I was hoping at least an update / revision to the Cube would be announced at the MacWorld, but seemed like nothing was mentioned! Or did I miss something?

Thanks

JJ

[bradvan]

You're right. As far as I can tell, nothing new on the Cube. But the lower prices announced after the first of the year are still in place. Lower, but not as low as they could and maybe should be.

Until Apple figures out that the cube is a headless iMac, and prices it accordingly, the cube will go nowhere. It will sit in Apple's warehouses and drag down their stock price.

[PhilippeW]

Out goes the cube ...

It does not sell, so Apple might just as well discontinue it.

[Cipher13]

Its dying, I hope.
Its very cool, but unrealistic.
And besides, Steves bored of it already.
But there will be an update next Macworld, maybe.

Cipher13

Originally posted by Phaedrus:
Until Apple figures out that the cube is a headless iMac, and prices it accordingly, the cube will go nowhere. It will sit in Apple's warehouses and drag down their stock price.

I agree, they have to take into account that it's essentially a G4 iMac sans monitor. That should put it in line with an iMac in my estimation (how much could the processor upgrade be compared to the monitor components, especially if you've seen how much Apple Service charges for them - come on!). How many 'business-class' customers do they think they can sell these over-priced things to?

Here's what I wish they would do. I'd love to see it become a game/graphics machine.

Just think ...
- the best Mac video card included (forget this BTO garbage, I want to support my local Mac dealer so he's still in business when I want software. Make the nVidia card standard! I'm tired of looking like one-toothed Billy from the country to my PC friends.)
- internal expansion? Who cares? I have FireWire.
- I can hook up whatever size monitor I like (a huge factor for both gamers and graphics professionals - no 15" iMacs for them, but they don't need the expansion of the G4 Towers.)

The designers would be all over it for the aesthetics and it would be an affordable performance workstation. Gamers, well, it's performance. The real problem is price (the video card I could live with). It's a shame.

And what happened to the 'cheaper Cubes' Job's forecasted when they admitted the quarter was in the toilet? I'm sure he wasn't talking about price cuts (or is he really stupid enough to say 'Don't buy one now, we're dropping the price next month'?) This one year between Rev's is pathetic. Of course with my luck, we'll get 'cheaper Cubes' and they'll be just that - stripped so that they are low-end, featureless wastes of space. Arghhh.

[Gee4orce]

Some assertions about the iMac:

Apple needs to put a G4 in the iMac.
It needs to offer a bigger monitor in the iMac, without ruining it's compactness.
It needs to offer a sleek LCD iMac.
It needs to put CD-RW or preferably the SuperDrive in the iMac

What has this got to do with the Cube ? Obvious - the Cube is the perfect iMac replacement. Apple could axe the iMac, make a few minor revisions to the Cube (yet offer BTO option if needed), and bundle it with the 15" LCD and 17" CRT monitors for a combined price close to the current iMac prices.

They could retain the $800 iMac as a very-entry level machine.

Really, how much are the fabrication costs of a Cube ? The R'n'D money is spent already, and at the moment it looks like it's been wasted.

[ice weasel]

some interesting speculation.

I think gee4orce has hit on something with regard to replacing the imac with the cube by bundling it with an lcd. the question is, since the imac is the "consumer" machine can they bundle the cube and an lcd monitor for $799-$999. to me, that seems like the price they have to hit to compete with wintel "starter" boxes.

I think the trick is getting away from the tube and going flat panel. then you offer the consumer a real value.

from my own point of view they screwed up the marketing of the cube. it should have been pushed as the high end imac (hence the bundling with an ldc panel suggestion). this should have been the natural step-up sale from the imac but I think it was pushed as some kind of red-heaed cousin to the graphite box, which makes no sense to me. maybe apple meant to do this and I didn't get their message.

unfortunately I think apple's history shows the cube is most likely headed for oblivion. it didn't pan out (at least by some people's measure). so off it goes.

it's too bad. it was a great idea.

I asked a young (UK) Apple Rep about the new G4s starting at a higher price-point than the old ones. He speculated that the iMac range would soon be reduced to just a couple of budget-priced models, and that the Cube would be re-purposed to be the iMac to G4 range bridge it always should have been.

I'm hoping for Jobs to annouce, at Japan, a cube that works out at pretty much the same price, or a little more, than the present iMacSE once a 17" StudioDisplay has been added. I work in the Publishing field, and I'm increasingly seeing people who have always been Mac-based at work reluctantly buying PCs for themselves, because the iMac's teeny-weeny (and curvy) screen just doesn't cut it. For anyone who thinks 'design' is a glamourous field - many designers aren't that well paid, particularly juniors - often earning �15-18K. These aren't folks that can buy chunky G4s on a whim.

