7-19-00
Today at Macworld Expo NY, Steve Jobs and Apple once again
redefined the concept of the personal computer with their
announcement of the G4 "Cube." The cube stands less
than 10" high and under 8" wide and deep but still
manages to pack most (but not all) of the features found in
its tall Graphite brother. The cube is available in two configurations,
450MHz with 64MB RAM and a 20GB Ultra ATA/66 hard drive and
500MHz with 128MB RAM and a 30GB Ultra ATA/66 drive. These
few differences aside, the two cubes share a wealth of features
in common.
Features - What's New, What's Not: Like their bulky siblings,
the cubes make use of ATI's RAGE 128 Pro graphics card residing
on a 2x AGP slot. The cards sport 16MB SDRAM and can support
resolutions up to 1920- by 1200 at 32 bits per pixel (millions
of colors). At press time, it was not clear whether the AGP
slot will accept alternate graphics cards but given the compact
design of the cube I would guess that options may be limited
in this department. Still, 16MB should keep most users outside
of the hard core gaming community happy. Both cubes also sport
vertical slot loading DVD-ROM drives which has already prompted
some to make "toaster" cracks.
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In spite of the compact design, the Apple engineers have
managed once again to make use of convection cooling and do
away with the cooling fan. This should help the cube run with
a minimum of noise, helpful as Apple has once again teamed
up with Harman/Kardon to deliver the system's sound. Harman/Kardon
developed a pairs of round speakers with a design that compliments
the cube quite nicely. The 20 watt speakers (10 per channel)
have a range of 80Hz to 20KHz and, like the iSub, connect
via USB. The speakers also draw all necessary power from the
USB bus, eliminating the need for an external power supply.
Continuing its commitment to wireless technology, Apple has
made both cubes AirPort ready. Instead of the wire antenna
found on Apple's other AirPort ready machines, the cubes use
a less obtrusive ceramic patch antenna. Ground based connections
are covered as well with the built in 56k, V.90 modem and
10/100BaseT Ethernet connections. Gigabit (1000BaseT) Ethernet
is a build to order options at the Apple Store.
After taking heat for close to two years, Apple has finally
ditched their round mouse and undersized keyboard in favor
of an ergonomically shaped optical mouse and full sized extended
keyboard. In fact, these were Steve Jobs' first product announcements
in his keynote presentation. Thanks to its optical design
the mouse should work on most non-reflective surfaces and
require a minimum of maintenance. The "pro" mouse
lacks a button per se but pivots instead to click. The level
of sensitivity can be adjusted to suite your style. The 108
key keyboard uses the popular extended keyboard layout and
sports a few improvements as well, most notably integrated
volume adjustment and disk eject buttons. Both the mouse and
keyboard will be standard across the Apple desktop line including
all iMacs and G4 towers.
Below we provide you with a quick comparison of the two cubes
features along with links to reviews and other information
available around the web. Feel free to post your thoughts
on the cube below on our
discussion board.
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7-19-00
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