5:03 - "And then with one hand you can gain access to the entire internals of the computer!" Tim Cook is spinning in his grave and he isn't even dead yet.
Apple could release this right now, and it wouldn't look out off place in there current line of products. That's a pretty good testament to their forward thinking
"...I'm going to show you all of its quirks--" A wild Doug DeMuro appears!! (just got to the very end... Nice shoutout and yes, the style is great for these!)
I worked at CompUSA when these were being sold. When one was sold, it always came into the tech shop to have an airport card and 128MB or ram installed.
Lucky you. I found two of these, missing the acrylic and with smashed up hard drives (STILL INSIDE THE MACHINES) at the recycling center. Saved an airport card and that lives in my iBook now.
I got one of these, but gutted it (Wow what a process!) and was going to do a Rpi Project, but never did get around to it and gave it to someone else. Amazing for it's time.
While the monitor does look good and produces nice colors, the viewing angles are horrendous, response time and input lag are abysmal, and ghosting is a huge issue. LCD monitors for desktop computers were still an uncommon sight in 2000, as they were expensive and the image quality wasn't up to snuff with contemporary CRTs. It doesn't matter how much money you spent on a monitor, the LCD technology was limited back then.
I'm glad it has a decent colour response at least (though as you said, not as high quality as mature CRTs), that seems far more important than response time for photo or video professionals who Apple used to target. But of course, you can get gamut AND response time from a modern display (at a similar price as this display was originally, an OLED), so using one of these today isn't going to be all that great.
Jvvy 99 some people have even managed to mod this cube form factor with micro ATX motherboards into the current intel standard and run the latest Mac OS on them with casual ease via the hackintosh route. Only go down this road if you have access to a CNC machining mill and fully equipped workshop and know exactly what you are doing. It is worth modding if done professionaly but due to the scarcity value of these machines they are also worth keeping in stock configuration as well. Even when i worked on an AGP G4 tower in a graphic design studio around Y2K these things were rare as hens teeth. Cherish it if you have one as apple will be bankrupt before they get round to re incarnating this.
Wanted one back in the day, simply because the form factor was incredible. I'd love to get my hands on one and do a mini ITX light gaming build to replace my gf's aging computer. She would flip out.
...if it at least would not get broken cause of internal heat damage over the years, then it would be bearable. So it stays just as futuristic LOOKING and overpriced as fuck
The lack of expansion as compared to the main G4 tower probably killed it. The main tower had 4-5 hard drive bays, 4 pci cards, normal AGP graphics, Zip drive support, and built in audio.
I mean, if you exclude heat problems. I had PowerBook G4 (actually, I had 2 of them) and they overheated even with fans and more agressive, mobile power management. How terrible idea was to let Steve Jobs to design your hardware? He was brilliant businessman and knew, how to sell stuff but hardware design was forte of Steve Wozniak.
Compared to the old beige PC's of the time it certainly was a beauty. You certainly paid the price for that beauty though and in that respect Apple haven't changed one bit. At least they're consistent
Just dropped in to say you are a great guy. Love your videos and how helpful you are. I asked what was probably a very basic question about my N64 and you responded and helped as much as you could. That says a lot about your character and your commitment to your fans. Keep on rocking man.
I have the quicksilver tower, same monitor and everything else. I upgraded it to Tiger I believe, I haven’t used it in years though so not sure. The tower is beautiful though, not quite as nice as thus, but I don’t plan on getting rid of it anytime soon
Not exactly, the subwoofer was part of another set of speakers not this one. It was, and still is, one of the best looking piece of computer audio equipment ever made, in fact not much later they made a "standard" version you can use with any computer, not just Apple ones, and I think it's still in sale.
G4 and G5 macs are real nice even today for making music, with how you can easily get the audio latency down like Windows could only dream about ever seeing. Pretty small choice of DAW options and support but if I were to record and mix on a computer it would be this cheap option. Beautiful cube.
I particularly loved the ADC connector which provided video, data, and power all through one cable. I have the 15” monitor and it still works great with my PowerMac G4.
I know it would be very expensive but if I was to buy a desktop computer in 2000 - 2001 I'd most likely go for the G4 Cube, the small form factor for the time and how nice it looks vs other computers at the time for me would have been worth it.
I remember how Apple suffered from a low yield in producing the plastic case. They broke too easily. The insides are great though. Computers that are both small, powerful (for its time), fanless and expandable/serviceable are very rare. You can find PCs that do two, and three if you stretch it, but never all four.
I got 2 of the G4 Cubes from Shopgoodwill.com. They were $100 shipped. This was a few years ago. I then found 2 sets of Apple Pro Speakers at random area Goodwills for $2.99 each and an Apple Studio Display (15inch) for $14.99. They are great showpieces and I love collecting older Apple hardware. Do the iMac G4 next!
Wow, you got a good deal. I saw one at a thrift store years ago that I should have picked up. I thought they were asking too much at $150. I see now they're going for way, way more on Ebay. They're a cool piece of technology.
