July 22

Gleaming the Cube
Sun Review July 15, 2000

Opening this week's Macworld Expo in New York, Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs unveiled new computers and peripherals, including a space age 8-inch cube with a G4 processor inside.

The Power Mac G4 Cube is a minimalist Graphite and Lucite box that measures only 8 inches along each side without a monitor and keyboard. The striking industrial design of the Cube easily made it the most coveted piece of hardware in the Apple booth, with throngs of attendees flocking to the display to snap photos, smile or just stare in awe.

In both marketing and physical terms, the G4Cube fits somewhere between the iMac and the PowerMac G4. The G4 Cube "marries the Pentium-crushing performance of the Power Mac G4 with the miniaturization, silent operation and elegant desktop design of the iMac," Jobs said.

Although the Cube is less than one quarter of the size of most PCs, it delivers far greater performance. The built-in Velocity Engine allows the G4 to reach speeds of over one billion calculations per second, humbling even the fastest Pentium III.

The 450MHz Power Mac G4 Cube (also available in 500MHz) comes ready for action with Mac OS 9, 64MB of RAM (expandable to 1.5GB), 1MB of backside level 2 cache, a 20GB Ultra ATA/66 hard disk drive, the ATI RAGE 128 Pro graphics card with 16MB of graphics memory, and a slot-loading DVD-ROM drive that is ingeniously located in the top of the Cube.

Amazingly, Apple engineers have found a way to cool the G4 without a fan so it runs in virtual silence, letting you appreciate the quality hi-fi sound of the Apple-designed Harman Kardon speakers.

It’s also the first computer to come standard with an optical mouse. This new USB mouse is actually one large button. The optical mechanism allows users to easily navigate almost any surface without having to use a mouse pad or worry about getting the roller-ball mechanism dirty. Apple finally answers its critics with the new Pro keyboard which features full-size function keys, new volume-control and disc-eject keys, and two USB ports.

More I/O ports are located on the bottom of the Cube: two FireWire ports, two USB ports, a 10/100BaseT Ethernet port and a 56K-bps V.90 modem.

If you want to get under the hood, the entire core of the Cube lifts out via a pop-up handle that's also at the bottom of the unit.

The Cube is due to ship next month for $1,799US or $2,299US, including Apple's new optical mouse, pro keyboard and speakers.

Apple also announced several other pieces of hardware in an overhaul of its desktop lineup. A dual-processor Power Macintosh G4 effectively doubles the performance of the two top-of-the-line models and adds features such as Gigabit Ethernet and larger hard drives - all, amazingly, for the same prices as their single processor predecessors. Apple's consumer iMac line also receives a face lift, with four new models ranging from the "Indigo" base iMac (starting at $799US) to the revised "Snow" iMac DV Special Edition (featuring a 500MHz G3, 128MB RAM, 30GB hard drive and slot-loading DVD-ROM starting at $1499US). All include Apple's new extended keyboard and new optical mouse; all but the base model include FireWire connectivity and Apple's iMovie.

For more information visit www.apple.com

In the meantime, wish me luck at the Canadian National Ultimate Frisbee Championships July 26-30!