Apple wouldn't bring back the Cube.....would they????

there is no g5there is no g5
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
If a bunch of upgraders can get a (possible) GHz Cube upgrade out the door (and possibly fanless, at least for the slower upgrade), how would Apple not WANT to release a Cube?



The Cube was never 'killed', just put on 'indefinite hiatus', IIRC.



The Cube was the only Apple that I ever REALLY JUST WANTED from the get-go, but it was too expensive.....



Man, I'd like to see Apple bring the Cube back (at reasonable prices).



Ah, well. I guess the new iMac makes a revived Cube difficult (sitting right in the way of the 'middle area), but a fella can dream, can't he?



Slightly OT: What would be the most pimpin' Cube you can put together w/r/t Powerlogix upgrades, HD's and video cards and RAM?



Processor: 1 GHz Powerlogix upgrade card

Video Card: RADEON ????

HD: 120 GB???

RAM 1.5 GB???



Pieces,



There is no G5 (Cube)



[ 06-12-2002: Message edited by: There is no g5 ]</p>
«13

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 56
    marcusmarcus Posts: 227member
    If the cube made a return, Apple would have my money no questions asked...



    Marcus
  • Reply 2 of 56
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    [quote]Originally posted by There is no g5:

    <strong>If a bunch of upgraders can get a (possible) GHz Cube upgrade out the door (and possibly fanless, at least for the slower upgrade), how would Apple not WANT to release a Cube?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    The name's jinxed, the iMac has usurped its price point (with a monitor thrown in for good measure!) and its feature set, and it doesn't have the vertically challenged ( ) drive or the cumbersome ports underneath.



    I should mention here that I had the same gut-level reaction to the Cube that you did, only I did buy one. I love it. But I can't see Apple bringing that model back. They might try the stripped-down-workstation idea again, because it does fit the needs of a large number of their users, but with a different execution.



    [quote]<strong>Slightly OT: What would be the most pimpin' Cube you can put together w/r/t Powerlogix upgrades, HD's and video cards and RAM?



    Processor: 1 GHz Powerlogix upgrade card

    Video Card: RADEON ????

    HD: 120 GB???

    RAM 1.5 GB???

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    That's about it right there, although depending on how you use the machine the dual-proc upgrade might be more attractive.



    [ 06-12-2002: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
  • Reply 3 of 56
    there is no g5there is no g5 Posts: 137member
    [quote]Originally posted by Amorph:

    [QB]



    .....although depending on how you use the machine the dual-proc upgrade might be more attractive.



    <hr></blockquote>



    There's a dual-proc Cube upgrade?!?!?



    Man, I'm out of the loop. Got a link?



    I am not a G5
  • Reply 4 of 56
    gumby5647gumby5647 Posts: 241member
    Personally, i think it is possible for apple to some day bring back the cube. It will probably be awhile though. Not in this economy.



    But with Apple screaming to PC users to switch, it is possible that it could return. (at the right price point). The more people you tell to switch, the more products you need to appeal to them. Some people would just rather own a Cube than an iMac or eMac.



    I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain.....
  • Reply 5 of 56
    ferroferro Posts: 453member
    The only thing that stopped me from buying a cube was the price (Well the extra $$$ for a monitor), I dont like having having the monitor sold seperately... just means they can get more money from me I dont have...



    If they bundled it "Monitor Included..."



    iCube - with 15" monitor = ????.??



    iCube - with 17" monitor = ????.??



    iCube - with 22" monitor = ????.??



    I mean if a iBook 14" can have a LCD included in its price why does a seperated LCD cost soo much when its an extra?



    I dont know...
  • Reply 6 of 56
    spindlerspindler Posts: 713member
    Apple would need to have a reason the Cube would sell now rather than before. Unlike me, most people have no taste so you can't expect something to sell just because it's great. A new Cube would NOT sell sitting in CompUSA so Apple would definitely wait until they had all of the 124 planned Apple Stores open. They could make a limited run of 100,000 and see how it does. They also wouldn't do it until the retail stores are overwhelmingly successful.