MetalJesusRocks Jason, 1:28 duel G4? That would be an aftermarket upgrade and would normally come with a small fan? Also be warned! The computer’s convection cooled and putting an SSD in there actually reduces airflow through the system. The extra heat from the HDD actually drives more air up through the airflow channel and out the top, drawing more in through the bottom. Also the whole point of the 1 button mouse was to stop lazy developers from relying on right click menus because it often confused the average consumer using Windows or Mac OS at the time.
Great video! One thing to note is that it was NOT a dual 450mhz. Just a single, but there were after market CPU upgrades a available. I upgraded mine to a single core 1.8 GHz. Also the keyboard USB ports were super slow- 1.5mbps if I remember correctly, limiting to mouse use only. I had forgotten all about the cool functionality of the ADC connector. I upgraded the GPU to a GeForce 6200 so I had to use the adapter which means I had to use one of the USB ports on the bottom of the cube to connect to the monitor.
The cube is great, and can be upgraded to dual 1.42 GHZ by replacing the processor board. The mouse isn’t a problem as most people were used to Macs only having one button at the time, plus a long hold or ctrl-click wasn’t that bad. The fanless design was actually a requirement of the Apple III and most of the Macs that Steve Jobs oversaw. Something that didn’t help the cube was that the iMac was $1200, and while it had a G3 in it, the people at. Circuit City, CompUSA, and Sears didn’t know the difference, and therefor couldn’t explain the price difference, and usually tried to steer people to PCs, as they didn’t make any commission on the Macs in those stores.
That pro keyboard was far and away one of the best Apple produced for years, namely because the function keys were spaced out. At that time I was doing a ton of production work & had a dozen hot keys set up in my apps, and I was able to work lightning fast since I could hit those keys without looking for them. ⌨️👍
I enjoy when you put together an episode talking about older computers. Kind of like LGR, but it's not just "HIS thing" because we all experienced it if you grew up during that time period ... some more in-depth than others. Which kind of brings me to my next point. You have all these PC big box games that a lot of people just know anything about. I only know of a few titles that we had as kids/teens, mostly Sierra adventure games. However, we did have a neighborhood friend, who his dad was the pastor of ourchurch, he had an Apple IIe with a green monitor. Those also bring back fond memories of playing Karateka, Lode Runner, etc. Personally, I'd like to see you dive more into depth with that and show us more of your collection. Maybe one episde per week, if at all possible.
The retro computers are very interesting to look at, there's something about their design that never loses its appeal. Great camera work as well. Very excited for more!
I was not expecting that, MetalJesus! A G4 Cube with the Studio Display! Wow, what an amazing piece of Apple history. I'll be getting one delivered soon that has an amazing history. It was originally owned by the University of Melbourne (or for you American folk, College) in 2000 and was only used until 2001 when it was packed back into its original box where it wasn't used until this year. I've always admired the G4 Cube with its unique and distinctive design. It's something that sadly never took off according to Apple's plan. Everything I guess pointed to the price tag. (It was around AU$5 - 6,000, which is ludicrous money!) A modern classic
Kinda neat to see something like this all together so many years later, but not what I have come to expect on a Friday video. no mention at all of games!
I like your take on PC (or Mac) hardware reviews, MJ. It's not overly-technical, but not too dumbed down either. I can see the Doug comparison, as well as LGR hardware things. I subscribe to both those guys! Keep it up!
Keep the OS 9 install somewhere if you can and prefer dual booting to OS9 rather than using Classic under Tiger. The reason is: Classic can sometimes mess up games and/or software so running native under OS9 is a good idea.
It's super easy on these. You can just install on separate partitions and select via Startup Disk panel or hold Option on boot. I have 9.2, 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4 on mine. You can also boot off of external USB hard disks and thumb drives just as easily (and presumably FW though I haven't tried), if you want less-often used OS versions offline.
Yes, Classic OS 9 is still such a cool OS. If you can dual booting is the way to go. Thank You Metal Jesus for posting a review of this computer. I always thought they were very very cool. I have several old Macbooks & an iMac from around this era and a little earlier. LOVED the design and look back then. There newer computers aren't nearly as exciting.
I hate the ADC connector. Later Apple upgraded it so you could connect it to a tv. I bought mine for $45 & carried it home from San Francisco on Bart & it weighs 45 pounds & I hand carried it on BART, the bus & the 4 blocks home. Just about killed me. I use it on my 2005 Mac Mini. I hope to buy a Cube next year. I have a Cube aquarium that someone turned it into using the Cube acrylic shell. It will look cool sitting next to the Cube when I get it.
While I hate it that it is very difficult up to impossible to upgrade modern Apple computers, it's not ironic because Apple computers were most of the time not easy to upgrade. Gorgeous machine and I would love to have one, but not my favorite looking Apple computer. I prefer the iMac G4.
