Apple SKY

When it comes to love-it-or-hate-it products Cupertino, offers few can match the Power Mac G4 Cube to get people to choose sides . Even ten years after its debut, Steve Jobs unveiled the Cube at the Macworld Expo in New York in July 2000 and the office delivered a month later, the Cube still arouses heated debate between supporters and opponents. For the crowd anti-Cube, the machine represented the epitome of what Apple’s detractors both decried as the greatest failure of the enterprise: placing on the form and function style power. Fans of Cube has been equally adamant that the machine has been brilliant and beautiful design. Even today, a health segment of Mac users finds the Cube to be a cult classic that was simply ahead of his time. (Indeed, we will explore how the G4 Cube was a triumph of design in another article on Macworld. Com.) What

is not a question of a debate is the cube of commercial success, or more accurately, his lack thereof. The G4 Cube was a flop at the box. In January 2001, Apple has conceded that it had sold only one third as many cubes as he had expected. It sold 29,000 Cubes between October and December 2000, compared with 308,000 Macs during the quarter. And during the next quarter, sales fell to 12,000 cube units. Apple has stopped production of the Cube in July 2001, a year after its introduction. Why do not people buy the G4 Cube? With 10 years worth of perspective at our disposal, I see four main reasons why the Cube has never taken off.

Weirdness

How can you sell a computer that does not look like a computer? Who are you targeting? This was the biggest problem facing Apple at the launch of the Cube-a computer up there in this country generic beige boxes that could equally well have been an extraterrestrial monolith perched on a crystal throne .

Outsiders looked at the Cube and saw something different: a low-powered toys too expensive or contrast with the iMac, an anthropomorphic Everyman’s emotionally unavailable, gray box suspended in ultra-geometric a glass prison untouchable. Of course, there is openness between us who can look beyond the traditional view and appreciate something truly unique. A computer does not need a smiling face to be beautiful. But these people are rare: they are not only a tiny subset of the population in general, but a subset of the Mac client itself. Design Cube strange limited market potential from the start. Even if you have chosen for a cube and brought it home, you have to treat it with care to preserve its perfect appearance. The problem with doing something intentionally perfect, it will not stay that way with use. Apple used to make devices that are fine as long as you never touch them, and the Cube is high on the list. Unfortunately for Apple, many consumers have chosen never to touch a G4 Cube at all. >

High price Even if we wanted to get their hands on a cube, the cheapest model costs $ 1,799 in July 2000 (approximately $ 2,279 dollars 2010). This model comes with a G4 processor running at 450 MHz, 64 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive, a DVD-ROM, and an internal 56Kbps modem. He was no fan and small. Meanwhile, a Power Mac G4 tower with almost identical specifications, but a 400 MHz processor costs $ 200 less. It was obvious from the outset that potential customers would pay a premium for the unique design of the cube, not for its performance. Apple G4 Cube is a market for mid-range and a step up from the iMac and one below the most powerful Power Mac G4, but it did not go this way. Just months after its launch, industry analysts has revealed that high-end Mac users were usually springs for the cube. It seems that the richest Mac enthusiasts have been more willing to take a risk on an expensive machine with an unconventional configuration and limited upgrade options. If people wanted a G4 with low cost, clients practice them without money to burn can simply buy the $ 200 G4 tower down and configure it as they wish without limitations.

forget courting switchers. At the time, common Windows PCs were capable of a clock speed of 1 GHz processor and sold for much less. Apple fought an uphill battle in the perception of consumers to show that its G4 processors running at low could play both for a higher price. The Cube has also launched the pre-OS X era and pre-iPod, and we now know that both were essential products that have PC users to reconsider the Mac platform in the following years.

cosmetic defects

Shortly after the launch of the Cube, reports of cosmetic defects in the cube transparent polycarbonate began appearing on Internet dissatisfied customers. Some people at home with their shiny new Mac than to find what they called “cracks” in the corners and upper case of the cube. Of course, the press attache at the history and amplified in a public relations nightmare for Apple, which found itself trying to sell a computer with an appeal largely hinged on aesthetics, which was now presented as aesthetically flawed. The official response from Apple at the time was apparent that the cracks were just lines “mold” to normal artifact of the manufacturing process. But customers balked, and he never appeared in the press if there were indeed flaws or not. We do not know how many customers might have been alarmed by the negative publicity. But it probably does not add to the appeal of a $ 1,799 machine. And certainly the controversy served as a lock for critics eager to highlight the reasons for the unusual Apple computer was a frivolous waste of money. Limited

update

course, the opening of a cube has been easy. Flip open, releasing a handful in the bottom and pull the core of the machine of the case. From here you can easily access three RAM slots and add a Airport card. There was so much we could do to improve the system beyond, however. In the design of a compact computer, Apple had to sacrifice a few upgrades to squeeze everything in a cube of 8x8x8 inches. No more PCI slots line of Power Mac G4 tower which has contributed to these machines can handle everything from professional audio production and video editing via the plug-in hardware. In addition, the video card Cube (nested in a single AGP) has been reduced to fit into tight spaces. Consequently, some video cards worthy update to enroll in a small frame of the machine. The Cube Inside of the room available for a single hard disk, so that any additional storage that you need should be external. And the market for external hard drive is not something like it is now user options for USB and Firewire are limited in 2000. Ironically, the challenge of modernization strange machine Apple is driving fans Cube today. For years, they were shaking in modernizing the amazing processor, adding fans, and even drag the frame inside the Cube in larger cases cuboid better answer cards. It is the mind of a hardcore fan Cube for you. After all, those few people who actually buy cubes during this period of one year still love them to death. [ Benj Edwards is a freelance writer who specializes in the history of video games. He is also editor in chief of Vintage Computing and Gaming, a blog devoted to vintage technology. [

five filters feature article: “Peace Envoy” Blair Gets an easy ride in the Independent. The tools available: PDF daily Full Text Feed, extraction time.