[ablaze]

Why isn't Apple going to give the Cube another try. It's the nicest hardware I've ever seen. Although the original Cubes are slow compared to actual G4's, they are such eye-candy, that people pay high prices at ebay.
Please Apple, get it back.

[Eug]

Originally posted by ablaze:
Why isn't Apple going to give the Cube another try. It's the nicest hardware I've ever seem. Although the original Cubes are slow compared to actual G4's, they are such eye-candy, that people pay high prices at ebay.
Please Apple, get it back.

It's already "back". It's called an iMac.

[firefly]

meh.

[WizOSX]

Originally posted by Eug
It's already "back". It's called an iMac.

The iMac is not really the same sort of machine AT ALL as the Cube. I have been "standing on my head" recently trying to come up with a Mac solution similar to the Cube at a reasonable price. Specifically, what I need and want has the following characteristics:

1) A semiportable machine -- By that I mean, one that is my main desktop machine that sits on my desk most of the time, but that I can unplug and carry to the office, cottage or extended vacation for those off and on times when I need to. Not every day but just frequently enough that you want portablility to be convenient. The iMac is too large and the wrong shape and weight for this.

2) Processor and video card upgradable -- that leaves out iMac, Powerbooks and iBooks. I've owned too many notebooks whose life could have easily and cheaply been extended by just adding a newer video card. My Powerbook 550, bought only 13 months ago, couldn't really use Quartz Extreme! Which is why I recently sold it and bought a Dual 867.

3) A G4 -- that also leaves out the iBook

I think there are a lot of people out there who are interested in this sort of machine from Apple--which is precisely why used Cubes (450mhz!) are still selling so well on ebay. Apple made some mistakes with the Cube but I think that if they had "got it right" the second time it would have been a best-seller.

[Eug]

1) A semiportable machine -- By that I mean, one that is my main desktop machine that sits on my desk most of the time, but that I can unplug and carry to the office, cottage or extended vacation for those off and on times when I need to. Not every day but just frequently enough that you want portablility to be convenient. The iMac is too large and the wrong shape and weight for this.

Well, I guess you're assuming that you have monitor wherever you go? Because if you don't, actually the iMac will be better suited for portability. That said, I can't stand carrying anything around beyond a laptop. To be quite frank, I don't see a PowerMac as THAT much harder to carry than a Cube. With the Cube, you still need the extra cables, keyboard, mouse, and external monitor of the PowerMac.

2) Processor and video card upgradable -- that leaves out iMac, Powerbooks and iBooks. I've owned too many notebooks whose life could have easily and cheaply been extended by just adding a newer video card. My Powerbook 550, bought only 13 months ago, couldn't really use Quartz Extreme! Which is why I recently sold it and bought a Dual 867.

True, but current PowerBooks are fine now and will be fine for a couple of years, unless you plan on gaming. Also, the PowerBook 550's plain-Jane 16 MB Radeon should work for Quartz Extreme, unless you're spanning or something. But spanning shouldn't be a huge issue if you're just wanting portability. Granted, I wouldn't want to use a slow Radeon with 16 MB either now that I have a Radeon 9000 and 64 MB. I'm on my 3rd laptop in 2 years, but I'm actually considering keeping this new TiBook of mine beyond a year for a change.

I think there are a lot of people out there who are interested in this sort of machine from Apple--which is precisely why used Cubes (450mhz!) are still selling so well on ebay. Apple made some mistakes with the Cube but I think that if they had "got it right" the second time it would have been a best-seller.

There are some people out there who are interested in it. Unfortunately, a small subset of Mac users (who are already way less than 10% of the overall desktop market), is not enough to justify the Cube. Maybe if they make it cheaper and correct some of the issues it will sell well.

However, if it's true expandability you want, then buy a PowerMac. If you really want portability, then buy a PowerBook.

[eddiecatflap]

..maybe now is the time for a cube revival?