@shadow Flash, I don't have any very recent Apple hardware, the newest I have is a late 2012 Mac Mini, which has no problems. Having no recent Macbook without serious issues doesn't say that much as there isn't a line of computers which doesn't have problems. It's all in the numbers and the publicity they get. If Fujitsu Siemens has problems with one of their laptops, it gets reported and then next day no one remembers or cares about it. I am not defending Apple as I too don't like many of the things they are doing with their hardware, but it's not like they are the only one out there with them. Speaking of MBP, I don't think I would buy any of them as I am not that crazy about not being able to replace ssd/ram if they go bad. Same with any laptop manufacturer who follows similar design choices.
I was working in the retail tech service industry at the time this came out. Another issue with these units was a manufacturer defect. If you look at the upper corners, the curved part, you will see scratches in the clear plastic. People who bought these return them because of the scratches.
Been going to RE-PC for a loooong time now, well before they moved their location to a different part of Andover Park. Shame I haven't run into you yet haha.
Obviously I wouldn't go anywhere near the dull, overpriced guff that Apple sells nowadays, but I have a huge amount of time for Apple computers of this era. Around 2000-2001, I had a tangerine iBook and a blueberry iMac, but always wanted one of these cubes. Sadly UK prices (at least on eBay) are a tad more savage, but maybe I should shop around... or staple my wallet shut! Really enjoyed the video nonetheless.
I just want to say that I loved this video and think it would be awesome if you made more videos on this kind of rare and weird old computers. I know that are already a lot of UA-camrs doing that, like LGR and the 8 bit guy, but I can't have enough! 😁
You can put leopard (10.5) on there. I just picked up a 700mhz g4 (the desk lamp looking one) and it's in the same boat as yours where it doesn't meet the cpu requirements but runs just fine. You use something called leopard assist and then it install like normal. It basically tricks the installer that you have a faster cpu.
@@goclunker On mine I'd say slow is slow so why not run some more stuff. I seem to be able to get slightly more apps running on 10.5 and if I need classic apps I dual boot. For modern osx I use the g4 and rdp to a VM running Mojave I built on my esxi server
Aceoyame dude, the only reason to run 10.5 on g4s was the internet when they were still capable. These days, they are utterly useless for web browsing due to slag web programming, 10.4 really is a better choice. Virtually everything you'd want to run on a 700mhz g4 is in 10.4 anyways. Even back in the day, 10.5 was a slug, and this was on my dp 1.8ghz g4 7448, 2gb ram, and an nvidia 7800GS
@@goclunker and on 10.4 my g4 is also slow as all hell. I don't notice any difference because it was already slow and I gain a bit more compatibility with osx stuff. I literally have no reason for 10.4 as I don't use classic mode due to dual booting
Metal Jesus, I would upgrade to OS 9.2.2, and leave it. I find old versions of OSX are much slower than OS9 on these old machines, and you'd lose compatibility for some old games.
11:11 regarding the Mac mouse and having to use shortcuts to right click. The reason Apple only had one button on their mice was that you'd have your other hand on the keyboard anyway and when learning the shortcuts you'd actually work much faster than right clicking and scrolling through various menus to get something done.
When I was in high school I was lucky enough to tour the Apple Campus thanks to a raffle my Computer Sciences teacher won at Mac World. This was in 2001 and we got to see what was left of the Apple Cube team... it wasn't pretty. Their offices were largely empty, there test models and everything... it was so sad.
I was the computer guy at a research institute in the time these came out. One small sub-department still used macs and bought one of these. After finally being told they weren't allowed to buy their own computers anymore after the merger, they got Windows pc's, just like the rest. They could do exactly the same work as before, at less than half the cost. And without the fear of braking a piece of art... It was simply too expensive for it's own good, but than again, so were a lot of macs in those days.
I have the monitor still... and I did break the "Stand"... It broke really easily, be careful is you buy one... It broke so easily, I was impressed lol
Six years ago, they assimiated me into their collective. I had their cybernetic devices implanted throughout my body. I was linked to the hive mind. Every trace of individuality erased. I was one of them. So you can imagine, I have a somewhat unique perspective on the Borg, and I know how to fight them. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.
Making it a giant heatsink without any fans is a fascinating concept, I would be interested to see how well it handles overheating with all the components so close together. The popout handle is a great idea.
I paid $2400 for a Gateway notebook in 1999, so this really isn't all that expensive considering it's a lot more impressive and certainly worth more money today. Also paid, I think, $700 for a 17" LCD around 2001, and paid $2200 for a 30" display in 2006. If you want in early on tech, or you want top of the line stuff, you're going to pay for it - and by you doing so eventually the peasants will get access to the tech at a rate they can afford on their McDonalds salary.
The inspiration for this computer comes from the Next Cube that Steve Jobs launched back in 1988. It shipped with a Unix based operation system called NextStep, which Apple would later buy, and turn it in to Mac OS X.
While the $1000 LCD was expensive, I paid about $450 for a Viewsonic 15" VG150b at the time. The Studio Display is bigger, higher resolution, has high power USB, a digital video input, and a much MUCH better panel. It looks good for a monitor today (aside from the fluorescent backlight.) The VG150 ... does *not*. So, not quite as outrageous as it might initially sound. :-) I remember walking through a CompUSA and ending up by a demo Cube running OS X, playing music in iTunes from the Harmon Sound Stiks. That was the first time I was forced to admit ... OK, this Apple stuff is kind of slick. At the time, I had a beige Pentium II running Windows Me. The Cube was cooler and more polished in every single way. Wanted one ever since, and just recently got one. (Better late than never!)
