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.
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'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!)
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
...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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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!
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.
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
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.
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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’m tempted but I’ve already gone down the Apple collecting rabbit hole but sadly anything power pc is nearly unusable. I’ve had the Power Mac g3 with Cinema Display, 17” imac g4, pb g4 12”, iBook g3 and countless MacBooks and mbp’s. I currently have 6 macs and trying to sell 4 of them. Great video though! The cube is definitely a beautiful machine!
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.
Chronoxshift it has been done elsewhere before on here but this guy is not giving to much away. His mod is totally ace but you can be quite sure it has involved some pretty serious CNC milling and workshop detailing to make these modern components play ball. I have modded a AGP G4 tower to intel standard myself but this guys G4 cube mod is just plain sick by comparison. Like i say it can be done properly but it is not a light undertaking. I have seen some really badly butchered and ham fisted attempts at modding it as well. This case is now so rare i would strongly advise on keeping it completely stock original unless you are totally confident you can mod it without affecting the external appearance at all. th-cam.com/video/nw0L2xIT0A8/w-d-xo.html
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.
Good stuff. Surprised you didn’t mention the big scandal about these that really led to the product suspension. The clear plastic cases were cracking. In hindsight it was a limited number of them that did that, but everyone assumed there were all going to just shatter eventually. It was a pretty big deal, especially for a product that was literally a work of art.
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.
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 TH-camrs doing that, like LGR and the 8 bit guy, but I can't have enough! 😁
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.
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 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.
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.
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!
Cool. I just acquired one of these (cube only) last December. Not having the power supply, I have no idea if it works. I don't want to spend the $100-150 for a power supply from eBay and have been wondering if anyone has had any luck making his own aftermarket power supply. Right now, though, at least it looks pretty cool sitting on my desk at work on display. The case is a little scuffed up, but I think there are ways to get rid of at least some of the scratches. It's such a cool-looking computer!
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 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.
BTW all kidding aside, I would love for you guys to do more of these videos of your time at Sierra. It is just a great view into an old and strange world :). Even the time you visited Al Lowe was great and I hope something that could be repeated :). Sorry if it is a bit much to ask :).
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.
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.
You've got the right idea, put some sticky LED strips on the bottom of this thing firing down, then some on the back (tape on so no permanent altering), you could fire blue down and red to the back and I bet it'd reflect through the plastic pretty cool. Not sure if it'd be as good as the lighting you did here for the video, but I think it could look pretty cool.
I'd say keep the crtv! And as far as the reset goes it should be in series with the power supply so that pressing reset interrupts the power to the gamecube, although those spade connectors... not sure where they'd have originally hooked up... did the power brick have it's hot wire cut with spades crimped on? I'd start by looking for spade connectors in the power circuit that the reset could hook up to, maybe they clipped a wire crimped spades and reattached then and heat shrunk over it, but its hard to describe without a drawing a picture.
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.
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'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
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....
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
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!
“Greetings, and welcome to an MJR thing!”
*Underrated comment*
🤘
he didn't even try Duke Nukem 3D on it
@@LGR lol
😚👌
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
"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
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.
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! 🤘🤘
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
The failure computers and systems are always the most rewarding get a hold of in your collection
Definitely
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 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.
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
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
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
Inserts Dreamtheater CD into an Apple computer from 2000... Good man!!
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
Oh my god you put in "Images and Words", I knew you were a man of excellent taste!
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
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.
Not a fan of Apple anymore, but this was a beautiful design.
I think the Mac pro was inspired by this
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"
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 ..
Can we agree that this computer looks fcking amazing.
The way it slides out of the case is really nice.
Props for DT Images & Words!
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! I think the G4 Cube can also run MorphOS, an AmigaOS-like operating system for those PowerPC computers
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.
I have never seen this apple computer before. Really cool looking.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
Hey MetalJesus! Keep doing more computer videos, I love them!! Show us how the cube is after the upgrade too!
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!
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.
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
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?
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.
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 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
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
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 elementary school in Hawaii had these for our computer class back when they released 😂
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 have a PowerMac G5 tower. This and the G5 are beautiful machines.
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.