..vs the noisy mdd - id have one hands down.

..imagine a dual 667 ?

..cool enough to require no fans but pretty quick.

..nice machine , the cube.

[D'Espice]

I do not agree with what Eug says about the iMac being the successor of the Cube but I certainly do agree with him when it comes to market (share): It's too small to justify another Cube-like Mac but it might become more important in a few years when the original Cubes cease to exist.

[WizOSX]

Originally posted by Eug
To be quite frank, I don't see a PowerMac as THAT much harder to carry than a Cube.

Whew, whoa- - I like my Dual 867, a lot of computer for the money. BUT--not much different than a Cube to carry??????? I took it to the office one day, carried it to the car, then into the office, set it up and brought it home at the end of the day. Never again. You could easily get a hernia. If you took it on an extended trip to Hawaii it would take all your baggage allowance.

[Eug]

Originally posted by WizOSX:


Whew, whoa- - I like my Dual 867, a lot of computer for the money. BUT--not much different than a Cube to carry??????? I took it to the office one day, carried it to the car, then into the office, set it up and brought it home at the end of the day. Never again. You could easily get a hernia. If you took it on an extended trip to Hawaii it would take all your baggage allowance.

True.

I guess I'm talking the situation where if you're only going to be moving it once every couple of weeks from your home to your car and then to the office then it's not a big deal (assuming you're not parked 500 feet from your office).

In your scenario though I would not want to carry a cube either however, if it meant carrying the keyboard, mouse and monitor as well. And I sure as hell wouldn't want to take any desktop computer, including the Cube, to Hawaii with me.

I'd venture to say that your reason for having a Cube is not the same as the majority of people's reasons for owning a Cube. The Cube is a desktop computer that some people like because it saves room, looks good, and is quiet. People don't generally buy the Cube for portability.

And there lies the rub: It's not really a portable computer like a laptop, and indeed, if you need a monitor it's even less portable than an iMac arguably. However, it's not as expandable as a desktop tower, yet costs more. And thus, it has a limited audience, especially considering the original pricing. But like I said, if they could come out with one and markedly drop the pricing...

BTW, if you defect to the dark side, you can get a Shuttle Cube (kinda ugly), or even better yet, the sphere.

[driven]

Originally posted by Eug:
It's already "back". It's called an iMac.

Sure ... give it a swapable video card, an ADC connector, lop off the display so the user can choose a Cinema 22" if he so desires and THEN you've got the Cube back. :-)

(Actually keep it round and call it an "orb" ... )

[WizOSX]

Originally posted by Eug
BTW, if you defect to the dark side, you can get a Shuttle Cube (kinda ugly),...

Interesting that you should mention Shuttle. A few weeks ago I bought a Shuttle SB51G. It is, in my opinion, exactly what the "new Cube" should be--one standard AGP slot, one standard PCI slot and uses entirely standard components (standard optical drive, standard zip, any hard drive, etc.)-- and exactly the same dimensions as Apple's Cube. It is also very quiet and generates NO heat--the case and air exaust vents are always nearly cool. You can also get a small carry case making it almost as portable as a notebook. With 2 ghz P4, 256mb RAM, CDRWcombo, 80gb HD and nvidia Geforce4 MX 64mb it was about $850 ($US).

Note, I haven't "defected to the dark side." I always have both Macs and Windows machines around due to work constraints. As I said, I bought a new Dual 867 just a few weeks before the Shuttle. I just think the Shuttle shows what Apple could do.

(BTW, boy do I hope Apple has an in-warranty fix for the MDD noise issue soon).

[Angus_D]

Originally posted by Eug:
Well, I guess you're assuming that you have monitor wherever you go? Because if you don't, actually the iMac will be better suited for portability. That said, I can't stand carrying anything around beyond a laptop. To be quite frank, I don't see a PowerMac as THAT much harder to carry than a Cube. With the Cube, you still need the extra cables, keyboard, mouse, and external monitor of the PowerMac.