I cracked up at the spinning monitor presentation with generic shopping-mall-techno playing, felt so late 90s/early 2000s TV ad-ish and accurate! lol. FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!!! CALL NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE GERMAN-MADE CHEF KNIFE!!!
5:03 - "And then with one hand you can gain access to the entire internals of the computer!"
Tim Cook is spinning in his grave and he isn't even dead yet.
And it has PORTS!
@@samtheking25: SOME OF WHICH ARE INDUSTRY STANDARD!!!
www.apple.com/mac-pro/specs/ Um, look at the current pro desktop.
Let's be honest though Jobs would've done the same exact things just to stay in track with the Apple's ethos.
Apple could release this right now, and it wouldn't look out off place in there current line of products. That's a pretty good testament to their forward thinking
they should have. It looks awesome. It even looks better than the new pro. And its definitly better looking than the wastebasket cylinder
its the nicest design ive ever seen. It would look futuristic today....
"...I'm going to show you all of its quirks--"
A wild Doug DeMuro appears!!
(just got to the very end... Nice shoutout and yes, the style is great for these!)
I LOVE his videos. And those exotic sports cars ;)
I'm going to show you all of it's quirks and features... Then I'm going to give it a JesusScore
The JesusScore is 86 sins
@@DiGiTyDarKMaN 666k subs
Lmao i thought of it as well
I worked at CompUSA when these were being sold. When one was sold, it always came into the tech shop to have an airport card and 128MB or ram installed.
I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that you now have 666k subscribers 🤘
🤘
Haha I just noticed that before I saw this comment.
Metal Af!!! 🤘🤘
🤘🤘🤘🤘
Now I just need to queue up some Number of the Beast and Shout at the Devil on the stereo! 🤘🤘
I owned one back in 2008. I upgraded it to 1.8 Ghz and 1.5 GB of RAM and a flashed GeForce 5200 graphics card.
Haramasch Abrasir Same! Still have it. 1.8ghz sonnet! Upgraded to the GeForce 6200!
"And believe it or not, that did not include a monitor." It's Apple; we believe it.
HA! As Metallica would say: "Sad but true."
Atleast at the time they give you decent speaker, keyboard, and mouse
At least they included the stand with the monitor! 🤣
Lmao spot on man
Typical apple move other computers will include monitor
2000 = $1000 for monitor
2019 = $1000 for monitor *STAND*
Just look at the same xeon pc configurations and sony reference monitors...
Then you will learn what stupidity you just wrote...
@@silviosarunic6709 it's still stupid paying 1000 dollars for a STAND
Nice to see you do a video on this! I rescued one from a recycling center for $5. The owner thought it was an Apple Airport.
Lucky you. I found two of these, missing the acrylic and with smashed up hard drives (STILL INSIDE THE MACHINES) at the recycling center. Saved an airport card and that lives in my iBook now.
Shee- it.... I gotta get out more. I’d love to find one, just to set on a shelf, it’s gorgeous as just a freaking sculpture of sorts.
@@aegonthedragon7303 My guess is the HDDs got destroyed on purpose so noone can retrieve any data left on them.
I got one of these, but gutted it (Wow what a process!) and was going to do a Rpi Project, but never did get around to it and gave it to someone else. Amazing for it's time.
rescused metal and plastic?
wow we really taking this word to a new level
“Greetings, and welcome to an MJR thing!”
*Underrated comment*
🤘
he didn't even try Duke Nukem 3D on it
@@LGR lol
😚👌
Twenty years later and that thing still looks like it’s from the year 3,000
Just not that easily fixable and repareable and tolerant towards standard connectors.
While the monitor does look good and produces nice colors, the viewing angles are horrendous, response time and input lag are abysmal, and ghosting is a huge issue. LCD monitors for desktop computers were still an uncommon sight in 2000, as they were expensive and the image quality wasn't up to snuff with contemporary CRTs. It doesn't matter how much money you spent on a monitor, the LCD technology was limited back then.
I'm glad it has a decent colour response at least (though as you said, not as high quality as mature CRTs), that seems far more important than response time for photo or video professionals who Apple used to target. But of course, you can get gamut AND response time from a modern display (at a similar price as this display was originally, an OLED), so using one of these today isn't going to be all that great.
I had to use one of these in some of my early design work. Hated it! Demanded a replacement, and somehow they sided with me and got one.
The failure computers and systems are always the most rewarding get a hold of in your collection
Definitely
Wow, i have never seen that computer before and its so beautifully designed. I would love a modern desktop cube like that
Jvvy 99 some people have even managed to mod this cube form factor with micro ATX motherboards into the current intel standard and run the latest Mac OS on them with casual ease via the hackintosh route. Only go down this road if you have access to a CNC machining mill and fully equipped workshop and know exactly what you are doing. It is worth modding if done professionaly but due to the scarcity value of these machines they are also worth keeping in stock configuration as well. Even when i worked on an AGP G4 tower in a graphic design studio around Y2K these things were rare as hens teeth. Cherish it if you have one as apple will be bankrupt before they get round to re incarnating this.
