Does anyone still believe the Cube will be revived?

satchmosatchmo
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
There are those on AI here who have been clamouring for the return of the Cube. And while Jobs did not officially say it was dead (I forgot what his reason was), I think the chances are practically, nil.



If the future is G5 which requires nine fans to cool it, how the heck are you going to fit that inside an 8" cube?



There may be a new headless mac (besides the towers) in the future, but not in the classic Cube style. It's all about bringing something new to the table. And I can't see Apple sticking in a G4 in there again...even if it's a 1.25 Ghz processor.

The only possible scenario is a 40th anniversary version of the Cube...but don't bet on it!
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 35
    drewpropsdrewprops Posts: 2,321member
    My guess is "no".
  • Reply 2 of 35
    macusersmacusers Posts: 840member
    i dont think so
  • Reply 3 of 35
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member
    Nope. Unless Apple discovers a way to release it with good technology and an unbeatable price point.
  • Reply 4 of 35
    rolandgrolandg Posts: 632member
    I haven't seen (in this case heard) the G5 in person, but according to Apple it is supposedly less noisy than the current G4s let alone P4s.



    And I don't know what Intel's plans are for the time after the 3.2 GHz P4 which will be the last P4 in the current form, but I bet it will be similar to their Pentium Ms (aka Centrino) which a lot of users would like to also see in desktop machines.



    And I think this is where the desktop future lies: high-performance processors with smart energy saving mechanisms. Performance on demand, so to speak.



    Take a look at how thin the Centrino notebooks are and think about modern cooling systems (e.g. heatpipes) that can be used in desktop hardware. This makes lots of room for quiet compact-sized computers with decent performance.



    I sincerely hope that Apple will have such a chip-family at thier disposal pretty soon.



    I'd love to see the Cube come back - positioned as a slick office computer in between the G5's and the iMac's price points leaning towards the later.
  • Reply 5 of 35
    isegwayisegway Posts: 133member
    I thought they might... but I have changed my mind I don't think they will since there is the flat panel Imac. I could see some kind of special edition Imac though with a bigger monitor and a 970 and water cooling or something.
  • Reply 6 of 35
    boy_analogboy_analog Posts: 315member
    OK, I agree that this doesn't seem to be a likely prospect, but let me play devil's advocate here.



    1. Suppose that the PBs will use 745x chips for at least one more revision.



    2. Pack this mobo into a small, funky desktop case and hey presto! -- an appealing little low-end device.



    More broadly, I think that Apple's infatuation with AIO designs should be laid to rest. Headless alternatives to the e/iMac should be available, at suitable prices. The cube was simply overpriced: there was too much of a (price) premium placed on the design.



    Hmmm ... price premium placed -- is that alliteration or assonance? I can never remember.



    Back on topic. Anecdotally, one of the great "switcher" lures was the humble iBook. It seems to me that I've read posts from a disproportionate number of people that said that they bought an iBook after years of PC enslavement. So maybe a cute, cheap and reasonably priced headless e/iMac would be just the ticket on the desktop.



    Actually, the more I think about this, the more I start to persuade myself about its feasibility. But I'll leave the opening caveat in there anyway.
  • Reply 7 of 35
    o and ao and a Posts: 579member
    I'd buy that for a dollar
  • Reply 8 of 35
    onlookeronlooker Posts: 5,252member
    No
  • Reply 9 of 35
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by boy_analog

    Back on topic. Anecdotally, one of the great "switcher" lures was the humble iBook. It seems to me that I've read posts from a disproportionate number of people that said that they bought an iBook after years of PC enslavement. So maybe a cute, cheap and reasonably priced headless e/iMac would be just the ticket on the desktop.



    Actually, the more I think about this, the more I start to persuade myself about its feasibility. But I'll leave the opening caveat in there anyway.



    This is exactly it. If the Cube returns, it really doesn't need to be much more than a PowerBook in a small, pretty, silent case - which is not really that different from a headless iMac, actually. It has to be a pleasing machine to use at an attractive price, not the be-all and end-all of performance in its class.



    I think that, even with the firebreathing G5 at the top of the line, there's plenty of room for a 7457-sporting G4 cube at an attractive price, i.e., not starting at $1799. They might even be able to go dual, or (if we're lucky) use the low-voltage 970, but that's gravy.



    How many people here would be interested in, say, a dual 1.3GHz G4 Cube with a 7" AGP slot and a SuperDrive for $1500 or so? (That would be near the top end, not the low end.) How about if it had an onboard graphics chipset, iMac-style, and a PCI-X slot so that you could hook up the expansion chassis mentioned elsewhere?
  • Reply 10 of 35
    omekomek Posts: 43member
    I think a cube revival is VERY possible. What's so attractive about it, is that it's a small desktop computer. Isn't that what everyone really wants? Isn't that what all computer companies should be striving towards? I thought the cube was a marvelous invention, it was just released at the wrong time and at the wrong price. A G5 cube would be very hot.....mmmmm......



