The Power Mac G4 Cube is a
Mac personal computer
A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...
sold by
Apple Computer, Inc. between July 2000 and 2001. The Cube was conceived as a miniaturized but powerful computer by Apple chief executive officer (
CEO)
Steve Jobs and designed by
Jony Ive. Apple developed new technologies and manufacturing methods for the product—a cubic computer housed in clear
acrylic glass. Apple positioned it in the middle of its product range, between the consumer
iMac G3 and the professional
Power Mac G4. The Cube was announced at the
Macworld Expo on July 19, 2000.
The Cube won awards and plaudits for its design upon release, but reviews noted its high cost compared to its power, its limited expandability, and cosmetic defects. The product was an immediate commercial failure, with only 150,000 units sold before production was suspended within one year of its announcement. The Cube is one of the rare failures for the company under Jobs, after having avoided bankruptcy. However, it influenced future Apple products, from the
iPod
The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...
to the
Mac Mini
Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is one of the company's four current Mac (computer), Mac desktop computers, positioned ...
. The
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
and other museums hold Cubes in their collections.
Overview

The Power Mac G4 Cube is a small
cubic
Cubic may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* Cube (algebra), "cubic" measurement
* Cube, a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex
** Cubic crystal system, a crystal system w ...
computer, suspended in a
acrylic glass enclosure. The transparent plastic is intended to give the impression that the computer is floating.
The enclosure houses the computer's vital functions, including a slot-loading
optical disc
An optical disc is a flat, usuallyNon-circular optical discs exist for fashion purposes; see shaped compact disc. disc-shaped object that stores information in the form of physical variations on its surface that can be read with the aid o ...
drive. The Cube requires a separate monitor with either an
Apple Display Connector (ADC) or a
Video Graphics Array
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the IBM PC compatible industry within three years. T ...
(VGA) connection.
The machine has no fan to move air and heat through the case. Instead, it is passively cooled, with heat dissipated via a grille at the top of the case.
The base model shipped with a 450 MHz
PowerPC G4 processor, 64 MB of
random-access memory
Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of Computer memory, electronic computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working Data (computing), data and machine code. A random-access memory device allows ...
(RAM), 20 GB
hard drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
, and an
ATI Rage 128 Pro video card.
A higher-end model with a 500 MHz processor, double the RAM, and a 30 GB hard drive was sold only through Apple's online store.
The Cube's small size does not feature expansion slots; it has a video card in a standard
Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) slot, but cannot fit a full-length card.
The power supply is located externally to save space, and the Cube features no audio jacks. Instead, the Cube shipped with round
Harman Kardon speakers and digital amplifier, attached via
Universal Serial Bus (USB).
Despite its size, the Cube fits three RAM slots, two
FireWire 400 ports, and two USB 1.1 ports for connecting peripherals in its frame. These ports and the power cable are located on the underside of the machine. Access to the machine's internal components is accomplished by inverting the unit and using a pop-out handle to slide the entire internal assembly out from the shell.
Development

The Cube was an important product to Apple,
and especially to Apple CEO
Steve Jobs, who said the idea for the product came from his own desires as a computer user for something between the
iMac and
Power Mac G4, saying, "I wanted the
lat-panel Cinema Display but I don't need the features of the Power Mac".
Jobs's minimalist aesthetic influenced the core components of the design, from the lack of a mechanical power button, to the trayless optical drive and quiet fanless operation.
The design team at Apple, led by
Jonathan Ive, shrunk a powerful desktop form factor, seeing traditional desktop tower computers as lazily designed around what was easiest for engineers.
The Cube represented an internal shift in Apple, as the designers held increasing sway over product design.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called the Cube "pure
..industrial design" harkening to
Bauhaus concepts.
The Cube represented an effort by Apple to simplify the computer to its barest essentials.
Journalist
Jason Snell called the machine an example of Jobs and Ive's obsession with a "Black Box"—dense, miniaturized computers hidden within a pleasing shell hiding the "magic" of its technology.
As the Cube has no fan, the design started with the
heat sink
A heat sink (also commonly spelled heatsink) is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant, where it is thermal management (electronics), ...