I have 1 tht I’m trying to get rid of if you’re interested I’ve been holding on to it since 2006
Wanted one back in the day, simply because the form factor was incredible.
I'd love to get my hands on one and do a mini ITX light gaming build to replace my gf's aging computer. She would flip out.
I have one if ya want to buy it!
Monitor and keyboard
Jesus, Apple really used to push the industry forward. It was (and still is) very pricey but you would get some legit futuristic stuff
...if it at least would not get broken cause of internal heat damage over the years, then it would be bearable.
So it stays just as futuristic LOOKING and overpriced as fuck
more like overpriced junk with a fancy label for the apple fanboys
@@albertsmith99 being passively cooled was very forward thinking, but nowadays I totally agree innovation is gone out the window with apple
@@albertsmith99 ok there
@@danielsimon669 why
The lack of expansion as compared to the main G4 tower probably killed it. The main tower had 4-5 hard drive bays, 4 pci cards, normal AGP graphics, Zip drive support, and built in audio.
Except they sold the cube along side the main G4 tower. The cheese grater Mac Pro shouldn’t have been discontinued.
just to record audio on your home studio. that's why they made these cube. you don't need expansion you just plug the dac in to fw port...
I mean, if you exclude heat problems. I had PowerBook G4 (actually, I had 2 of them) and they overheated even with fans and more agressive, mobile power management. How terrible idea was to let Steve Jobs to design your hardware? He was brilliant businessman and knew, how to sell stuff but hardware design was forte of Steve Wozniak.
Technically Jony Ive designed this and the PowerBooks. So blame him lol. Jobs just made you want to buy it
Jakub Lulek Hence why they ditched the PowerPC Architecture altogether not long after G5 was released.
I have the 16:9 screen version, i just changed the internals to modernize it, now it's resolution is 1920x1080 and it has hdmi
Compared to the old beige PC's of the time it certainly was a beauty. You certainly paid the price for that beauty though and in that respect Apple haven't changed one bit. At least they're consistent
Oh my god you put in "Images and Words", I knew you were a man of excellent taste!
Inserts Dreamtheater CD into an Apple computer from 2000... Good man!!
Not a fan of Apple anymore, but this was a beautiful design.
I think the Mac pro was inspired by this
Just dropped in to say you are a great guy. Love your videos and how helpful you are. I asked what was probably a very basic question about my N64 and you responded and helped as much as you could. That says a lot about your character and your commitment to your fans. Keep on rocking man.
It's good to see a video related to computers. I hope you'll do a lot more videos like this.
The intro was missing "lets take a look"
I have the quicksilver tower, same monitor and everything else. I upgraded it to Tiger I believe, I haven’t used it in years though so not sure. The tower is beautiful though, not quite as nice as thus, but I don’t plan on getting rid of it anytime soon
I have never seen this apple computer before. Really cool looking.
The way it slides out of the case is really nice.
Hey MetalJesus! Keep doing more computer videos, I love them!! Show us how the cube is after the upgrade too!
MJR, you're missing one piece: Harmon made a special subwoofer to pair with those speakers. It looks like a jellyfish from the future.
Not exactly, the subwoofer was part of another set of speakers not this one. It was, and still is, one of the best looking piece of computer audio equipment ever made, in fact not much later they made a "standard" version you can use with any computer, not just Apple ones, and I think it's still in sale.
Props for DT Images & Words!
G4 and G5 macs are real nice even today for making music, with how you can easily get the audio latency down like Windows could only dream about ever seeing. Pretty small choice of DAW options and support but if I were to record and mix on a computer it would be this cheap option. Beautiful cube.
Great video! I think the G4 Cube can also run MorphOS, an AmigaOS-like operating system for those PowerPC computers
05:00 It was so satisfying to see how easy it cames out of the case.
Would totaly have that in a regular pc.
Can we agree that this computer looks fcking amazing.
I particularly loved the ADC connector which provided video, data, and power all through one cable. I have the 15” monitor and it still works great with my PowerMac G4.
Images & Words. very good choice. up there w Passion & Warfare, Surfing w The Alien, Rising Force etc etc
I know it would be very expensive but if I was to buy a desktop computer in 2000 - 2001 I'd most likely go for the G4 Cube, the small form factor for the time and how nice it looks vs other computers at the time for me would have been worth it.
Classic Apple. Form over function.
true, but atleast they were not dicks back then.. at least towards their customers.
I remember how Apple suffered from a low yield in producing the plastic case. They broke too easily.
The insides are great though. Computers that are both small, powerful (for its time), fanless and expandable/serviceable are very rare. You can find PCs that do two, and three if you stretch it, but never all four.
@Eevel Ewe Classic edgelord believing that being functional is a waste of effort.
nikki jones your life is a waste of effort, mouth breather. It was as fast and powerful as a g4 tower...