[PeteL999]

They could retain the low-end iMac as an Internet Appliance type thing. It was reviewed on Techtv's fresh gear as the best internet computer out there!!

[Zwilnik]

While I hope that something gets done to make the Cube a bit more popular with consumers, mine's going nowhere, they'll have to prise out of my dead clutches after getting through a large array of booby traps and attack hounds...
oops. sorry. a bit over the top I suppose, but after someone designed the first computer in years that suits my uses to the ground , quiet, powerful, expandable where needed (USB/Firewire gadgets, hard drives, monitors and memory) and looks great too. It's not perfect for everyone, but a lot of us rather like it
I'd like to see Apple add in a 'director of detail' position alongside the production team though, to spot things like 'hmm, people might see that mould line as being a crack guys', and 'how do you use this keyboard and mouse if it's not directly in front of the monitor, let's add a usb extension lead' type things.

[babble]

Lot's of thing to changes... People you make sense here!

First, all iMacs should have a cd-rw.
All G4 towers should have the Superdrive NOW. (Not only the High-end user, who doesn't need the iDVD software, this guy makes film for a living and won't be using the little family software).

The Cube is SUPER. They need to reevaluate who they adress it to and at what price. I want one. All (ok most) graphic designers (who don't need multipal monitors) want one of those.


P.S. (okay this aint the place but I had to say it) Why include a cd-r drive in a tower without keeping another drive (cd-rom or dvd-rom) ???
How can you copy stuff? And, mostly, we never thought Apple would bundle one of those and by now most of us bought an external cd-r drive. They should have kept the dvd-rom drive until including Superdrive in all towers.

I agree with that. The first thing I will do, if i buy one of new G4's is switch that DR-R drive with my DVD-Ram drive from my current G4. I already have a 12x CD-RW Que firewire drive. The CD-R drive is for kids and should be standard in all iMacs and iBooks, but not in pro-machines, unless it is a superdrive.

SuperDrive across the G4 range? This component will be costing Apple 800 bucks a unit, so they've actually taken a pretty big margin-hit getting it into the 733, as the old DVD-RAM drives ahould have been costing them 200 bucks a unit! Are they suppose to sell the smaller g4s at a loss or something? High-end products get the new toys first, then they trickle down the range - it's how it works. Have no fear, there'll be more superdrive Macs as the months tick by.

I think the Cube will become the "high end" iMac. If you look at the pricing the new low end Powermac G4 is $100 more ($ 1,700) while the Cube is around $1500. I think Apple is trying to make a clearer distinction between the two. I wouldn't be suprised that if this summer you'll see the cube with the new G47450 and a "superdrive" While the iMac DVSE get's a g4 as well. Apple is going to try and drive Cube sales and I think this is how they are going to do it. But this all depends on how Moto can produce the chips. You might even see a dual G4 Cube.

The cube would make a great hub for an office work station if it were only priced competitively at around $1100 for cube + 15" CRT monitor. At 450 Mhz there is more than enough power to answer e-mails and do the word processing that I would guess 90% of office workers use their computers for . It would take up little desk space and offer the advantages of having a seperate monitor, such as switching out non-working monitors. Offering bulk dicounts to offices or educational institutions could clear out old inventory and help Apple regain market share in those markets. The new trans-500MHz G4s are great, but offer far more power than is necessary for most office needs. A medium priced cube + monitor system could fill in the gap between the iMac and tower G4s.

[ruttopia]

I want a cube. I want it more than anything! But until I get a 500mhz cube, 128mb RAM with a flat panel display from Apple for under $2000, it won't happen. Great idea. Very sexy. PERFECT for me, but I just can't spend $2500 on that system. Not when I can get a PC for a lot less. I pay more for Macs because I love their designs and their systems just "feel" better. That's fine. A small premium is fine because they are fabulous machines. A huge premium ... sorry. My iBook will due for now I guess, but I want a flat panel and a cube! HELP ME IN JULY STEVE!!!

[MikeM32]

The only remaining G3 systems are the iMacs and iBooks now. I think the Cube should go away if they can provide a better iMac variant. I believe the future of Macs is going to lean away from the G3 eventually, so we may see something like a G4 iMac and G4 iBooks.

The only thing that stops me in my tracks from even considering an iMac is the tiny monitor size. If they could really create an iMac with a minimum 17" monitor I'd be alot more willing to look at it.

