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06/29/01

Firewire Mini hard drive : a perfect external drive for the Cube

You're looking for a small bus-powered Firewire drive which could be the perfect external drive for your Cube? The Firewire Mini Hard Drive is one of the smallest FireWire drives available. The drive is a 4200 RPM IBM notebook drive and is powered off the FireWire Port, so no external power supply is required. They are so easy to operate. Just plug and play with no device ID's or termination and are hot swappable. The 20 Gb drive is sold for $259 by The MacSmith.

Picture gallery

We once again updated the G4 Cube gallery with you new desks. You can find the new pictures here.

Great Deals

Small Dog Electronics offers a Cube bundle (seen on dealmac). With this bundle, you get three PowerMac Cube G4/450 64/20GB/DVD/56k computers and three NEC 1810X 18.1-inch LCD displays packaged in a heavy-duty trade show case for $6,795. According to dealmac, that is about $1,000 less than the best price you could find if purchased separately elsewhere.

Desktop Pictures

Mac-Zone.net has posted several new desktop pictures. If you are not satisfied with the one you have, click here.....

06/25/01

The Cube is (nearly) dead : will the next iMac replace it?

According to our sources, the Cube will die soon..... We did not believe it at first, but the next generation iMac may replace the current iMac and the Cube. It should have a revolutionary enclosure and features that make the Cube overpriced and useless when you compare the two computers. Retailers are currently reporting that they don't have a lot of Cubes left and that they will not be able to order new ones, since Apple will stop to take orders. Apparently, the Cube in its current form will disappear soon. Several articles, including one from ZDNET says exactly the same thing: "Apple has stalled or possibly halted production of the stylish but slow-selling model". The only hope of the Cube is that the new iMac may only have a G3 which would give the Cube a slight advantage in some areas.... We may have the answer as soon as today since Steve Jobs may announce the new iMac at the NECC in Chicago, during his keynote.

Petition to save the Cube !

If you want to save the Cube, please sign our petition! Let Apple know that you love that little Cube!

New fanless Radeon for the Cube !

Apple is apprently selling Cubes with a fanless Radeon. One of our readers, Zmapper, contacted the Apple Store and was told by the Apple representative that the Radeon was now fanless..... Here is what he says :

"I just received a Radeon Card from the Apple Store. The website says that adding the card will make the Cube nosier (which implies a fan). The installation manual shows a sketch of a fanless card being removed, and a sketch of the replacement graphics card which INCLUDES a fan.

I called Apple sales, technical support, and was told (by Michael on 6/22/01 at 6 PM Pacific time, if it makes a difference) that the latest generation of Radeon cards for the Cube were fanless" .

Read our forums for more information.

06/20/01

EZQuest introduces the Boa 24x10x40 Firewire CDR/W

Stepping up the speed of CDR burning, EZQuest ships its new Boa 24x10x40 Firewire CDR/W with Burn Proof protection. Today EZQuest, Inc. announced the release of the Boa Firewire 24x10x40 CDR/W with Burn Proof protection. The Boa Firewire CDR/W is shipping to Macintosh and PC resellers worldwide. The Boa Firewire 24x10x40 CDRW will write to CDR disks at 24x speed, rewrite to CDR/W disks at 10x and read at 40x with a 2mb buffer. The Boa will write to blank 74min CDR media in around 3 minutes (3:08 sec) The Boa Firewire 24x10x40 is the perfect example of what the desktop market is asking for, according to Ebrahim Zmehrir, President and CEO of EZQuest, Inc and added "price, speed, compatibility and reliability are what the market demands from their storage devices and the Boa delivers just that". The Boa ships in the patented Pro-Mar enclosure for optimal performance. The MSRP is $369 and comes complete with Toast 5.0, Nero for PC, EZ Start-up kit, one blank CDR, one blank CDR/W and one 6" Firewire cable.

Picture gallery

We once again updated the G4 Cube gallery with you new desks. You can find the new pictures here.

More G4 Cube Kitty feedback

Here is what Joshua, one of our readers says about the G4 Cube Kitty

"Hi guys, not to put too fine a point on it, but anyone who thinks the cube kitty is for real is a moron. The doses of anaesthetics they are giving the cats would kill them in a New York Minute. Thanks for the link. I laughed my ass off. "

06/19/01

How to upgrade your Cube.

New Cubes may arrive at MacWorld New York (We still believe that the Cube is not going to die...). But if you alredy have one, you may want to upgrade it. What can you do to accelerate or upgrade it (we will not tell you about the external USB or Firewire devices that you can connect to the Cube)?