I got 2 of the G4 Cubes from Shopgoodwill.com. They were $100 shipped. This was a few years ago. I then found 2 sets of Apple Pro Speakers at random area Goodwills for $2.99 each and an Apple Studio Display (15inch) for $14.99. They are great showpieces and I love collecting older Apple hardware. Do the iMac G4 next!
Wow, you got a good deal. I saw one at a thrift store years ago that I should have picked up. I thought they were asking too much at $150. I see now they're going for way, way more on Ebay. They're a cool piece of technology.
My man metal Jesus coming through with the Kick-Ass music during the speaker demonstration
That's Ethan Meixsell...check him out!
That part just came on as I read this comment
@@MetalJesusRocks The first tune is such a 2 Minutes To Midnight rip-off I am amazed EMI did not claim your video
I would have cranked "Hellbent for Leather" on full blast on those speakers.
The Meze's made a nice little cameo in this scene. What do you think of those MJR?
Cool video!! I really *love* the throwback photo at 6:54 - Brittney, Kelsey AND Wood Beat Em Ups?? :)
That was taken at E3 Expo in LA a few years ago. Good times.
MetalJesusRocks Jason, 1:28 duel G4? That would be an aftermarket upgrade and would normally come with a small fan? Also be warned! The computer’s convection cooled and putting an SSD in there actually reduces airflow through the system. The extra heat from the HDD actually drives more air up through the airflow channel and out the top, drawing more in through the bottom.
Also the whole point of the 1 button mouse was to stop lazy developers from relying on right click menus because it often confused the average consumer using Windows or Mac OS at the time.
Great video! One thing to note is that it was NOT a dual 450mhz. Just a single, but there were after market CPU upgrades a available. I upgraded mine to a single core 1.8 GHz.
Also the keyboard USB ports were super slow- 1.5mbps if I remember correctly, limiting to mouse use only.
I had forgotten all about the cool functionality of the ADC connector. I upgraded the GPU to a GeForce 6200 so I had to use the adapter which means I had to use one of the USB ports on the bottom of the cube to connect to the monitor.
Great video MJR, loved to ee the hisotry of the product as well as a review of it, and how it was perceived at the time, defo more like this please!
The cube is great, and can be upgraded to dual 1.42 GHZ by replacing the processor board. The mouse isn’t a problem as most people were used to Macs only having one button at the time, plus a long hold or ctrl-click wasn’t that bad. The fanless design was actually a requirement of the Apple III and most of the Macs that Steve Jobs oversaw. Something that didn’t help the cube was that the iMac was $1200, and while it had a G3 in it, the people at. Circuit City, CompUSA, and Sears didn’t know the difference, and therefor couldn’t explain the price difference, and usually tried to steer people to PCs, as they didn’t make any commission on the Macs in those stores.
apple engineers: "how many buttons on the mouse Mr. Jobs and Mr. Wozniack?
Steve&Steve: "none"
vector6977 Well, technically there’s a button...it’s just on the front underside instead of visible on top
That pro keyboard was far and away one of the best Apple produced for years, namely because the function keys were spaced out. At that time I was doing a ton of production work & had a dozen hot keys set up in my apps, and I was able to work lightning fast since I could hit those keys without looking for them. ⌨️👍
You forgot to wear double t-shirts and start your video: “THIS!! Is the the 2000 Mac G4 Cube” In Doug Demuro fashion, lol 😜
I enjoy when you put together an episode talking about older computers. Kind of like LGR, but it's not just "HIS thing" because we all experienced it if you grew up during that time period ... some more in-depth than others. Which kind of brings me to my next point. You have all these PC big box games that a lot of people just know anything about. I only know of a few titles that we had as kids/teens, mostly Sierra adventure games. However, we did have a neighborhood friend, who his dad was the pastor of ourchurch, he had an Apple IIe with a green monitor. Those also bring back fond memories of playing Karateka, Lode Runner, etc. Personally, I'd like to see you dive more into depth with that and show us more of your collection. Maybe one episde per week, if at all possible.
My elementary school in Hawaii had these for our computer class back when they released 😂
The retro computers are very interesting to look at, there's something about their design that never loses its appeal. Great camera work as well. Very excited for more!
I have a PowerMac G5 tower. This and the G5 are beautiful machines.
I was not expecting that, MetalJesus! A G4 Cube with the Studio Display! Wow, what an amazing piece of Apple history. I'll be getting one delivered soon that has an amazing history. It was originally owned by the University of Melbourne (or for you American folk, College) in 2000 and was only used until 2001 when it was packed back into its original box where it wasn't used until this year. I've always admired the G4 Cube with its unique and distinctive design. It's something that sadly never took off according to Apple's plan. Everything I guess pointed to the price tag. (It was around AU$5 - 6,000, which is ludicrous money!) A modern classic
(you can still open up the mac-pro & the mac mini has always had a fan)
Kinda neat to see something like this all together so many years later, but not what I have come to expect on a Friday video. no mention at all of games!
Thumbs up for using Images and Words as your test cd. One of my all time favorite albums.
