How to make the cube work
Here's my idea for how to re-introduce the cube.
Have models at exactly the same speeds as the towers, and exactly the same price! You heard me right... people will pick either form or expandability, and at the same price they can choose which they like best.
What do you think?
Amorya
Have models at exactly the same speeds as the towers, and exactly the same price! You heard me right... people will pick either form or expandability, and at the same price they can choose which they like best.
What do you think?
Amorya
Comments
however ...
"The iMac begat the Cube, and the Cube begat the Hemisphere. The Hemisphere did then gain a head, and a neck. Suddenly there was a great oohing and aahing, and the Hemisphere was forevermore known as the iMac ..."
Forgive my silliness ... it's the weekend and I'm feeling giddy.
I think it's fairly common consensus that the Cube ain't going to come back. Not because it was badly designed. Not because it wasn't dinky. But because much of its R&D was reused for the iMac II; and right now the LCD iMac has greater performance/price ratio parity with the Powermacs than any Cube could these days. I mean, have you seen the inside of a current Quicksilver, or the fans on recent GPUs? I think the Cube was very much a product of its time ... and with the CPUs and GPUs available to Apple at the time it was possible to build a beautifully small and fanless machine. I simply do not believe you could do the same now with faster G4s and graphic cards and keep it in the same size of enclosure ... but the new iMac has a great set of specs, has a small footprint, can hold a Superdrive, GF2MX, fast G4 etc. It really is the 'son of Cube'.
Your idea also fails to take into account what many people use Powermacs for ... design, research, audio, video, hi-end gaming etc ...
All of the above uses want, or may need to have an expandable machine. Whether its a new GPU, more HDs, audio input cards or custom PCI boards, the expandable chasis of a PM is currently the best thing you can get for the job. I appreciate that in many realms external devices running on USB or FW are eating into the traditional PCI or internal peripheral market (I'm thinking Digidesign's new Mbox, the RTmac, external Oxford-based HDs etc etc ) but right now I think the choice for pros is either a laptop or a Powermac. That decision is based on whether they want to be mobile or have to work in a very small space, or if they need maximum bangs-for-bucks. And looking through my older copies of Macuser form when the Cube was intro'd, even then the PMs and Cuube never had performance and spec parity ... Apple was already intro'ing dual-processor PMs
btw, I loved the Cube. I got my boss to buy one the day it came out, complete with a 15" LCD. We had one of the first in the UK, and it looked great on the desk of a part-time designer/MD .. wowed all the clients. But it was expensive for what it was, and it just didn't give a power user the options that were needed. I have another mate who uses his at work for accounts, net and general business stuff; but he bemoans the fact he cannot upgrade the graphics card to anything more up-to-date for when he wants a good game of Q3A or UT. The new iMac is equally unexpandable, but it costs less, comes with a built-in monitor and is proportially more powerful than the Cube was at the time.
So, how to make the Cube work? Recognise it had a time and a place, but the future isn't it. Or reintroduce them as cheap Carracho servers, perfect for college kids with fast lines and quiet dorms
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
Yeah, that will sell real well.
As far as a "New" Cube, I hope they don't bring one out, as the uniqueness and collectability of the Cube would be impacted.
<strong>"And He smote the Cube, and it was banished for evereth."
however ...
"The iMac begat the Cube, and the Cube begat the Hemisphere. The Hemisphere did then gain a head, and a neck. Suddenly there was a great oohing and aahing, and the Hemisphere was forevermore known as the iMac ..."
Forgive my silliness ... it's the weekend and I'm feeling giddy.
I think it's fairly common consensus that the Cube ain't going to come back. Not because it was badly designed. Not because it wasn't dinky. But because much of its R&D was reused for the iMac II; and right now the LCD iMac has greater performance/price ratio parity with the Powermacs than any Cube could these days. I mean, have you seen the inside of a current Quicksilver, or the fans on recent GPUs? I think the Cube was very much a product of its time ... and with the CPUs and GPUs available to Apple at the time it was possible to build a beautifully small and fanless machine. I simply do not believe you could do the same now with faster G4s and graphic cards and keep it in the same size of enclosure ... but the new iMac has a great set of specs, has a small footprint, can hold a Superdrive, GF2MX, fast G4 etc. It really is the 'son of Cube'.