Has anybody actually tried carrying about one of those iMacs? I had one on my lap transporting it across London in a car, it kept bobbing about like crazy. Then to carry it, you basically have to grab it by the neck, which is a bit unwieldy and odd.

[driven]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
Has anybody actually tried carrying about one of those iMacs? I had one on my lap transporting it across London in a car, it kept bobbing about like crazy. Then to carry it, you basically have to grab it by the neck, which is a bit unwieldy and odd.

Agreed. The older style iMac was much more, um ... "normal" to transport.

[suhail]

Let's not forget that the failure of the Cube was it's price.
If it comes back, it has to cost about $1,000

[tooki]

Price is the only reason the Cube failed! If it had cost $1000-1300 to begin with, it probably would have been a great success.

tooki

[eddiecatflap]

..ive always been fascinated by the possibilty of a cube like tower - ie fan less , is this feasible ?

..theres been chimney style mac designs..i wonder ???

[2far]

I don't know if anybody mentioned it already, but the killer feat of the cube is it's silence.

Design is very nice and everything, but I can't stand loud computers anymore.

I equipped it with a quiet hard drive, and it can hardly be heard. Which is not the case with the new iMacs (fan), as I had to find out

Sadly, it seems like Apple cannot make such computers any more. Also an upgrade for the cube (e.g. dual 1GHz) will need a fan as well.

[driven]

Originally posted by 2far:
I don't know if anybody mentioned it already, but the killer feat of the cube is it's silence.

Design is very nice and everything, but I can't stand loud computers anymore.

I equipped it with a quiet hard drive, and it can hardly be heard. Which is not the case with the new iMacs (fan), as I had to find out

Sadly, it seems like Apple cannot make such computers any more. Also an upgrade for the cube (e.g. dual 1GHz) will need a fan as well.

But even in these cases the Cube (and the longneck iMac) are *FAR* quieter than the MDD boxes and most PCs. Even my relatively "cool running" Athlon XP 1700+ has about 4 fans inside it and is loud as heck. (Power supply fan, video card fan, processor fan, case fan.)

The Cube (with upgrade) fan is an extremely quiet model. Not as quiet as no fan, but still quite quiet. Same holds true for the longneck iMac as far as I can tell.

[suhail]

I can't even hear the fan on our new iMac. It is vewy vewy quiet.

[ChrisB]

You know what? If the Cube had a handle, and you had keyboards/monitors, etc at the locations where you went, a Cube with a handle wouldn't be all that bad IMHO.

But I agree that some sort of Cube Mac would be nice to have again. It's smaller than the tower, has some expandability, and lets you choose what peripherals and monitors you want to use - unlike the iMac or a Powerbook/iBook.

But then again maybe a handle would ruin the Cube unless you had a way to make it blend into the case better.

[icruise]

Count me in as someone who would really love a new version of the cube. The looks of the cube and so forth were great, but the important thing is that it is a small, quiet machine with an upgradeable video card and processor AND it allows you to use any monitor you like. The iMac is small and quiet, but you are stuck with the video card, monitor and processor it comes with (and while the hard disk is upgradable it is not something that the average person would be able to replace).

The power mac towers are too big and loud (and too expensive as well -- I would hope a cube replacement would top out at $1500 or so). I don't see it coming any time soon, though.

[SirCastor]

I would not support a Cube right now. It wouldn't make sense. I think the economy (at least the US) needs to recover and be at good heights before they bring it back.

[icruise]

I don't see the connection. Sure, if you see the cube as an overpriced luxury computer (and that's what it was when it first came out) it might not make sense, but what I and most others want is a cheap(ish) alternative to the towers that allows for a bit more expansion. If anything, I think you could argue that the iMac, which forces you to buy a whole new computer if you want a different screen or video card, is the one that doesn't make sense in tough economic times.