I like your take on PC (or Mac) hardware reviews, MJ. It's not overly-technical, but not too dumbed down either. I can see the Doug comparison, as well as LGR hardware things. I subscribe to both those guys!
Keep it up!
I’ve got the largest version of that monitor and use it with a regular PC, it’s still a good monitor
Just added your channel. Been watching for years. Love the vids . Helped me with my games collection a lot.. Hope your good in these mad times ..
Keep the OS 9 install somewhere if you can and prefer dual booting to OS9 rather than using Classic under Tiger.
The reason is: Classic can sometimes mess up games and/or software so running native under OS9 is a good idea.
It's super easy on these. You can just install on separate partitions and select via Startup Disk panel or hold Option on boot.
I have 9.2, 10.0, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4 on mine. You can also boot off of external USB hard disks and thumb drives just as easily (and presumably FW though I haven't tried), if you want less-often used OS versions offline.
Yes, Classic OS 9 is still such a cool OS. If you can dual booting is the way to go. Thank You Metal Jesus for posting a review of this computer. I always thought they were very very cool. I have several old Macbooks & an iMac from around this era and a little earlier. LOVED the design and look back then. There newer computers aren't nearly as exciting.
I hate the ADC connector. Later Apple upgraded it so you could connect it to a tv.
I bought mine for $45 & carried it home from San Francisco on Bart & it weighs 45 pounds & I hand carried it on BART, the bus & the 4 blocks home.
Just about killed me.
I use it on my 2005 Mac Mini.
I hope to buy a Cube next year.
I have a Cube aquarium that someone turned it into using the Cube acrylic shell.
It will look cool sitting next to the Cube when I get it.
I don't always watch utube, but when I do, it's Metal Jesus Rocks! 🎸✝️⛰️
Please do more PC and apple hardware!!!
While I hate it that it is very difficult up to impossible to upgrade modern Apple computers, it's not ironic because Apple computers were most of the time not easy to upgrade.
Gorgeous machine and I would love to have one, but not my favorite looking Apple computer. I prefer the iMac G4.
You do realize...oh I am not going to waste my time. If you don't know, you don't know.
Trusteft If only it was just about that. Modern Apple hardware breaks apart in your hand. I don't remember any recent MacBook without serious issues.
@shadow Flash, I don't have any very recent Apple hardware, the newest I have is a late 2012 Mac Mini, which has no problems. Having no recent Macbook without serious issues doesn't say that much as there isn't a line of computers which doesn't have problems. It's all in the numbers and the publicity they get. If Fujitsu Siemens has problems with one of their laptops, it gets reported and then next day no one remembers or cares about it. I am not defending Apple as I too don't like many of the things they are doing with their hardware, but it's not like they are the only one out there with them.
Speaking of MBP, I don't think I would buy any of them as I am not that crazy about not being able to replace ssd/ram if they go bad. Same with any laptop manufacturer who follows similar design choices.
Loved the Images & Words CD cameo ! Metal Jesus Rocks indeed!
heh, I'm watching Doug DeMuro all the time, and when this video started I felt something familiar... great video.
Q U I R K S A N D F E A T U R E S
I was working in the retail tech service industry at the time this came out. Another issue with these units was a manufacturer defect. If you look at the upper corners, the curved part, you will see scratches in the clear plastic. People who bought these return them because of the scratches.
Been going to RE-PC for a loooong time now, well before they moved their location to a different part of Andover Park. Shame I haven't run into you yet haha.
My school had a few of these when they came out. I liked the small form factor but the best part of it to me was the crisp image of the monitor.
Apple products in a nutshell... "it's design forces compromises".
The music you played on that speaker sounds like something that would be in one of the 90's king of fighters game.
Obviously I wouldn't go anywhere near the dull, overpriced guff that Apple sells nowadays, but I have a huge amount of time for Apple computers of this era.
Around 2000-2001, I had a tangerine iBook and a blueberry iMac, but always wanted one of these cubes.
Sadly UK prices (at least on eBay) are a tad more savage, but maybe I should shop around... or staple my wallet shut!
Really enjoyed the video nonetheless.
Yeah what they turned into is a shame.
This video was fuckin great dude, i love hearing you talk about old school computers, and computers in general
So glad you liked it! :)
The Cube was a really cool design. A shame it didn't pan out.
It did cube out though.
I just want to say that I loved this video and think it would be awesome if you made more videos on this kind of rare and weird old computers. I know that are already a lot of UA-camrs doing that, like LGR and the 8 bit guy, but I can't have enough! 😁
let’s reuse that mechanism case and make it into high-end Gaming Pc
You can put leopard (10.5) on there. I just picked up a 700mhz g4 (the desk lamp looking one) and it's in the same boat as yours where it doesn't meet the cpu requirements but runs just fine. You use something called leopard assist and then it install like normal. It basically tricks the installer that you have a faster cpu.
