
1 internal 56K V.90/K56flex modem;
1 Apple Display Connector (ADC) port;
1 VGA port; 28V DC power input
Price $1,799.00 plus
$4,350 for the RAM,
minus $300 when purchased with an Apple display.
APPLE CINEMA DISPLAY
Screen 22-inch diagonal
digital active-matrix liquid crystal display
1600x1024 native resolution
Ports 1 Apple Display Connector (ADC) port;
2 USB hub ports
Price $3,999
I still use mine occasionally for word processing. It has one quality that I particularly value, and that no one has mentioned here: its absolute silence. I put an SSD in mine, so there isn't even the sound of a hard drive. When you sit in front of a Cube, you realize both how noisy other computers are and how good silence is for concentration.
I've got three Cubes. They're cool.
A stock Cube running 10.4.11 will do OK for many tasks. Yeah, it's going to be slow with demanding web pages, but contrary to what some have said here, it will display most everything. I have not seen issues as long as you are running 10.4.11 and with Safari updated, or use something else. I was using TenfourFox, but found it a bit sluggish. I just switched to Camino and find it faster - not bad at all. I mean, keep in mind you are not running a Macbook Air with an SSD!
If you want to find out more about the 'Cube universe' in general, check out the info at http://www.cubeowner.com. Lots of great info there. The cube can be upgraded. I've got an SSD in the one I use regularly (using it right now to type this). Processor upgrades are also out there, but you'd likely be looking at used, since the manufactures (PowerLogix, Sonnet) are no longer making them.
A stock Cube running 10.4.11 will do OK for many tasks. Yeah, it's going to be slow with demanding web pages, but contrary to what some have said here, it will display most everything. I have not seen issues as long as you are running 10.4.11 and with Safari updated, or use something else. I was using TenfourFox, but found it a bit sluggish. I just switched to Camino and find it faster - not bad at all. I mean, keep in mind you are not running a Macbook Air with an SSD!
If you want to find out more about the 'Cube universe' in general, check out the info at http://www.cubeowner.com. Lots of great info there. The cube can be upgraded. I've got an SSD in the one I use regularly (using it right now to type this). Processor upgrades are also out there, but you'd likely be looking at used, since the manufactures (PowerLogix, Sonnet) are no longer making them.