If they can't do that, then what they really need to do is provide a headless iMac or a variation of the current iMac with a second video card with VGA/ADC port that really supports higher than the current default resolutions. Current iMacs offer VGA mirroring which doesn't mean much to me. VGA Mirroring of 1024 X 768 on a 21" monitor is just really really bad IMHO

With a real video card in there and a true VGA/ADC port people could connect say, a 21" monitor to one and get like 1600 X 1200 resolution. I think the main appeal of the Cube was meant to be a headless G4 iMac for people that needed a G4 at a slightly lower pricetag. That's not such a bad concept, as we all know Apple's hardware prices are a little steep on the wallet

Maybe they can take the "best" features of the Cube and integrate them into the next generation of iMac. They could make either headless G4 iMac variations or G4 iMac's with a true VGA/ADC port for another monitor at any resolution. They could offer 2 "breeds" of G4 iMac "Headless" and "17' Monitor", or they could (and this to me seems like the best and coolest solution) Keep the current iMac monitor size and add a true video card with VGA/ADC port to all models.

Hopefully these hypothetical "dream" machines would also sport the latest 133 MHz BUS and still be the same price-range as the current iMac line.

If they could create such a Machine I'd get Two of 'em

Mike

[MacBook]

I have a Cube and think it's great. With 320MB RAM, it does what I need to do in word processing, web surfing, e-mail, and graphics work (Photoshop, Pagemaker), as well as database work (4th Dimension), without straining. For the highest end users, I expect a faster processor and a lot more RAM is useful, but for me the quiet and the compactness are great features. I am glad that there are identifiably different variations of Macs for people who use their computers someone differently.

[hmurchison2001]

Some of you sound gleefull when you talk about the Cubes demise. Working as a Mac Salesperson until recently I can tell you that the Cube generated ALOT of interest. People loved it but hated it's price. There's still life in the Cube. I believe Apple should take steps to decrease the price of the Cube. Move to Integrated video on the Motherboard. Use the new lower power 7410 PPC processor. Price it between the iMac and G4 http://forums.appleinsider.com/ubb/F...ML/002704.html

The Cube is a great idea(I plan to buy the next rev so i'm biased) but currently it's too expensive. Selling the next Entry Level Cube for $1199 allows Apple to create a system that is under $2000 for a Cube and 15" LCD. Sales WILL happen if this takes effect. Bundle Appleworks with the Cube as well.

I'm going to get flak for this, but I need to say it anyway. The iMac needs to be slowly phased out and the Cube's price needs to drop a few hundred more dollars. The Cube should be marketed as Apple's newest internet appliance and should be price for what it is, a monitorless iMac replacement. I personally do see Apple getting rid of the iMac in the next 8-12 months just out of the simple fact that it's not selling in the numbers that it used to. Apple re-vitalized itself with the iMac, but it's ridden the tide for too long and needs to get rid of it. The Cube won't be phased out, but Apple's going to start targetting it for a different market...

No, saul. I think you're right. The iMac has had it's day. Sure for over a year it was selling like hot cakes, but recently it's been putting people off the Mac, ('It's not 17", 'You can't replace the monitor', 'There's no CDRW') etc. etc.

I say keep one or two iMacs as bargain introductions to the rannge at say - $749-$899 and then fill in between them and the �1700 G4 with the Cube.

There's one problem with some poster's call for, 'dumping the G3 (PowerPC 750)'. IBM have promised a very major '760' revision to this chip, touting 1.5ghz as within reach. Whether this will be two-steps back to go half a step forward (a la P4) remains to be seen. If the 760 is multi-processor capable we may yet see AltiVec dropped. It's sad, as only now is the Velocity Engine's might really being seen. Still, the temptation Apple may see in having chips which match the Intel world in mhz rating may be too much to resist.

Apple, like other manufacturers, is best served in using the new chips from IBM. Apple could conceivably use them in a low end consumer model, a line of lower end to mid-range file servers, or simply for marketing purposes, to say that, hey, we've got a 1.5 ghz chip too. Apple's best interests are more than likely served by switching to IBM anyway. At the rate Motorola produces chips we'll hit 1ghz in the year 2010 or so...(j/k)I do tend to think that the cube is here to stay, maybe they'll even put those chips in a very, very low cost model of the cube. It may not be a G4, but it'll sure as hell satisfy a lot of people clamoring for raw speed.

I think Apple would be nuts to drop the velocity engine. However, I also feel that they rushed the G4 out the door too early with the wrong chip manufacturer. They would have been smarter sticking with speed bumped G3's and waiting until there was a sufficient supply of G4s above 500 mhz. I hope Apple can pull themselves out of this blunder...