Macworld New York 2000-The G4 Cube Introduction
The Power Mac G4 Cube was a compact desktop version of the Power Mac G4 tower that was introduced by Apple Computer on July 19, 2000 at the Macworld Expo in New York City.[1]
Features[]
Boasting over 3 gigaflops, which was the equivalant to a supercomputer at the time, it was marketed towards professional users.[2] The Apple design team fit the cube's contents within an 8x8x8-inch space that used heat convection to avoid the need for a fan, making it extremely quiet. It shipped with a base configuration of 64 MB of RAM (expandable to 1.5 GB), a 20 GB hard drive, and a top-loading DVD-ROM drive.[1] The Cube was somewhat expandable but requires smaller AGP cards because of its unique size. It featured 2 USB ports, 2 FireWire ports, and 2 different monitor connectors, lacked analog audio ports. Peripherals included were the pro keyboard and Mouse, and USB speakers with special adapter. There were two choices of LCD studio monitors available in 15" and 17" size. There was also Apple's last CRT monitor, a 17" model that somewhat resembled the previous CRT Studio Display but was shorter and more egg shaped in a completely transparent case.
Reception[]
The G4 Cube did not take off with consumers, generating only a third of projected sales.[3] It was discontinued less than a year later, when Steve Jobs announced that it was being placed "on ice".[4] Its replacement arrived in 2005 in the form of the Mac mini, which was more successful and remains in production today.[2]
G4 Cubes behind the set of Star Trek: Enterprise.
In popular culture[]
For the production of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2002, an array of sixteen Power Mac G4 Cubes running Macromedia Director were used to generate the screens of the Enterprise NX-01 in real time,[5] with Michael Okuda acting as the system administrator.[6][7]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Apple Introduces Revolutionary G4 Cube, Apple Computer. 2000-07-19.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 20 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Built Apple's G4 Cube. It Bombed by Steven Levy, Wired. 2020-07-24.
- ↑ The Cube at 10: Why Apple's eye-catching desktop flopped by Benj Edwards, Macworld. 2010-08-12.
- ↑ Apple Puts Power Mac G4 Cube on Ice, Apple Computer. 2001-07-03. Archived 2001-07-06.
- ↑ A Visit To The 'Enterprise' Set by idrivex, TrekToday. 2002-01-28.
- ↑ Did you know 'Star Trek: Enterprise' used Mac G4 Cubes during production? You do now by Oliver Haslam, iMore. 2019-12-30.
- ↑ Macintosh G4 Cubes powering the NX-01 bridge display systems, Reddit. 2013-05-06.
External links[]
- Power Macintosh G4 Cube at Apple-History
- Power Macintosh G4 450 and 500 Cube specs at EveryMac
- Power Macintosh G4 Cube Owners Group at Facebook
- Power Mac G4 Cube at Low End Mac
- Power Mac G4 Cube at Wikipedia