[joe]

Originally posted by Icruise:
Count me in as someone who would really love a new version of the cube. The looks of the cube and so forth were great, but the important thing is that it is a small, quiet machine with an upgradeable video card and processor AND it allows you to use any monitor you like.

Exactly!!! That's why I bought mine! I'm not disagreeing with other posters regarding the "portability" of the Cube. But even if it never moved from my desk, I still wanted a small, unobtrusive - yet EXPANDABLE computer that was also well designed. I was willing to sacrifice the extra drive bays and PCI slots to have a smaller design - but NOT processor and video slots!!! My Cube isn't silent anymore what with the video and cpu upgrades - though I suspect it's much quieter than the MDD towers. Still, there is no product in Apple's line that address these points. The iMac could if Apple would put video and cpu slots back in as they did with the original iMac. But there's also the issue of using different monitors.

I also agree about price being the main reason for the Cube's failure. I bought mine 2nd hand because I couldn't justify the price new - even though I've purchased bought other Macs new. Apple priced the Cube MUCH too high - even higher than the base model tower. And considering that the Cube lacked both the expandable of the tower and the built-in monitor of the iMac, the price point simply didn't make sense. You could make an argument for the Cube's asthetics being worth a premium. But all of Apple's products are designed with a similar attention to detail. I hope Apple updates the Cube at some point. I'd rather buy a new Cube than a Tower or iMac. Thankfully, companies like PowerLogix and Sonnet are around to help extend the life of the present Cube as much as possible ......joe

[ChrisB]

"I would not support a Cube right now. It wouldn't make sense. I think the economy (at least the US) needs to recover and be at good heights before they bring it back."

SirCastor - that is a completely valid point. For Apple to extend it's brand too far right now would only hurt it.

But who knows what's in store for us down the road.

[freakboy2]

I'd love to see a CUBE2. I think that the shuttle PC is what I would build right now if I had to build a PC. Having a normal sized agp slot (read: to fit an 8500) is the biggest problem with the last batch of cubes, and this could have been fixed by some tweaks to the design or a slight modification to the dimensions.

The cube is the most beautiful computer ever built, but at the time, it was way overpriced compared to the desktops or imacs (apple didn't have anywhere to fit it into the pricing). If they did it again, they could do it really cheap, add a PCI slot and make the AGP bigger to fit 95% of video cards instead of just 15%.

For those of you who are wondering, it's not a matter of if apple will bring back the cube, but more like when. Almost all PC makers are moving toward smaller machines that make less noise. Apple was as usual a bit too far ahead of the curve. Look for a new cube in 2004 or 2005.

FB2

[ChrisB]

If there was a Cube introduced in the $1300 range then I would be very interested in it.

The other complaint I had about the original Cube was the port placement/cable access on the bottom. Very inconvenient if you had to replace a cable real quick. Plus the power supply cable could pop out very easily.

But then again I know that that was a sacrifice for the design and provided hidden cable management.

[driven]

Originally posted by ChrisB:
If there was a Cube introduced in the $1300 range then I would be very interested in it.

The other complaint I had about the original Cube was the port placement/cable access on the bottom. Very inconvenient if you had to replace a cable real quick. Plus the power supply cable could pop out very easily.

But then again I know that that was a sacrifice for the design and provided hidden cable management.

This works VERY well for me ... my desk has one of those "cable holes" in it so I was able to snake all the cable from the cube straight down into the hole. My cube now looks wireless. <GRIN> (Just wait until I get that wireless keyboard!)

I was going to post a pic here so you have some idea what I'm talking about, but as usual my .MAC iDisk won't mount. If I get it mounted and I find where I put the pic I'll post it here. sorry

[suhail]

Originally posted by freakboy2:
For those of you who are wondering, it's not a matter of if apple will bring back the cube, but more like when. Almost all PC makers are moving toward smaller machines that make less noise. Apple was as usual a bit too far ahead of the curve. Look for a new cube in 2004 or 2005.
FB2

Apple dis-assembled and re-purposed the whole Cube team.