RAM

The first option is to buy more RAM. The RAM is quite cheap nowadays. As stated in a MacWorld article published in the July issue, processor speed is not the only thing that matters. The amount of RAM you have is very important too, especially with Mac OS X. Here are some of the prices we found on the Web :

You can buy 512mb DIMMs for $179, and 256mb DIMMs for $79 from Ramjet
You can buy 512MB DIMMs for $120, 256MB for $68 and 128MB for $28 from Memory to Go
There are several other web sites or even your local reseller who can sell you cheap RAM. Ramseeker makes comparisons every week in order to find the best prices

Hard Drive

You can also upgrade the hard drive of the Cube with a faster and bigger one. However, if you buy a faster drive it may create more noise and heat than the one you currently have. You can now buy good hard drives for $100 ( 40 Gb hard drives.). The best thing to do is to check Dealmac to find the best prices

Graphics cards

Apple sells a Radeon kit if you want to replace your aging Rage 128 with a faster card. it is not cheap, but you will have one of the fastest cards currently sold. The card is sold for $249. It includes a 32 MB frame buffer of Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM.

If you need a dual monitor on your Cube, you can also install the DH-MAX - DualHead Display AGP Card from ProMax. Even if it is slower than a Radeon, it will let you connect two screens to your Cube.

Ports

You can add a serial port to the Cube. If you do not need the modem of the Cube, you can replace it with the CubePort. The CubePort universal serial adapter for G4 Cubes supports every serial device that works on your previous Mac. In addition it works with localtalk printers and file sharing and all Mac compatible Midi interfaces. Since the CubePort connects directly to the G4 Cube's motherboard via the internal modem slot, it allows a greater range of compatibility than other serial solutions such as USB to serial adapters. The package includes the CubePort adapter, a quick install manual, torx wrench, and CD with the CubePort drivers. The CubePort costs $49.

Readers feedback to the G4 Cube Kitty

Shmerek is upset about the story we posted yesterday :

"You hope it is a joke? You better be sure it is a joke if you are linking your site to one that could lead to animal abuse. It is in very poor taste and the Cube-Zone should not be adding hits to the bonsai kitty site, this is extremely poor judgement on your part. I don't think I will be visiting your web site anymore."

We personally do not like this kind of project. However it is our role to inform our readers. If we have offended some of our readers, who did not understand that article as a joke, we apologize.

Riba, who is activily looking for a Cube replacement case is shocked that some people use theirs to create such a stupid project :

"I'm totally frustrated! Goddamn!!!! While I'm looking for a replacement Cube case for months without any success, some folks have use them for cat containers! What's next, are people going to use perfectly fine cube cases as portable toilets before I manage to get one? I'm even about to accept a case that I'd have to clean of shit :)))) Doh...

If you have a replacement case for him, go to our forums and tell him!

06/18/01

How to recycle your Cube? Create a G4 Cube Kitty...

You want to find a new use to your old Cube? According to Bonsai Kitten, you can build a G4 Cube Kitty. Please do not do this at home and do not harm your pet!!!! We hope they did not do it either and that is is only a joke. In order to understand what we are talking about, please, check this page.

Reader feedback on the Cube and the iMac.

Some of our readers wanted to give their impression about the possible death of the Cube. Here is what Robert says :

"I wanted to say that the Cube factor could also breed the next G4s. Perhaps not in the same Cube shape or plastics. The iMac picture [ie : the picture published by The Register] is an obvious creation by someone with more time than real info. My thoughts are that some day the iMac will have optional screens. In this case a Cube derivative could be the iMac with the expansion slot models running up in size and capabilities into the G4 form factor. I agree that Jobs' baby will not die a one product death. The design concept will continue. "

Robert B, Architect

06/11/01

The probable design of the new iMac (with picture)

This image, which is a mockup, (coming from Aorn Creative, and first seen on the French site MacPlus) of the new iMac seems to be more realistic (even if the screen is a little bit too big) than the one published by The Register. The iMac still has an all-in-one form factor. The motherboard is behind the screen (the iMac is not as flat as the current Apple TFT screens), and the slot-in drive remains in the front of the computer. Even if we do not claim that this will be the actual iMac, we believe that the new design will be close to that picture.

Comment on this article

Polls

We have create a new poll about the next iMac and the Cube. Here is the question : "If the next iMac had a TFT screen, would you buy it or a Cube?" You can vote here.