    The computer at the Genius Bar in Atlanta is a Cube. It looks so cool just sitting there out in the open next to a Studio Display. Are there Cubes at other Apple Stores? I bet in his heart Steve is hoping they have a lot of customers ask about the Cube. Maybe they are even keeping track of the interest.
  • Reply 7 of 56
    nijiniji Posts: 288member
    i own 2 cubes. i really wanted the quietness, and the compactness. i wanted to chose a monitor size. never mind about supposed "lack of expandability", with 2 firewire and 2 usb on the computer itself, as well as the free usb on the key board, it has expandability. the only thing that it did not have is something that still is not technically feasible: a fan-less yet amazingly quick video card. so,

    now,the new iMac is here. the new iMac is a version of the cube. except that you are locked into a 15 inch monitor, or, maybe they will offer a 17 inch monitor version. so, monitor choice is coming. good. it is quiet. good.

    so, the marketing niche narrows for the cube, no doubt about it.

    however, the iMac base and monitor are still attached to each other. with the cube, you can position these elements anywhere yr own desk area's requirements dictate. this is important for me and my set up,

    i was instrumental in recommending a pc friend of mine to get a new iMac. He doesnt need the component-ness of a cube. he benefited from an all in one, however.



    so, lack of high end, fan-less video card, coupled with the compactness of the new iMac, means that we will not see a viable marketing strategy for a re-appearance of the cube. ;(
  • Reply 8 of 56
    cdhostagecdhostage Posts: 1,038member
    Well, I wouldn't mind seeign a super-small computer come again. But NOT WITH THE PORTS IN THE BOTTOM! And it's gotta have a fan to run a modern CPU.



    hey, they said CRTs were dead. They're back.



    they said OS 9 was dead. It's still kicking. It's still the best way to transform divX movies and it's MUCH faster running my FirstClass email program, so it's still on my machine and will be for a while.
  • Reply 9 of 56
    cdhostagecdhostage Posts: 1,038member
    HEY! They'll drop the pretense of being small and quitet entirely.!



    The newest computer will be a SERIOUS server.

    You'll have the $3000 xServe.



    Then you'll hae the $10,000 PowerServe (I bet that name has been taken, though).



    It will be a column with facets. The whole column will be large enough to fit in a standard 42U rack.

    The whole thing can be rolled out on a drawer that supports several tons to put in drives and stuff.

    The facets are interchangable = most are dummies, with lots of space to allow airflow to cool the thing.

    You normally replace two with active facets - one in the back with poower supplies and the other with all the controls.

    Fans at the bottom and the top.



    Under each facet is a computer that kicks ass.



    Let's say dual Power4s. Each has 1 TB local HD and 10 GB RAM.



    8 facets.



    let's make the price a little higher, shall we?
  • Reply 10 of 56
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    I loved the G4 Cube. I was bummed that they killed it, RIGHT when it could've gotten interesting (600MHz-plus G4, combo drive, bettter graphics, etc.).



    As a matter of fact, that would've been my iMac DV replacement had the LCD G4 iMac not been invented. I, too, dug the quiet, compact vibe of it.



    I would've loved to have had the opportunity to buy a Combo Drive-equipped Cube and pair it with a 17" Studio Display. Alas, the Combo Drive and higher speeds never made it to the Cube.



    Probably one of those "too ahead of its time, and too expensive for ours..." things.
  • Reply 11 of 56
    scott f.scott f. Posts: 276member
    Steve J. was quoted in an interview where he so much as "admitted" that the Cube was a mistake, but one in which they LEARNED from. I think their INTENTIONS were good, but it just didn't hit enough people's sweet spot.



    They were looking to sell those to Designers... but this was "before" they started "listening" to what we REALLY needed. They tried to dictate what they THOUGHT we needed... but it turned-out that MOST designers needed a little or a LOT more flexibility... from upgrading a video card... to adding PCI cards for second displays, SCSI support, audio cards, etc. It was just poorly targeted. I doubt they will bring it back... or at least anything close to the previous spec's... it needed to be targeted to the pro-sumer that did not need expansion, but it's price-point exceeded the PRO Tower lines... it was just a big mistake. Oh well... live & learn.
  • Reply 12 of 56
    jerombajeromba Posts: 357member
    ok for those who want a combo drive in the cube go there and vote asap:

    <a href="http://www.cubeowner.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.cubeowner.com/</a>;
  • Reply 13 of 56
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    The iMac is Apple's next iteration of the Cube. It's base is an improved cube design, with easily accessable ports and a horizontal optical drive. Bundling it with a display allows Apple to give better value, because they can count on the display sale along with the base.