Aceoyame run 10.4, its lightyears faster than 10.5 and nothing modern runs on these anyways, no need for 10.5
@@goclunker On mine I'd say slow is slow so why not run some more stuff. I seem to be able to get slightly more apps running on 10.5 and if I need classic apps I dual boot. For modern osx I use the g4 and rdp to a VM running Mojave I built on my esxi server
Aceoyame dude, the only reason to run 10.5 on g4s was the internet when they were still capable. These days, they are utterly useless for web browsing due to slag web programming, 10.4 really is a better choice. Virtually everything you'd want to run on a 700mhz g4 is in 10.4 anyways.
Even back in the day, 10.5 was a slug, and this was on my dp 1.8ghz g4 7448, 2gb ram, and an nvidia 7800GS
@@goclunker and on 10.4 my g4 is also slow as all hell. I don't notice any difference because it was already slow and I gain a bit more compatibility with osx stuff. I literally have no reason for 10.4 as I don't use classic mode due to dual booting
Metal Jesus, I would upgrade to OS 9.2.2, and leave it. I find old versions of OSX are much slower than OS9 on these old machines, and you'd lose compatibility for some old games.
Nothing wrong with dual booting, swapping drives, or booting from external (if capable)
11:11 regarding the Mac mouse and having to use shortcuts to right click. The reason Apple only had one button on their mice was that you'd have your other hand on the keyboard anyway and when learning the shortcuts you'd actually work much faster than right clicking and scrolling through various menus to get something done.
1:00 Not including a monitor is pretty standard for any desktop (tower).
I love the unique tech finds you have on your channel!! 👍🏻
I have some tech finds at home just for you ;)
This the earliest I've been to a MJR vid. 🤔
Very cool MJR, I love videos like this. Love to see a video on the 1999 Apple Clamshell iBook.
“Here’s why” “quirks”
You’ve turned into Doug DeMuro.
When I was in high school I was lucky enough to tour the Apple Campus thanks to a raffle my Computer Sciences teacher won at Mac World. This was in 2001 and we got to see what was left of the Apple Cube team... it wasn't pretty. Their offices were largely empty, there test models and everything... it was so sad.
I was the computer guy at a research institute in the time these came out. One small sub-department still used macs and bought one of these. After finally being told they weren't allowed to buy their own computers anymore after the merger, they got Windows pc's, just like the rest. They could do exactly the same work as before, at less than half the cost. And without the fear of braking a piece of art...
It was simply too expensive for it's own good, but than again, so were a lot of macs in those days.
I have the monitor still... and I did break the "Stand"... It broke really easily, be careful is you buy one... It broke so easily, I was impressed lol
The Borg want to integrate this into their collective.
Six years ago, they assimiated me into their collective. I had their cybernetic devices implanted throughout my body. I was linked to the hive mind. Every trace of individuality erased. I was one of them. So you can imagine, I have a somewhat unique perspective on the Borg, and I know how to fight them. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.
Making it a giant heatsink without any fans is a fascinating concept, I would be interested to see how well it handles overheating with all the components so close together. The popout handle is a great idea.
I was expecting a Doug Score. I've been let down.
Nice 'Images And Words' plug there. I approve.
Somewhere like a scene from a memory
There's a picture worth a thousand words
I paid $2400 for a Gateway notebook in 1999, so this really isn't all that expensive considering it's a lot more impressive and certainly worth more money today. Also paid, I think, $700 for a 17" LCD around 2001, and paid $2200 for a 30" display in 2006. If you want in early on tech, or you want top of the line stuff, you're going to pay for it - and by you doing so eventually the peasants will get access to the tech at a rate they can afford on their McDonalds salary.
The inspiration for this computer comes from the Next Cube that Steve Jobs launched back in 1988. It shipped with a Unix based operation system called NextStep, which Apple would later buy, and turn it in to Mac OS X.
While the $1000 LCD was expensive, I paid about $450 for a Viewsonic 15" VG150b at the time. The Studio Display is bigger, higher resolution, has high power USB, a digital video input, and a much MUCH better panel. It looks good for a monitor today (aside from the fluorescent backlight.) The VG150 ... does *not*.
So, not quite as outrageous as it might initially sound. :-)
I remember walking through a CompUSA and ending up by a demo Cube running OS X, playing music in iTunes from the Harmon Sound Stiks. That was the first time I was forced to admit ... OK, this Apple stuff is kind of slick. At the time, I had a beige Pentium II running Windows Me. The Cube was cooler and more polished in every single way. Wanted one ever since, and just recently got one. (Better late than never!)
MJR in his LGR bag! I love it! More of thes videos please MJR. I love your take on old take.
Doug's channel is awesome! Your channel is awesome! I'm awesome!
I cracked up at the spinning monitor presentation with generic shopping-mall-techno playing, felt so late 90s/early 2000s TV ad-ish and accurate! lol. FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!!! CALL NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE GERMAN-MADE CHEF KNIFE!!!
Just put in a ryzen apu and it would be perfectly usable even today
I was just thinking that very thing.
No PCIe slots to put it in
It would overheat. The tissue boxes overheated with the stock G4.
i knew it... the moment u said "has a few quirks" dough demuro came into mind right away haha