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)
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.
let’s reuse that mechanism case and make it into high-end Gaming Pc
I’m tempted but I’ve already gone down the Apple collecting rabbit hole but sadly anything power pc is nearly unusable. I’ve had the Power Mac g3 with Cinema Display, 17” imac g4, pb g4 12”, iBook g3 and countless MacBooks and mbp’s. I currently have 6 macs and trying to sell 4 of them. Great video though! The cube is definitely a beautiful machine!
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.
Have you ever thought about trying to build with that apple cube case? Like completely modernize the pc components?
Chronoxshift it has been done elsewhere before on here but this guy is not giving to much away. His mod is totally ace but you can be quite sure it has involved some pretty serious CNC milling and workshop detailing to make these modern components play ball. I have modded a AGP G4 tower to intel standard myself but this guys G4 cube mod is just plain sick by comparison. Like i say it can be done properly but it is not a light undertaking. I have seen some really badly butchered and ham fisted attempts at modding it as well. This case is now so rare i would strongly advise on keeping it completely stock original unless you are totally confident you can mod it without affecting the external appearance at all.
th-cam.com/video/nw0L2xIT0A8/w-d-xo.html
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.
Good stuff. Surprised you didn’t mention the big scandal about these that really led to the product suspension. The clear plastic cases were cracking. In hindsight it was a limited number of them that did that, but everyone assumed there were all going to just shatter eventually. It was a pretty big deal, especially for a product that was literally a work of art.
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.
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 TH-camrs doing that, like LGR and the 8 bit guy, but I can't have enough! 😁
Images & Words. very good choice. up there w Passion & Warfare, Surfing w The Alien, Rising Force etc etc
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’ve got the largest version of that monitor and use it with a regular PC, it’s still a good monitor
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 can still open up the mac-pro & the mac mini has always had a fan)
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.
The Cube was a really cool design. A shame it didn't pan out.
It did cube out though.
Loved the Images & Words CD cameo ! Metal Jesus Rocks indeed!
I don't always watch utube, but when I do, it's Metal Jesus Rocks! 🎸✝️⛰️
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.
1:00 Not including a monitor is pretty standard for any desktop (tower).
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!
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
Cool. I just acquired one of these (cube only) last December. Not having the power supply, I have no idea if it works. I don't want to spend the $100-150 for a power supply from eBay and have been wondering if anyone has had any luck making his own aftermarket power supply. Right now, though, at least it looks pretty cool sitting on my desk at work on display. The case is a little scuffed up, but I think there are ways to get rid of at least some of the scratches. It's such a cool-looking computer!
Thumbs up for using Images and Words as your test cd. One of my all time favorite albums.
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.
This the earliest I've been to a MJR vid. 🤔
I've been a technician for 20 years and only ever encountered one of these once in the field. Neat little thing at the time.
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.
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.
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.
I love the unique tech finds you have on your channel!! 👍🏻
I have some tech finds at home just for you ;)
I was expecting a Doug Score. I've been let down.
BTW all kidding aside, I would love for you guys to do more of these videos of your time at Sierra. It is just a great view into an old and strange world :). Even the time you visited Al Lowe was great and I hope something that could be repeated :). Sorry if it is a bit much to ask :).
Apple products in a nutshell... "it's design forces compromises".
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.
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.
You've got the right idea, put some sticky LED strips on the bottom of this thing firing down, then some on the back (tape on so no permanent altering), you could fire blue down and red to the back and I bet it'd reflect through the plastic pretty cool. Not sure if it'd be as good as the lighting you did here for the video, but I think it could look pretty cool.
Doug's channel is awesome! Your channel is awesome! I'm awesome!
9:42 Try to find the Harman Kardon sound sticks for this, those were amazing! Same clear case, with a subwoofer!
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'd say keep the crtv! And as far as the reset goes it should be in series with the power supply so that pressing reset interrupts the power to the gamecube, although those spade connectors... not sure where they'd have originally hooked up... did the power brick have it's hot wire cut with spades crimped on? I'd start by looking for spade connectors in the power circuit that the reset could hook up to, maybe they clipped a wire crimped spades and reattached then and heat shrunk over it, but its hard to describe without a drawing a picture.
That song, Start Your Engines reminded me a bit of Bad Boys by Whitesnake
This video was fuckin great dude, i love hearing you talk about old school computers, and computers in general
So glad you liked it! :)
“Here’s why” “quirks”
You’ve turned into Doug DeMuro.
hey MJR I love your vintage computer content! wishing you well