[Ross Bruinsma]

I am getting obsessed all over again (this happens several times per year) with buying a Cube.

I would love to hear of others' experiences/advice/comments on such a move. I realise that it is an outdated machine, tough to upgrade (reasonably), but out there in the real world - how are they standing up?

If I did take the plunge, I would probably also splurge on the new 20' LCD monitor.

 

[jrtech]

The Cube is a great machine, I have gone back to using mine after using a QS 733 and really appreciate the quiet that the Cube offers. As for the limited upgradeability you can do quite a bit depending on how much you want and what you are willing to spend. Faster, bigger hard drives, better video cards, faster CPU's, faster optical drives, the list goes on. So good luck in your hunt.......you won't be disappointed IMHO.

 

[Ross Bruinsma]

That is one of the big drawing cards for me - the silence. Very cool - pun intended.

But don't you have to add a fan as soon as you upgrade it in any way? I am thinking along the lines of a new video card or CPU enhancement.

Also - what about aftermarket DVD burners? Is it possible to do it?

One of the things that draws me to the Cube is the engineering. I love the thought of it being over-engineered, especially after reading all the stuff on Macintouch about glitchy towers and eMac issues. I don't have any experience with a Cube, but from first glance it would seem to be an exceptionally good quality computer. Thoughts?

 

[jrtech]

Ross, I have upgraded my hard drive to a 40 Gb 7200 Rpm Barracuda IV and the Video card to a geforce 2 MX and still have managed to remain "fan-less" with no ill effects. The Processor upgrade does require a fan which is part of the kit. I am sure Bill Wong can elaborate more on the fan noise level for these upgrades. If you have not checked out http://www.cubeowner.com/ you may want to as Laurie has put together an excellent site. Enjoy........

 

[JohnnyG4]

I love my Cube... It performs quite well with Jaguar.

I've purposely kept it a 'low end machine', just to have something to try my software on, but as soon as I get some coin together, I'm moving my clear rear studio display to it and getting a 20" Cinema display for my Dual GHz Mac.

The Studio Display and the Cube were just meant for each other.

John

 

[MACSPECTRUM]

i have a b/w G3/500, 512mb ram, radeon 7000, dell 19" flat and am looking for better performance whilie i test out os x

am i barking up the wrong tree ?
should i just resign myself to a dual G4 and deal with the jet engine noise?

thanx

 

[jrtech]

100% agreement here with the comments about the pairing of the LCD Studio Display and the Cube being a great looking match.

 

[jrtech]

Just wondering how many Cube owners are in the ehMac community, hands up please, and what if any upgrades have you done.

 

[MacDoc]

I would never be without mine. Just love it.
The Video card and fast 8 meg cache drive are the real keys.
I use a 450/1meg L2 downstairs and the 800 2 meg L3 upstairs. The 450 on X was easily as good or better than the iMac 800 we had there before - the cache and fast drive really help. The video card is a must.
They hold their value as well.
We'll buuild you one if you want. The quiet is very very addictive.



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[JohnnyG4]

Except for some RAM, I haven't touched mine. It's stock - which is what I want. Maybe later I'll add some goodies, but right now, it's perfect.

John

PS: the monitor that's going to be moved to the Cube is a 'Clear Rear" Studio Display (CRT). It looks great beside the cube too!!!

 

[gordguide]

I have to say, for a computer that was "way overpriced", you don't see the people who bought them selling them for much less, do you?

People who had that complaint obviously just didn't get it, and probably never will. It's always nice when something like the cube comes along so you can pick 'em out of a crowd, though.

A quiet, 400 or so cube is the perfect music playing (and DVD playing) living room computer, right there where God and everybody can see it.

 

[jrtech]

Hey JohnnyG4, sorry for the confusion about the LCD and the CRT both look great sitting next to the Cube.................

 

[JohnnyG4]

No problem

 

[Ross Bruinsma]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Has anyone had any experience with DVD burners in their Cube?

Geez, the more I talk about this computer, the more I think about it, and I am sure that the more I think about it, the weaker I will get.

Macdoc - it's a good thing you don't have a toll-free number at your place, or I would be talking to you about Cubes every day!

Also - any reliability issues with any of your machines? Besides the cracks...

 

[jrtech]

You mean the character flaws I am sure, nope mine is just like a timex it keeps ...............

 

[jrtech]

Yes there are three slots for ram with an advertised limit of 1.5 Gb but I am sure this will change as larger sticks are made available. And I must comment on used to be jwoodget's posting, The internal assembly is so well built its a pleasure to do this and to marvel at the compact circuitry. . Be it cleaning, maintenance, or just wonder it does not take much, or much of an excuse, to pull the core out and enjoy the technology. I feel that the engineers really put their all in this project. Oops my appreciation for the Cube is showing again, did I mention the silence.

 

[used to be jwoodget]

I've a stock 500 MHz Cube with an OEM Radeon driving a 22" Cinema display. It is so quiet my bookshelves make more noise. It runs OS X 10.2.4 very sweetly and the 32Mb card means QE is fully enabled. I don't know if you can replace the CDR or DVD drive with a slot DVD burner but you could always plug in a firewire external drive (I know that would mena no iDVD compatibility though).

Every so often (every 6 months), I power it down and dust it off by cleaning the lucite and ejecting the core. The internal assembly is so well built its a pleasure to do this and to marvel at the compact circuitry. The Cube was a product without a clear niche (pun intended) and somewhat overpriced. But, it is an exceptional product and the epitomy of clean, unfettered design.

 

[Ross Bruinsma]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by used to be jwoodget:
I've a stock 500 MHz Cube with an OEM Radeon driving a 22" Cinema display. It is so quiet my bookshelves make more noise. It runs OS X 10.2.4 very sweetly and the 32Mb card means QE is fully enabled. I don't know if you can replace the CDR or DVD drive with a slot DVD burner but you could always plug in a firewire external drive (I know that would mena no iDVD compatibility though).

Every so often (every 6 months), I power it down and dust it off by cleaning the lucite and ejecting the core. The internal assembly is so well built its a pleasure to do this and to marvel at the compact circuitry. The Cube was a product without a clear niche (pun intended) and somewhat overpriced. But, it is an exceptional product and the epitomy of clean, unfettered design.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[Ross Bruinsma]

Oops - disregard the above reply.

Thanks for the vote of confidence in your Cube!

I am more than willing to pay a premium for good design, and other than the new iMacs, the Cube really represents this for me.

Have you upgraded the RAM at all? Or is Jaguar running fine on the totally stock setup?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by used to be jwoodget:
I've a stock 500 MHz Cube with an OEM Radeon driving a 22" Cinema display. It is so quiet my bookshelves make more noise. It runs OS X 10.2.4 very sweetly and the 32Mb card means QE is fully enabled. I don't know if you can replace the CDR or DVD drive with a slot DVD burner but you could always plug in a firewire external drive (I know that would mena no iDVD compatibility though).

Every so often (every 6 months), I power it down and dust it off by cleaning the lucite and ejecting the core. The internal assembly is so well built its a pleasure to do this and to marvel at the compact circuitry. The Cube was a product without a clear niche (pun intended) and somewhat overpriced. But, it is an exceptional product and the epitomy of clean, unfettered design.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[used to be jwoodget]

It has 512 Mb of RAM. I think it came with 256 Mb but there are three slots I think.

The cheapest way to get the most out of OS X is to stock up on RAM. Best bang for the buck of all.