Power Mac G4 Cube

Background

Housed in an 8x8x8 cube, the Power Mac G4 Cube combined the elegance of the iMac with the power of the PowerMac G4. The Cube traded expandability for its diminutive size: There were no PCI slots, and while the graphics card was installed into an 2x AGP slot, there wasn't room for full-length AGP cards. With the exception of PCI expansion, the Cube was as versatile as its larger G4 cousin: Three RAM slots, an AirPort card slot, and two USB and FireWire ports. The Cube shipped to retail markets with a 450 MHz G4 processor, a 20 GB hard drive, a 56 kbps modem, 64 MB of RAM, and Apple s Pro Mouse, for $1799 U.S. Another configuration was available through the Apple Store, with a 500 MHz G4, a 30 GB hard drive and 128 MB of RAM, for $2299 U.S. Gigabit Ethernet was available as a BTO option. The Cube was not nearly the success that Apple had hoped it would be. The consensus was that Apple had misjudged the market, making the Cube an expensive "luxury" computer instead of a cheaper monitor-less iMac. In February 2001, The Cube received a feature and price change. The low-end configuration was repriced at $1299 U.S. A "better" configuration was made available, with a CD-RW drive and 128 MB of RAM, for $1599 U.S. Finally, the high-end version got a 60 GB hard drive, 256 MB of RAM, a CD-RW drive and an 32 MB NVIDIA GeForce2 MX video card, and sold for $2199 U.S.