How maxed out can the Cube be?

[JupiterZen]

Can you refresh my mind on why the Cube eventually failed as product?

Why weren't we buying it?

I think the missing PCI slot really didn't give it much chance with professionals. I believe it would have fitted in there, as there is a lot of space left over next to the CD drive.

And one slot is enough for a lot of people I know.

 

[kiwi_the_iwik]

For what it is, the Cube is a fantastic piece of work without any modifications.

If it could be kept quiet, maybe with a bigger graphics card and a bit more HD space, and possibly a new cool 1Ghz G4 chip (the next generation may not need a fan... ...maybe a part of the chassis could act as part of the heatsink), it would regain the niche it was designed for in the first place.

As long as it could play the latest games with ease, and act as the centre of your home entertainment network (playing DVD's and controlling audio and general web-surfing, even with optional remote control ability), there would be a huge market - everyone would buy one (as long as the price was right - Apple certianly got it wrong the first time around...).

It's certianly a very cool-looking piece of hardware!

 

[vniow]

Originally posted by JupiterZen
Can you refresh my mind on why the Cube eventually failed as product?

Price.

And lack of a real target market.

It was billed by many people as a 'headless iMac with the guts if a Powermac' but it cost more than either so people were drawn to the more expandable Powermac or the cheaper iMac, the Cube should've fit right there inbetween those two but not for the price it sold at.

 

[kiwi_the_iwik]

It's a shame about the way Apple dumped the Cube the way they did. It even has more potential than the current iMacs - it's as if Apple took a step backwards.

I already know of people who want to change the size of the screens on their LCD iMacs - an impossible task. How easy is it for us Cube users?

Ha!

 

[daveg5]

Re: Re: How maxed out can the Cube be?

Originally posted by JupiterZen
So, would you buy the Cube Revisited Edition if it came with:

- Maybe a slightly bigger but very similar enclosure (white?)
- dual G4 1.25 Ghz
- 80GB harddisk
- slotloading Superdrive as option to DVD-CDRW
- 3 DDR RAM slots
- 4x AGP graphics slot with fanless GPU
- 1 PCI slot (maybe two, but I think it will become to big then)
- 10/100/1000 ethernet
- the usual USB, firewire (800?)
- and just one large slow fan in it

Yes i would if the price is right if they cant put the pci then put 2 pc card slots soo i can upgrade to firewire 1600, scsi, usb3, pci expansion later

 

[JupiterZen]

Originally posted by vniow



Price.

And lack of a real target market.

It was billed by many people as a 'headless iMac with the guts if a Powermac' but it cost more than either so people were drawn to the more expandable Powermac or the cheaper iMac, the Cube should've fit right there inbetween those two but not for the price it sold at.

Yeah, ofcourse. Didn't know it was even more expensive than the top of the line Powermac ... I didn't need a new computer at the time so wasn't seriously looking at the Cube in those days.

Back then, I too was saying how it was profesionally useless without PCI and room for more disks and all that. But the thing is that what I needed (pro audio cards and SCSI cards) are all available as firewire devices today so you don't even really need PCI for that. And an internal 7200 rpm 8MB cache IDE disk performs almost as good as U160 SCSI. I have seen it myself.

That is one of the main reasons I find myself seriously looking at a Cube.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

Originally posted by kiwi_the_iwik
It's a shame about the way Apple dumped the Cube the way they did. It even has more potential than the current iMacs - it's as if Apple took a step backwards.

I already know of people who want to change the size of the screens on their LCD iMacs - an impossible task. How easy is it for us Cube users?

Ha!

The cube was and is beautiful. I really wanted one and then it was discontinued which was fortunate for me because i now need that 1 pci slot and have upgraded my video card! These were big issues for me at the time and was looking at imacs then all of a sudden the back door of the store i was in opened up and in came the brandnew just introduced quicksilvers. They seemed so cool at the time so here iam. Also remember this Steve said that they were discontinuing the cube but said it in a manner like they could be brought back at some time in the future when hardware and markets were right for it ! APPLE ALLWAYS SEEMS TO SURPRISE US!

 

[JupiterZen]

Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
The cube was and is beautiful. I really wanted one and then it was discontinued which was fortunate for me because i now need that 1 pci slot and have upgraded my video card! These were big issues for me at the time and was looking at imacs then all of a sudden the back door of the store i was in opened up and in came the brandnew just introduced quicksilvers. They seemed so cool at the time so here iam. Also remember this Steve said that they were discontinuing the cube but said it in a manner like they could be brought back at some time in the future when hardware and markets were right for it ! APPLE ALLWAYS SEEMS TO SURPRISE US!

Yeah. I also jumped the Quicksilver train when they came out and got the dual 800 way to expensive. Before the Quicksilvers I didn't look at the Powermacs and Cubes because I had a 400Mhz G3 upgraded 7500. And I wanted to wait for more speed before upgrading.

Now I would really like the Cube to be reborn.

 

[benixau]

apple will never re-invent a product. why? looks obvious that they made a mistake.

no pda again ever. no cube again ever.

but the pc world gets to do this. think intel and RAMBUS vs DDR

*sigh*

 

[janey]

Originally posted by benixau
apple will never re-invent a product. why? looks obvious that they made a mistake.

no pda again ever. no cube again ever.

but the pc world gets to do this. think intel and RAMBUS vs DDR

*sigh*

Apple just might. This probably is SJ's favorite computer and since more and more mac users want a Cube, Apple should just forget about how they'd look and reinvent the Cube so we could all have one for under 2 grand and we wouldn't be wasting our time talking about modding a Cube in this thread.

 

[Dont Hurt Me]

The cube needed a little polish but where they had it sitting it was competing with the imac and the powermac --- so if expansion was needed the cube was eliminated and if you wanted to get the most for your money again the cube was eliminated. If only it would have been a little more upgradeable i would have gotten one if they were available at the time. I am still surprised as to how far they are upgradeable concerning the aftermarket ! But with technology moving so fast everywhere i almost am inclined to say get a new system every 2 or 3 years rather then trying to upgrade so what do you do? economy or expansion

 

[kiwi_the_iwik]

The funny thing is -

The Cube is far more expandable than the LCD iMac...

It shouldn't have even been competing with that machine, anyway.

 

[Jimong5]

Originally posted by kiwi_the_iwik
I think it would be better for companies such as ATI and nVidia to stop making 12" graphics cards, and standardise these cards to 7".

I mean, what's the point of miniaturisation if it won't be utilised by these manufacturers to standardise the size of the cards, opening up airflow and making them available for Cube users worldwide?

(That's not a selfish plea, is it?!?)

I just took a Peek inside my MDD, and found my Radeon 9000 is 7" and Fanless. It would Be Perfect for a Cube.