Your idea also fails to take into account what many people use Powermacs for ... design, research, audio, video, hi-end gaming etc ...
All of the above uses want, or may need to have an expandable machine. Whether its a new GPU, more HDs, audio input cards or custom PCI boards, the expandable chasis of a PM is currently the best thing you can get for the job. I appreciate that in many realms external devices running on USB or FW are eating into the traditional PCI or internal peripheral market (I'm thinking Digidesign's new Mbox, the RTmac, external Oxford-based HDs etc etc ) but right now I think the choice for pros is either a laptop or a Powermac. That decision is based on whether they want to be mobile or have to work in a very small space, or if they need maximum bangs-for-bucks. And looking through my older copies of Macuser form when the Cube was intro'd, even then the PMs and Cuube never had performance and spec parity ... Apple was already intro'ing dual-processor PMs
btw, I loved the Cube. I got my boss to buy one the day it came out, complete with a 15" LCD. We had one of the first in the UK, and it looked great on the desk of a part-time designer/MD .. wowed all the clients. But it was expensive for what it was, and it just didn't give a power user the options that were needed. I have another mate who uses his at work for accounts, net and general business stuff; but he bemoans the fact he cannot upgrade the graphics card to anything more up-to-date for when he wants a good game of Q3A or UT. The new iMac is equally unexpandable, but it costs less, comes with a built-in monitor and is proportially more powerful than the Cube was at the time.
So, how to make the Cube work? Recognise it had a time and a place, but the future isn't it. Or reintroduce them as cheap Carracho servers, perfect for college kids with fast lines and quiet dorms
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
Your reply is perfect . May i share your opinion ?
<strong>
Your reply is perfect . May i share your opinion ?</strong><hr></blockquote>
bien sur, mon ami ...
merci!
<strong>"And He smote the Cube, and it was banished for evereth."
however ...
I think it's fairly common consensus that the Cube ain't going to come back... right now the LCD iMac has greater performance/price ratio parity with the Powermacs than any Cube could these days... and with the CPUs and GPUs available to Apple at the time it was possible to build a beautifully small and fanless machine. I simply do not believe you could do the same now with faster G4s and graphic cards and keep it in the same size of enclosure ... when the Cube was intro'd, even then the PMs and Cube never had performance and spec parity ... Apple was already intro'ing dual-processor PMs
btw, I loved the Cube... But it was expensive for what it was, and it just didn't give a power user the options that were needed. ... cannot upgrade the graphics card to anything more up-to-date... The new iMac is equally unexpandable, but it costs less, comes with a built-in monitor and is proportially more powerful than the Cube was at the time.
So, how to make the Cube work? Recognise it had a time and a place, but the future isn't it. Or reintroduce them as cheap Carracho servers, perfect for college kids with fast lines and quiet dorms
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
As my prior post illuminates, Apple could have made the Cube worth the money and given it parity with the PowerMac of it's time. They could have, and should have, put dual G4 7410's (low power & heat) in it. Style is not enough, power is needed. As far as an up to date video card, the Radeon was offered as an option at the time, and is still a good choice.
FUTURE CUBE: As I said, I hope they don't re-introduce the Cube (for selfish reasons), but if they did this would be the specs they should use:
Processors:
Dual 7460 @ 1 Gig each (low power variant of "Apollo")
Video Card:
Radeon with Dual Display and S-Video out
Hard Drive:
WD Caviar 100SE w/ 8 MB Cache (Mine works GREAT!)
Bus and Memory:
133MHZ and DDR would be great
Put a quiet fan in the base (like the iMac) and offer 2 models:
Single 1 Gig = $1599
Dual 1 Gig's = $1999
<strong>Here's my idea for how to re-introduce the cube.
Have models at exactly the same speeds as the towers, and exactly the same price! You heard me right... people will pick either form or expandability, and at the same price they can choose which they like best.
What do you think?
Amorya</strong><hr></blockquote>
Love the Cube, got one at home...however Apple would really need the Cube about $100-$200 less that a comperable tower for them to sell well, though they could make a slower model and price it around $1000-$1299 to really kick in the sales.
But alas the Cube is no more....
Now you have machines with competitive prices. They still need monitors, but at least I have some configuration flexibility.
All moot. Cube ain't coming back.