Here are the results of our last poll. To the question : "which TFT screen would buy with your Cube if they existed? ", you answered :

15-inch for $599 19.10%
18-inch for $1099 55.06%
19-inch widescreen for $1599 15.73%
22-inch for $2999 4.49%
24-inch for $3499 5.62%

The poll was created before Apple announced its new 17" TFT. However, the 18" of the poll seemed to be the choice of a lot of readers. The new Apple 17" should sell very well....

Today on the Forums

Classifieds : G3 for sale (Los Angeles area)

Classifieds : PB G3 Pismo 400 256/20GB 4 Sale

Hardware : Two more new Cube owners!

Hardware : Changing graphics card on DVD Cube

Software : OSX and speakers?

Rumors : New iMac with LCD

06/07/01

Does the next generation iMac mean the death of the Cube?

With the rumors currently circulating on the Web, especially the rumor that The Register published yesterday, one should ask the question : is the next generation iMac a threat for the Cube?

We do not believe that the new imac will be modular (as shown in the mockup published by the Register). The purpose of the iMac is to be an all-in-one computer. And nobody knows for sure if the new iMac will have a TFT screen. First Steve Jobs said that Apple has the first digital TFT screens product line, except for the imac. Does that mean "except for the iMac, for the moment", or should one read "except for the iMac", which means that the all-in-one computer will still have a CRT for the next couple of months..... The first explanation seems likely since Apple clearly wants to have a full line of digital TFT screens and computers. This is corroborated by the fact that Apple and Future Power have finally settled their trade infringement dispute. Future Power will be allowed to sell a 17" all-in-one iMac like PCs. This simply means Apple will change the design of the iMac in the next couple of weeks.

However, if the new iMac is a flat-panel computer, there is the problem of the Cube. It could mean two things for the Cube : the first one is that the Cube will be killed. We do not believe that it will happen. You should remenber that the Cube is Steve's child. The second could be that there will be price cuts and/or features enhancements for the Cube in July. Think DVD/CDR combo and higher speed processors or maybe a redesign to allow more expandability (the iMac will not be expandable). Our conclusion is that the picture that the Register posted is simply a hoax. The iMac has to be an AIO computer. And it will never be a threat for the Cube.

Comment on this article

06/06/01

USB Monsoon sound system

Monsoon's iM-700 Flat Panel Audio System is now USB compatible. According to Monsoon, "the renowned iM-700 is now USB enabled through an "ice" colored in-line cable attachment that converts the digital USB output to an analog 1/8" plug. This allows the iM-700s to be both digital and analog capable so the system can be connected to a sound card using a 1/8" headphone jack connector or the USB bus"

The iM-700 USB system comes with integrated amplifier/subwoofer, 2 satellite speakers, and a remote volume puck. The price of the sound system is $169.00.

Today on the Forums

Classifieds : For Sale iBook 466 Se Graphite

Hardware : How to change a bigger hard drive (with data from original drive)?

Hardware : IrDa for the Cube

Hardware : Changing graphics card on dvd Cube

Software : Mac OS X Installation problem - erase hard drive?

Software : Installing OSX = Weird, Please Read!!

General Discussion : Can I connect the iSub to the Cube?

06/01/01

A new iMic has been released

Griffin Technology, Inc. today released a new version of their iMic USB audio recording and playback adapter. The new revision sports a number of enhancements. It now has greater output power and can support low impedence headphones instead of only supporting line output. The input frequency response for the iMic input has been widened and now supports 10hz-20Khz. Also input gain can now be adjusted on the fly in the iMic control, the Sound control panel and many audio applications. The iMic provides professional level audio input and output for users with current Macs that do not have audio input as well as for audio professionals and hobbyist that are looking for higher quality audio capabilities. The new version of the iMic is currently shipping and can be purchased either directly from Griffin or from most online and catalogue resellers as well as the Apple store. The iMic has suggested retail price of $35.

An award for the Cube.

The Apple PowerMac G4 Cube has won a design award. A silver award was presented to Apple for its G4 Cube, at the D&AD (British Design and Art Direction). This is the second year that Apple wins an award at the D&AD. This year, Apple also won awards for the Pro Mouse and the Pro Speakers.

External DVDR/CDRW from LaCie

LaCie has introduced a FireWire DVD-R/CD-RW combo drive. The drive reads and writes CD-R and CD-RW (at 8x/read at 24x) discs,but also DVD-R discs at 2x (reads at 6x). This drive is the same as the Pioneer Superdrive found in the new PowerMacs 733. The FireWire drive will ship in June. The suggested retail price will be US$999. The drive is sold with three CD-Rs, one DVD-R disc and the LaCie Recording Utilities CD.

G4 Cube Your Way : gallery updated

We have once again updated the Cube gallery with new desks pictures. Click here to see them.