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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