.
The power button that turned on with a wave or touch was accomplished via the use of
capacitive sensing.
The proprietary plastics formula for the housing took Apple six months to develop.
Effort spent developing the Cube would pioneer new uses and processes for materials at Apple that benefitted later products.
Because of the technology included in the Cube, Apple's engineers had a tough time keeping the total cost low. Advertising director
Ken Segall recalled that Jobs learned of the product's price shortly before an ad agency meeting, and was left "visibly shaken" by the news, realizing that the high price might cause the product's failure.
Release and reception
Rumors of a cube-shaped Apple computer leaked weeks in advance, and some sites posted purported pictures.
The G4 Cube was announced at
Macworld Expo on July 19, 2000, as an end-of-show "
one more thing". Jobs touted it as combining the power of the Power Mac G4 with a sleek design and miniaturization Apple learned from producing the iMac. Alongside the Cube, Apple introduced a new mouse, keyboard, and displays to complement the machine.
The machine's size and looks were immediately divisive, which ''
Macworld'' editor Andrew Gore took as an indication that Apple had succeeded in creating a cutting-edge product.
The design was a point of praise and of jokes, compared to a
Borg cube, toasters, or a box of Kleenex tissues.
Others compared it to the
NeXTcube.
Ive and the design team were so amused by the comparison to a tissue box that they used spare Cube shells for that purpose in their studio.
Reviews were generally positive. Peter H. Lewis, writing for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', called the computer the most attractive on the market, and that the machine, combined with Apple's displays and peripherals, created "desk sculpture".
''PC Magazine Australia'' said that after changing the look of computers with the iMac, the G4 Cube had raised the bar for competitors even further. Gore called the Cube a work of art that felt more like sculpture than a piece of technology, but noted that one had to live with compromises made in the service of art.
Walt Mossberg, writing for ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'', called it the "most gorgeous personal computer" that he had ever seen.
Critics noted that to get easy access to plug and unplug peripherals, users must tip the entire machine—risking accidental sleep activation or dropping the smooth plastic computer entirely.
''Macworld'' found the touch-sensitive power button too sensitive and they accidentally activated sleep mode regularly. They reported that the stock 5400-rpm hard drive and 64 MB of RAM on the base model slowed the system considerably.
The Cube won several international design awards on release,
and ''
PC Magazine
''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues .
Overview
''PC Mag ...
''s best desktop computer for its Technical Innovation Awards.
The G4 Cube and its peripherals were acquired and showcased by
The Museum of Modern Art alongside other Apple products, and a Cube is also held in the collections of the
American Museum of Natural History and
Powerhouse Museum
The Powerhouse Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), is a collection of 4 museums in Sydney, owned by the Government of New South Wales. Powerhouse is a contemporary museum of applied arts and sciences, explori ...
.
Sales
The introduction of the Cube did not fit with the focused product lineup Jobs had introduced since his return to Apple, leaving it without a clear audience.
It was as expensive as a similarly equipped Power Mac, but without extra room for more storage or PCI slots. It was likewise much more expensive than an upgraded consumer iMac.
Jobs imagined that creative professionals and designers would want one, and that the product was so great that it would inform buying patterns.
Sales for the Cube were much lower than expected. Returning from the brink of bankruptcy, Apple had eleven profitable quarters before the Cube's announcement,
but Apple's end-of-year financials for 2000 missed predicted revenues by $180million.
Part of the drop in profit was attributed to the Cube, with only one third as many units sold as Apple had expected, creating a $90million shortfall in revenue targets. The Cube counted for 29,000 of the Macs Apple shipped in the quarter, compared to 308,000 iMacs. Retailers had excess product, leaving Apple with a large amount of unsold inventory heading into 2001 it had expected to last until March. The computer appealed to high-end customers who wanted a small and sleek design, but Jobs admitted that audience was smaller than expected.
In February 2001, Apple lowered the price on the 500 MHz model and added new memory, hard drive, and graphics options.
These updates made little difference, and sales continued to decline. In the first quarter of 2001, only 12,000units were sold,
representing just 1.6% of the company's total computer sales.