P.S. If they made the Cube accept long boards, then they cannot really call it the Cube, unless they make it bigger which defeats the whole purpose. When it comes to elegance there is usually sacrifice between usability and looks.

[psu03bob]

I would not support a Cube right now. It wouldn't make sense. I think the economy (at least the US) needs to recover and be at good heights before they bring it back.

<whine>BUT I WANT ONE NOW!!!</whine>

A new cube would be my ultimate computer. Compact, like an iMac. Servicable and upgradeable like a PowerMac. There will have to be a fan to accomidate faster processors and video cards, but I don't mind. The long boards might be a problem though, how can Apple market an "Apple PowerMac G4 Rectangular Prism".

[Leia's Right Bun]

I agree that the ONLY reason the cube failed was because of the high price. At the time Apple must have spent a ton of money coming up with its design and making it wouldn't have been that cheap either.

In the 2 years it took for the flat iMac to come out they had saved a ton of money because they had all the cube info, and prices of the G4 also fell.

I agree that the iMac is almost as good as the Cube except for RAM expansion and the fact that it has a fan.

I LOVE my Cube and even though it is 3 years old now I feel no need to replace it. When that time comes though it will be replaced with a 17 (or 19 ) inch iMac as it is as close I can get to a cube. Now only if they put an L3 cashe in the iMac I would be happy.

[Colonel Panic]

well, even if the cube doesn't come back, there are good upgrade options out there now if you are willing to put in a fan, which can still be very quiet.
dual CPUs and graphic card updates can make an old cube pretty competitive with current powermacs, but unfortunately its an expensive route.

[Thain Esh Kelch]

What if Apple marketed it as a gamer's computer...?

I would surely by one right away, if it could fit a 8x standard AGP slot, and a PPC 970..

[eddiecatflap]

..i was led to believe that steve said the cube WOULD come back 'someday'

..here's hopin .

[WizOSX]

Originally posted by Colonel Panic

dual CPUs and graphic card updates can make an old cube pretty competitive with current powermacs, but unfortunately its an expensive route

And this is the real rub. I have bid on numerous Cubes on ebay but each time the selling price is really too high when you consider the cost of upgrading. The video cards sell used on ebay for much more than a new "normal size" version of the same card. And you hate to put all that money in and have a 100mhz bus, 2x AGP and an old generation video card--and no warranty. Boosting a Cube to 800mhz dual and 32mb video card will cost more than a new dual 867!

[firefly]

Originally posted by Thain Esh Kelch:
What if Apple marketed it as a gamer's computer...?

I would surely by one right away, if it could fit a 8x standard AGP slot, and a PPC 970..

Nobody buys macs for games.

[freakboy2]

Originally posted by suhail:
Apple dis-assembled and re-purposed the whole Cube team.

P.S. If they made the Cube accept long boards, then they cannot really call it the Cube, unless they make it bigger which defeats the whole purpose. When it comes to elegance there is usually sacrifice between usability and looks.

They would just have to move the Dc/dc board somewhere so it can fit boards that are a bit higher - like the 8500. The length could be dealt with by a 1/2 inch mod to the innards of the cube(requiring a small adjustment along all diemnsions to maintain the cubeness).

I had two boards that almost fit - an 8500 and a geforce 2MX pc board. Both of them were about .5cm (1/4 inch) too big on one dimension or another.

FB2

[driven]

Originally posted by Leia's Right Bun:
I agree that the ONLY reason the cube failed was because of the high price. At the time Apple must have spent a ton of money coming up with its design and making it wouldn't have been that cheap either.

In the 2 years it took for the flat iMac to come out they had saved a ton of money because they had all the cube info, and prices of the G4 also fell.

I agree that the iMac is almost as good as the Cube except for RAM expansion and the fact that it has a fan.