    I'm guessing Apple is going Aluminum with everything now so the cube will probably also come in that form as well...
  • Reply 11 of 35
    bartobarto Posts: 2,246member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by onlooker

    No



    It really is that simple...





    Barto
  • Reply 12 of 35
    ensign pulverensign pulver Posts: 1,193member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Amorph

    How many people here would be interested in, say, a dual 1.3GHz G4 Cube with a 7" AGP slot and a SuperDrive for $1500 or so?



    MWSF '04:



    Single 1.6 GHz .09 G5



    Original Cube enclosure (no official expansion or upgradeability)



    2x Superdrive



    $1,299.







    Apple can't build 'em fast enough.
  • Reply 13 of 35
    i, fredi, fred Posts: 125member
    Nope. No way. Never.
  • Reply 14 of 35
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    My heart says..Yeah Baby !

    ( but at half price )



    My head says No way known.



    Not unless they do what some of the famous camera companies have done...

    Nikon, Hasselblad & leica all have offered limited edition retro re-tooled cameras from the 70's for humungus prices ( strictly collectors only ).



    I suppose Apple could do the same...



    But if they do come up with a Newer version, these would look cool:

  • Reply 15 of 35
    smirclesmircle Posts: 1,035member
    The Cube won't come back for a reason: It's internal design was very sophisticated and very crammed. Hard and expensive to manufacture, expensive to sell. Obviously, the Cube was not accepted in the premium price segment and I see no easy way to make a cheap version (CPU price not being the problem here).
  • Reply 16 of 35
    rageousrageous Posts: 2,170member
    Will it come back: yes



    But not any time in the near future. Not in the next 5 or even 10 years. The way of electronics is to get eveything smaller, and the cube will be a more feasible design years down the road.
  • Reply 17 of 35
    imacfpimacfp Posts: 750member
    The truth is the Cube would not be needed as much if the iMac was designed with a video card you can remove. A 17" LCD is the biggest LCD screen most people can afford, so that isn't something you need to worry about. Instead of the Cube, Apple should offer the iMac without the screen so you could plug a CRT into it. It wouldn't look as nice as a headed iMac but PC people are used to ugly computers. I don't think it would happen though. Of course I was surprised that Apple finally produced a 17" CRT AIO so you never know.
  • Reply 18 of 35
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Omek

    I thought the cube was a marvelous invention, it was just released at the wrong time and at the wrong price.



    Unfortunately, so were many of Apple's other offerings...and they've never returned to the scene of failures.

    A few examples:



    QuickTake Digital camera

    Newton

    Pippin



    Initially conceived and developed by Apple, these are now available in some way shape or form. Sadly, I suspect the Cube will be just another example.
  • Reply 19 of 35
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    People are too locked in to the cube thinking. At 1299 for a single 1.25Ghz PowerMac G4, Apple is nearly there as far as a cube segment machine goes.



    I think they'll milk that design untill bigger quantities of G5 can be had at lower overall cost, but then it will be a G5, and it needn't be a "cube"



    The cube is just a way for us to think about it. I think it could be a square (in side profile) and a very very mini-tower (viewed head on)



    Something like the miniG5 proposed elsewhere in this forum. 10x10 or 12x12 when viewed from the side, and 8" wide, just like the current G5, or mebbe slimmer, at around 6.



    10x10x6. A "mini" tower, square from the side, nice, still small, and still big ebough for just about any card, how many cards really pass 8-9" ??
  • Reply 20 of 35
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Matsu

    People are too locked in to the cube thinking. At 1299 for a single 1.25Ghz PowerMac G4, Apple is nearly there as far as a cube segment machine goes.



    I think they'll milk that design untill bigger quantities of G5 can be had at lower overall cost, but then it will be a G5, and it needn't be a "cube"



    The cube is just a way for us to think about it. I think it could be a square (in side profile) and a very very mini-tower (viewed head on)



    Good clarification.



    BTW, to answer someone upthread, the profit margins on the Cube were insane. Apple actually boasted about them! They certainly could have offered them at a lower price.



    Quote:

    10x10x6. A "mini" tower, square from the side, nice, still small, and still big ebough for just about any card, how many cards really pass 8-9" ??



    Generally, cards are either 7" deep or about 12" deep. A 7" slot would be fine, as long as it accepted a standard video card (unlike the Cube's slot).
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