In addition to the product's high price, the Cube suffered cosmetic issues. Early buyers noticed cracks caused by the injection-molded plastic process. The idea of a design-focused product having aesthetic flaws turned into a negative public relations story for Apple, and dissuaded potential buyers for whom the design was its main appeal.
The Cube's radical departure from a conventional personal computer alienated potential buyers, and exacerbated Apple's struggles in the market competing with the performance of Windows PCs. ''Macworld''s Benj Edwards wrote that consumers treated the Cube as "an underpowered, over-expensive toy or
..an emotionally inaccessible, ultra-geometric gray box suspended in an untouchable glass prison".
The lack of internal expansion and reliance on less-common USB and FireWire peripherals also hurt the computer's chances of success.
Jobs clearly loved the computer,
but was quick to discontinue the underperforming product. On July 3, 2001, an Apple press release made the unusual statement that the computer—rather than being canceled or discontinued—was having its production "suspended indefinitely", due to low demand. Apple did not rule out an upgraded Cube model in the future, but considered it unlikely.
Business journalist
Karen Blumenthal called the Cube the first big failure by Jobs since his return to Apple.
Jobs's ability to quickly move on the mistake left the Cube a "blip" in Apple's history, according to Segall—a quickly forgotten failure among other successful innovations.
Legacy
Though Apple CEO
Tim Cook called the Cube "a spectacular failure"
and the product sold only 150,000 units before being discontinued, it became highly popular with a small but enthusiastic group of fans.
''Macworld''s Benj Edwards wrote that the Cube was a product ahead of its time; its appeal to a dedicated group of fans years after it was discontinued was a testament to its vision.
After its discontinuation the product fetched high prices from resellers, and a cottage industry developed selling upgrades and modifications to make the machine run faster or cooler.
John Gruber wrote 20 years after its introduction that the Cube was a "worthy failure
..Powerful computers needed to get smaller, quieter, and more attractive. The Cube pushed the state of the art forward."
CNET called the machine "an iconic example of millennium-era design". Its unconventional and futuristic appearance earned it a spot as a prop in several films and television shows, including ''
Absolutely Fabulous'', ''
The Drew Carey Show
''The Drew Carey Show'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 13, 1995, to September 8, 2004. Set in Cleveland, Ohio, the series revolved around the retail office and home life of "everyman" Drew Carey, a fictionaliz ...
'', Orange County, and ''
24''.
Sixteen Cubes were also used to power the displays of the computer consoles in ''
Star Trek: Enterprise''.
Although the Cube failed commercially, it influenced future Apple products. The efforts at miniaturizing computer components would benefit future computers like the flatscreen
iMac G4, while the efforts Apple spent learning how to precision machine parts of the Cube would be integral to the design of aluminum
MacBooks.
The
Mac mini
Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is one of the company's four current Mac (computer), Mac desktop computers, positioned ...
fit an entire computer in a shell one-fifth the size of the Cube and retained some of the Cube's design philosophies. In comparison to the high price of the Cube, the Mini retailed for $499 and became a successful product that remains part of Apple's lineup.
The translucent cube shape would return with the design for the flagship
Apple Fifth Avenue
Apple Fifth Avenue is an Apple Store, a retail location of Apple Inc., in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is in the luxury shopping district of Fifth Avenue between 59th and 60th Streets, and opposite Manhattan's Grand Army P ...
store in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
.
Capacitive touch would reappear in the
iPod
The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...
and
iPhone
The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
lines,
and the Cube's vertical thermal design and lattice grille pattern were echoed by the 2013 and 2019 versions of the
Mac Pro
Mac Pro is a series of workstations and servers for professionals made by Apple Inc. since 2006. The Mac Pro, by some performance benchmarks, is the most powerful computer that Apple offers. It is one of four desktop computers in the current ...
.
Specifications
References
External links
*
*
{{Apple hardware since 1998
Computer-related introductions in 2000
Macintosh desktops
Macintosh case designs
G4 Cube
G4 Cube
Discontinued Apple Inc. products