I LOVE my Cube and even though it is 3 years old now I feel no need to replace it. When that time comes though it will be replaced with a 17 (or 19 ) inch iMac as it is as close I can get to a cube. Now only if they put an L3 cashe in the iMac I would be happy.

Have you upgraded your Cube or is it stock?

To respond to your posting: The things that I think are a drawback on the new iMac vs. the Cube:

- It has a non-removable monitor (a major negative for me)
- It does not have an ADC connector nor a DVI connector.
- Cannot upgrade the video card
- Cannot upgrade the processor
- The hard disk is hard to get at.

That said: If they would lop off the monitor and just sell me the half-ball I'd buy one in a minute. It *DOES* have an iDVD compatible SuperDrive which is my biggest downer with the Cube at the moment.

[ChrisB]

One good thing about the Cube, unlike the old and new iMacs I believe (please correct me if I am incorrect) is that you can upgrade the CPU. I think that the CPU board on the new iMac's is way too buried to make an upgrade easy and worthwhile.

[driven]

Originally posted by ChrisB:
One good thing about the Cube, unlike the old and new iMacs I believe (please correct me if I am incorrect) is that you can upgrade the CPU. I think that the CPU board on the new iMac's is way too buried to make an upgrade easy and worthwhile.

This is true.

The *only* two things that are holding up my decision between upgrading my Cube or buying a new DP tower are:

- I want a superdrive. (But of course I can wait if I have to ... I don't have THAT much footage or enough relatives/friends with DVD players that this couldn't wait another year or two.)

- The 100Mhz bus vs. the towers 133. Does anyone know if this makes a noticable difference for office work/video editing? (I do all my gaming and 90% of my development work on a PC so these aren't concerns on my Mac.)

[Thain Esh Kelch]

Originally posted by firefly:
Nobody buys macs for games.

Well, I certainly do.

[v0id7]

please please please edit the first post and make the spelling right...[yeah maybe ive got a little bit of an OCD thing going here but i dont care]

[Superchicken]

If the cube came out with a more reasonable price that's what I'd be looking at... right now I'm thinking of going with a low end Power Mac some day when I get cash... but I really would like to be able to just have my Mac on my desk and have people woo at the fact that there's no real tower to speak of... serious most of my friends don't believe that the computer is acctually in the bottom of the monitor heh.

if they even marketed it like only 100 bucks less than a Power Mac I'd probably go for it and I wouldn't even really care if it didn't have the PCI slots and junk... I dono... ultimately I don't mind the towers that much... but having a cube in the line up would be nice... but I don't think it's to smart right now.

[bstone]

At least in the educaitonal market a Cube would be great as we are often moving things about and the mobility of a new, improved, cheaper Cube would be a hot seller with us.

[WizOSX]

Originally posted by bstone

At least in the educaitonal market a Cube would be great as we are often moving things about and the mobility of a new, improved, cheaper Cube would be a hot seller with us.

Yes. Since I�m a university professor I often want my machine �in a different place� than it currently is.
BTW, the Shuttle XPC that I mentioned earlier weighs 12 lbs. With the carry case, which is just slightly larger overall than the machine (Cube dimensions) is 13 lbs. While this is more than a notebook, it's not that much more. The Cube weighs closer to 20 lbs. So, although the case of the Cube does look very nice, it does add a LOT to the weight .

[Eug]

Originally posted by WizOSX:


Yes. Since I�m a university professor I often want my machine �in a different place� than it currently is.
BTW, the Shuttle XPC that I mentioned earlier weighs 12 lbs. With the carry case, which is just slightly larger overall than the machine (Cube dimensions) is 13 lbs. While this is more than a notebook, it's not that much more. The Cube weighs closer to 20 lbs. So, although the case of the Cube does look very nice, it does add a LOT to the weight . [/B]

Well, don't forget that it doesn't include a monitor, keyboard or mouse either.

