[Jacob]

I have a general question about the Powermac G4 Cube. I saw it in this store for $899 (canadian). Basically comes with the G4 Cube itself, the 450MHZ version, with 512MB Memory, 20GB HDD, DVD-ROM, Mac OS 10.3, box, manuals, restore disks, etc. Plus a 15" Apple LCD monitor, 2 piece speaker set (original set) and keyboard and mouse. I am not looking to do wonders with this thing. But for that price, can anyone tell me if that is an okay price/value? Thanks!

[Nivag]

converting the price the UK Sterling i'd say it's not a bad price if it's coming with a 15" LCD. i have seen them going for a bit less on ebay, but not by much.

[JCT]

Is it new and never used? If so, then it sounds like more of a collector's item and then the price is not ridiculous.

If you just want a Cube to use and enjoy, head over to Ebay, prices have come down substantially.
Another great place to check out is Cubeowner .

I bought a Cube as my first Power Mac two years ago. It was a great intro to Mac desktop computing (I revved mine up with a Sonnet 800 Mhz CPU, more RAM, faster HDD and an Ati Radeon 7000). When I subsequently bought my Dual G5 I turned it into a headless Fileserver and it now sits in a place of honor next to my desk .

Good luck with your search.

JT

[OreoCookie]

Why do you want a Cube? These are not the best solution for people who actually want to get work done on their machines … they are stunningly beautiful, though, no question about it.

[Jacob]

Thing is, it's an awsome sounding deal. And it looks amazing, like OreoCookie mentioned. One of the main reasons I'm drooling over it..that and the LCD. Would I be better off with the Mac mini? And a question about the graphics card expansion, I realise it's AGP...can I put ANY video card in there? Or does it have to be a certain 'Apple' brand or something?

[OreoCookie]

A Mac mini would bet at least twice as fast, so in terms of speed and usability, a Mac mini would be better.

450 MHz is pretty, pretty slow for OS X already, plus you won't have a combo drive/superdrive.

If you want to replace your video card in your cube, you have to put in special Apple compatible video cards; only slow AGP 2x cards fit in there. Another problem is that it mustn't emit too much heat as the Cube is passively cooled.

[iDriveX]

Even if you upgraded the G4 Cube to the hilt, the Mac Mini will always run circles around it. This only has to do with the Bus Speed. I have a Dual chip in my Cube with a Beautiful Nvidia GeForce 3 in there and a 23" Apple Display attached to it. It's fast and I can get plenty of work done on it, but there are times when I get frusterated and breakout my 1 Ghz 12" PowerBook G4. Believe it or not, it's probably about 1.5x faster. The cube CHOKES on any video stuff too.

But I love my cube, I'd never give it up, just don't expect to render anything on it.

[Lateralus]

Then there's something wrong with your Cube. You'll find that just about anybody you'll talk to would take a Cube with a nice processor upgrade over a Mini. The system bus makes almost no difference in the performance of the various G4 machines, cache does and the Mini doesn't have enough of it.

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[Eriamjh]

An upgraded Cube beats a mini.

[jedi2187]

Jacob,
If you want to find a lower price, check out the Cube at www.dvwarehouse.com
Last I checked, they were selling them for around $289...