Mac Pro Cube :: The New Apple Cube Computer

Earlier today, Apple announced the availability of the successor to the G5 Power Mac: The widely anticipated Mac Pro. The new Mac Pro features two dual-core Xeon processors with speeds up to 3.0 GHz. From a cosmetic point of view, the Mac Pro looks exactly the same as the Power Mac on the outside, while the internals of the machine have been completely redesigned. This allows up to four hard drives, two optical drives, a double-wide graphics card, and eight sticks of RAM. The base configuration comes in at $2499 but can be configured down to around $2200.

This new Mac Pro leaves a suspicious gap in Apple’s computer line-up. The Power Macs used to come in several configurations, including a sub-$2000 model. Now, the only other computer they sell without a monitor is the entry-level Mac mini. This indicates that there is sill room in Apple’s line-up for a mid-sized, mid-priced, “headless” computer… possibly using Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors (which were also missing from today’s announcements). And this could be our Mac Pro Cube.

So why wouldn’t Apple announce it today? It’s essentially the same reason they introduced the MacBook Pro before the MacBook… Economics. A lot of people have been waiting for the announcement of the Mac Pro, and given the impressive performance and price of the new machine, a lot of them will be pulling the trigger and buying one in the next few weeks. Apple doesn’t want to cannibalize those high-dollar sales by offing the option of a mid-priced “pro” machine just yet. Once the initial sales of the Mac Pro have cooled, I predict they’ll announce the sub-$2000 pro desktop. This will generate another nice wave of sales.

There’s obviously no confirmation of a Cube-style computer actually being considered to fill this gap. Apple couldn’t be blamed for wanting to distance itself from the “failure” of the original G4 Cube. And a TV component-sized box would make a lot of sense, too. But there would definitely be a lot of interest in a Cube done right (and priced right).

Keep the dream alive!

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Speculation is heating up around the web regarding Apple’s new product announcements at this year’s World-Wide Developers Conference. One interesting rumor is that Apple is set to announce a new version of their widely anticipated Mac Pro desktop computer called the Mac Pro Cube. This new Cube would be reminiscent of Apple’s G4 Cube, which was a commercial failure, but has managed to attract a devoted cult following. The Mac Pro Cube would bridge the gap between the consumer iMac computers, and the heavyweight Mac Pro computers; A professional desktop for users who don’t need all the horsepower of a Mac Pro, yet don’t want to be tied to the built-in display of the iMac. Details are sketchy, and possible completely false, but the Mac Pro Cube is rumored to borrow many engineering features from Apple’s current Mac mini entry-level desktop and will sell at a $1499 price point. The design of the Cube will be similar to the current G5 Power Mac’s “cheese-grater” appearance, only in a much smaller, cube form. The most ground-breaking feature of the Mac Pro Cube is said to be wireless connectivity to Apple’s new displays, which will be Airport-enabled. This feature will be exclusive to the Mac Pro Cube (at least initially).

WWDC is just around the corner. It won’t be long before we know whether the Mac Pro Cube is real, or just wishful thinking.

(The photo above is NOT the Mac Pro Cube. It is a G4 Cube modded to look like a “G5 Cube.” If the rumors are true, the Mac Pro Cube would look very similar to this.)