Personally, I won't buy any computer over 6 lbs if I plan on taking it anywhere with me on a regular basis. Even this TiBook is a compromise. I would prefer under 5 lbs. And this includes the screen, trackpad, and keyboard.

I'd consider a Shuttle PC or Cube, but not to transport all over the place. I'd consider it because it takes up less room, and every once in a while it might be a little more convenient transporting it down the hall or something. But if that "every once in a while" is once every 6 months, I'd rather just buy a tower.

[ChrisB]

That's a good point. In the education market, a Mac that doesn't include a monitor or keyboard, etc. and costs say more than $1100 is a hard sell.

Back in the early 1990's when all Mac's were close to $2000 this wasn't an issue. Remember the LC? Close to $2000 with all the RAM (8MB!) and a 12 inch color monitor.

The Cube would have to be under $1000 to make it in education.

[WizOSX]

Originally posted by Eug

I'd consider a Shuttle PC or Cube, but not to transport all over the place. I'd consider it because it takes up less room, and every once in a while it might be a little more convenient transporting it down the hall or something. But if that "every once in a while" is once every 6 months, I'd rather just buy a tower.

I think you�ve hit on my point here exactly. Many Mac users do fit in that gap between "all over the place" portability and "every once in a while" portablility. Over the past 14 years each time I came to buy a new machine I�d tend toward exactly the opposite of what I�d purchased previously�first a notebook, then a tower, then notebook, etc. Why? Because each time I�ve owned a notebook I was upset that I couldn�t upgrade the processor, video card OR THE MONITOR. Sometimes upgrading just one of the three would have given another year or so of use out of the machine. Then, when I mainly used a tower I got very tired of the lack of the option of �occasional portability��by that I mean moving the machine perhaps a few times a week to a new location (that has a monitor already there) for a short period of time and then back to its permanent home. And then maybe to a summer cottage location for a month or two.

Also notebooks never have enough flexibility in the positioning of the monitor since the keyboard, being attached, severely limits the exact positioning of the monitor. Each time I�ve owned a powerful notebook as my main machine, I end up using it with an external monitor about 95% of the time. And then, for the cost of the notebook, you can easily buy two much better LCD monitors and an upgradeable desktop.

Certainly if I were the type of person who needed notebook portability much of the time I�d want a notebook more than a Cube type machine. But I know that there are many people out there who want a small, portable, easily upgradeable desktop. You only have to look at ebay listings to realize this�one person gives the need for a notebook as the reason for selling a tower and the next gives the need for more power as the reason for selling a notebook and buying a tower. I think there is a market for a machine that is about the same size as the Cube and about half the weight of the current Cube�but that is upgradeable with ANY standard Mac video card and otherwise uses standard components. This definitely is a rapidly growing trend in the PC world�Cube type machines. Apple could win a lot of converts very quickly if they had a reasonably priced Cube type machine available RIGHT NOW.

[Superchicken]

why not just upgrade your cube?
Power Logix has a nice upgrade package.

[passmaster16]

Originally posted by WizOSX:
Interesting that you should mention Shuttle. A few weeks ago I bought a Shuttle SB51G. It is, in my opinion, exactly what the "new Cube" should be--one standard AGP slot, one standard PCI slot and uses entirely standard components (standard optical drive, standard zip, any hard drive, etc.)-- and exactly the same dimensions as Apple's Cube. It is also very quiet and generates NO heat--the case and air exaust vents are always nearly cool. You can also get a small carry case making it almost as portable as a notebook. With 2 ghz P4, 256mb RAM, CDRWcombo, 80gb HD and nvidia Geforce4 MX 64mb it was about $850 ($US).

Note, I haven't "defected to the dark side." I always have both Macs and Windows machines around due to work constraints. As I said, I bought a new Dual 867 just a few weeks before the Shuttle. I just think the Shuttle shows what Apple could do.

(BTW, boy do I hope Apple has an in-warranty fix for the MDD noise issue soon).

Doesn't shuttle use cases from www.soldam.com