G5 Cube is Possible!

[solvs]

For those who don't need too much expansion, and if you don't care about the video card (which I don't), the $1299 iMac is perfect. Add a gig or so of RAM, put a bigger hard drive in (if you need it) or external FW drives, and use the VGA out to hook up a monitor or TV. I'd love a headless Mac, something even like the G4 Tower, but cheaper. But I don't see it happening anytime soon unfortunetly, so the iMac as Pizza Box could work for some for now. I remember thatwendigo and donthurtme and some of us having a discussion about this ahile ago. The options came down to using the eMac as I described about, wasting $1299 on the overpriced G4 Tower, spending more on a G5 Tower, or getting a refurb or used Mac.

A 1.6GHz G5 (or even G4 if it's cheaper) mini Tower or Cube would be perfect for some people though. With a replaceable video card preferably. Placed at the price point of the eMac or so. Get all of those cheapskates or poorer people, or those leary of their new Mac purchases on the bandwagon. IMO, the original Cube failed because of the price for what you got.

Like I said though, I don't think it will happen because Apple doesn't seem to be interested.

 

[pigwin32]

Seems to me that they listened to all the Headless Mac crap on the forums, and gave us a Computerless Screen.

The Headless Mac is called PowerMac G5

Personally I'll be curious to see how the new iMacs sell, they're a nice looking machine but I still think the headless option has legs. My G4 Cube is sitting pretty in a bookcase, that's not something you can do with a PowerMac G5.

 

[slowtreme]

Personally I'll be curious to see how the new iMacs sell, they're a nice looking machine but I still think the headless option has legs. My G4 Cube is sitting pretty in a bookcase, that's not something you can do with a PowerMac G5.

With the iMac you don't even need the bookcase. Isn't that the point? I guess I'm not getting it. The Cube was. "here is a really small Mac so hardly takes up space" Now they are saying "here is NO space used".

 

[Dalriada]

With the iMac you don't even need the bookcase. Isn't that the point? I guess I'm not getting it. The Cube was. "here is a really small Mac so hardly takes up space" Now they are saying "here is NO space used".

No space out... but no space in... for better/upgradeable graphics

 

[slowtreme]

No space out... but no space in... for better/upgradeable graphics

Arguably the cube was no more or less upgradeable then the new iMac. All the good upgrades came only after the Cube had been disco'd

 

[neonart]

Arguably the cube was no more or less upgradeable then the new iMac. All the good upgrades came only after the Cube had been disco'd

Not really. The graphics card was upgradeable to the best Apple offered from day one.

But the fact that the processor and graphics card IS upgradeable means you can run recent apps and games on an older machine today. Try to run Garage Band or UT2004 on any of the iMacs that where contemporary with the Cube in 2000 - not possible. On the other hand a Cube with a G4 1.4 and a Radeon 8500 (it's possible) can still be a great machine.

This does not mean the new iMac is not awesome. It's just not an upgradeable pro-sumer machine, like it can be.

Here is a great example:

When the G4 iMac came out on Jan '02 we bought one for my wife. We loved that machine. But we sold it a few months ago because it ran out of steam running Ghost Recon and Halo. (Yes, me and the wife enjoy some co-op fraggin') Even the Sims got laggy. On the other hand, most G4's of 2002 can be upgraded to stay up-to-date with current Apps and games. Thats why a headless box is desirable. We lost a great 15" LCD because the computer attached to it did not meet our needs (as trivial as those needs may have been).

Another thing to consider is that there are TONS of people that have a monitor they've been using for years. (I've had my Formac on 3 Macs.) Why buy a monitor every time you want to upgrade your machine?


AGAIN: I LOVE the new iMac! But I'd rather get a HUGE 1.6 or 1.8 G5 instead, since It's upgradeable.

Which is why this topic is so often repeated. A headless, upgradeable small box is very desirable.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I run GarageBand on a G4 450 Cube without problems, but my use of this application is admittedly pretty causal.

The arrival of the G5 iMac re-ignited the debate about the "iCheap" as it's being called over at Macintouch. It looks like such a winning concept to everybody except Apple. What do they know that we don't?

Anyway, this Cube revival things seems like it's becoming an unhealthy obsession with a lot of Mac fans. Apple will never come near this form-factor again, if only because it would be bad marketing politics. We can still hope for a small, low-end modular Mac, though.

 

[SiliconAddict]

I for one like the idea of a sub $1000 G5 cube, and I agree that a ton of PC users would as well.

I'd pick one up tomorrow if it was real.

 

[pigwin32]

With the iMac you don't even need the bookcase. Isn't that the point? I guess I'm not getting it. The Cube was. "here is a really small Mac so hardly takes up space" Now they are saying "here is NO space used".

Actually, I'm using the cube headless, ie no display. It's a web server and is perfect for my needs, small, quiet, and conspicuous

 

[pigwin32]

Anyway, this Cube revival things seems like it's becoming an unhealthy obsession with a lot of Mac fans. Apple will never come near this form-factor again, if only because it would be bad marketing politics. We can still hope for a small, low-end modular Mac, though.

I'm not convinced, the more I think about it the more I think a cube form-factor would be perfect for corporate desktops and that is where Apple is wanting to go. Corporates are not going to be interested in all-in-ones, they tend to purchase components like screens from whoever sells them cheapest. The iMac doesn't give them that option. Plus the PowerMac is a big beast, again not something corporates want on desks. But if I was looking for an alternative to MS on the desktop, a small footprint cube would be great and Apple have shown they can compete on price with the likes of HP. The iMac is a very cool consumer machine but there is a gaping hole in Apple's lineup. They've got rack mount servers and disk arrays, powermacs for resource hungry graphics professionals, pb's for mobile professionals, iBooks for mobile consumers, and iMacs/eMacs for consumers. But *nothing* for the word/excel inhabitors of corporate cubicles.