    More likely than another cube, is a 17" iMac. With 15" and 17" iMacs, there would be no use for a Cube.



    Actually, the iMac is better than the cube in every way except that it's video card cannot be upgraded. But the cube used a non-standard video card, so it can't really be upgraded either. And of course the iMac costs much less than a Cube. Apple DID learn from the cube, and the iMac is the result.
  • Reply 14 of 56
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    another good thing about the cube was that you could upgrade your screen or save it for your next computer rather then buy a new one...



    it woulda been cool if apple came out with a dual head gfx card for the cube so you could have 2 displays hooked up to it...
  • Reply 15 of 56
    mike ghostmike ghost Posts: 30member
    How many of you would've bought a Cube if Apple introduced an expandable chassis, which include two drive bays and two PCI slots, in a matching case? It would be connected via Firewire. I think if they had lower the price on Cube and add option of the chasis it would have sold very well. And those people who want to expand their system all they have to do is buy the chassis

  • Reply 16 of 56
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    Since Apple's got the iMac and eMac don't expect the Cube making a comeback anytime soon.
  • Reply 17 of 56
    junkyard dawgjunkyard dawg Posts: 2,801member
    [quote]

    another good thing about the cube was that you could upgrade your screen or save it for your next computer rather then buy a new one...

    <hr></blockquote>



    But now for what the high end cube cost, you can buy a high end iMac with a 15" LCD and a superdrive, AND an iPod!



    That's the whole problem. If the cube had been priced at 800-1000, then it would have made sense. But $1800 for the LOW END cube? LOL!
  • Reply 18 of 56
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    [quote]Originally posted by Mike Ghost:

    <strong>How many of you would've bought a Cube if Apple introduced an expandable chassis, which include two drive bays and two PCI slots, in a matching case? It would be connected via Firewire. I think if they had lower the price on Cube and add option of the chasis it would have sold very well. And those people who want to expand their system all they have to do is buy the chassis

    </strong><hr></blockquote>



    In fact, Think Secret actually posted a rumor back in the day that exactly this sort of thing was in the works (why the codename "Trinity" for something that isn't a three in one? ); even before then, I and others had speculated that something like this could arrive in later iterations of the Cube.



    So much for that.



    The basic concept is sound, but the execution was a bit off and the delivery was premature (i.e., it was classic Apple). I think the pieces are beginning to fall into place for a truly exciting riff on the basic idea of a compact, quiet "core" workstation:



    1) The Cube was billed as "the ultimate OS X workstation." Unfortunately, OS X wasn't the ultimate OS at the time. It wasn't even out in public form when the Cube bowed in. Post Jaguar, that should be a much more salable tag line.



    2) With XServe and XServe RAID, several pieces fall into place: With XServe comes clustering, which makes clusterable Cubes an option. More directly, if you have an XServe RAID or two racked up, who needs drive bays? Hook your office full of Cubes to the SAN and everyone will have access to vast amounts of hot-swappable storage. This would be especially attractive in workgroup settings, in combination with, say, Cumulus, or FileMaker, or Oracle, or even CVS and WebDAV. FireWire drives and FireWire RAID will remain options, and perhaps the Cube could have optional Fiber Channel out for real speed.



    3) Bring on a PCI expansion chassis (this would be a good use for that Fiber Channel...). If the Cube is priced below the PowerMac tower line then you could buy that alone initially and then get the chassis later if you needed it. The resulting combo would cost you more than an integrated PowerMac, but with the advantage that you could avoid paying up front for expansion you might not need (in dollars, in space and in noise).



    4) Change the form factor in whatever way to allow for a full-size, standard 7" AGP slot. Non-upgradable graphics cards are acceptable for machines with non-upgradable monitors, but not otherwise. Also, the optical drive should be a horizontal SuperDrive, and the ports should be somewhere other than the bottom. The result might no longer be a Cube, but oh well.



    Caveats:



    If the rumors elsewhere in this forum are accurate, and the PowerMac is getting a scaled-down Power4, or some other fire-breathing monster of a CPU, then suddenly the small, quiet PowerMac becomes all but impossible. The Cube would have to stick with whatever the G4 was, and then it would have to have something to significantly differentiate it from the iMac, without overheating it.



    On the other hand, if the PowerMac gets something like a Power4, it will probably leap up in price, clearing a big gap in Apple's price (and performance) range for a (now) mid-line workstation to fill. In this case, a Cube + expansion chassis would still cost less than a PowerMac, but it would have fewer drive bays and less raw power.



    Thoughts?
  • Reply 19 of 56
    bryan furybryan fury Posts: 169member
    We've already got an extended chassis cube..



    Its the Tower...
  • Reply 20 of 56
    mike ghostmike ghost Posts: 30member
    [quote]Originally posted by Amorph:

    <strong>



    &lt;&lt;In fact, Think Secret actually posted a rumor back in the day that exactly this sort of thing was in the works (why the codename "Trinity" for something that isn't a three in one? ); even before then, I and others had speculated that something like this could arrive in later iterations of the Cube.



    So much for that.



    The basic concept is sound, but the execution was a bit off and the delivery was premature (i.e., it was classic Apple). I think the pieces are beginning to fall into place for a truly exciting riff on the basic idea of a compact, quiet "core" workstation:



    1) The Cube was billed as "the ultimate OS X workstation." Unfortunately, OS X wasn't the ultimate OS at the time. It wasn't even out in public form when the Cube bowed in. Post Jaguar, that should be a much more salable tag line. &gt;&gt;



    I think what held off from buying a Cube because the lack of expandability, not that I necessarily need it. But like most people I feel that I might.



    &lt;&lt;2) With XServe and XServe RAID, several pieces fall into place: With XServe comes clustering, which makes clusterable Cubes an option. More directly, if you have an XServe RAID or two racked up, who needs drive bays? Hook your office full of Cubes to the SAN and everyone will have access to vast amounts of hot-swappable storage. This would be especially attractive in workgroup settings, in combination with, say, Cumulus, or FileMaker, or Oracle, or even CVS and WebDAV. FireWire drives and FireWire RAID will remain options, and perhaps the Cube could have optional Fiber Channel out for real speed.&gt;&gt;



    It makes me wonder if Apple does add Fiber Channel to its line will they call it Gigawire? I know some hinted it might be the name for Firewire 2, but with the industry adopting Firewire's name I don't see how they could rename it now.



    &lt;&lt;3) Bring on a PCI expansion chassis (this would be a good use for that Fiber Channel...). If the Cube is priced below the PowerMac tower line then you could buy that alone initially and then get the chassis later if you needed it. The resulting combo would cost you more than an integrated PowerMac, but with the advantage that you could avoid paying up front for expansion you might not need (in dollars, in space and in noise).&gt;&gt;



    I agree. This also give it a good low starting price better to compete with the PC's



    &lt;&lt;4) Change the form factor in whatever way to allow for a full-size, standard 7" AGP slot. Non-upgradable graphics cards are acceptable for machines with non-upgradable monitors, but not otherwise. Also, the optical drive should be a horizontal SuperDrive, and the ports should be somewhere other than the bottom. The result might no longer be a Cube, but oh well. &gt;&gt;



    I'm sure they can still make look good :-)



    Caveats:



    &lt;&lt;If the rumors elsewhere in this forum are accurate, and the PowerMac is getting a scaled-down Power4, or some other fire-breathing monster of a CPU, then suddenly the small, quiet PowerMac becomes all but impossible. The Cube would have to stick with whatever the G4 was, and then it would have to have something to significantly differentiate it from the iMac, without overheating it.&gt;&gt;



    I heard a rumor that IBM is no longer making the Power4, but they have something else it works.



    &lt;&lt;On the other hand, if the PowerMac gets something like a Power4, it will probably leap up in price, clearing a big gap in Apple's price (and performance) range for a (now) mid-line workstation to fill. In this case, a Cube + expansion chassis would still cost less than a PowerMac, but it would have fewer drive bays and less raw power.



    Thoughts?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I've still have bets on G5 or something simlar. We'll problay know better by August



    [quote] <hr></blockquote>
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