Description

The PowerMac G4 Cube was introduced over 20 years ago in July 2000 by Steve Jobs. This gorgeous product was Jobs' only product failure after returning to Apple. When introduced, Jobs thought it would sell in the millions of units, but the market was not ready for its very steep price and its lack of expandability…..less than 150,000 Cubes were ever produced. Even though the product was a commercial failure for Apple and was discontinued less than a year after its introduction, it remains an engineering and industrial design feat which is still considered a masterpiece today. With its appearance of a cube floating in mid air, it was so innovative, so unique and so different that it stood out from every other computer of the era…. It is still very modern and elegant more than 20 years after its introduction and it still stands out today!  It was such a unique design achievement that it is part of the Museum of Modern Art’s (MoMA) collection.

This Cube in excellent condition, fully restored and fully functional...an absolutely amazing collector's deal! This is the 450 MHz Cube model, equipped with 640 MB of RAM, a 120 GB hard disk (upgraded from the original 20GB) and a slot loading DVD-ROM drive.

Because of its unique design and the very limited number of Cubes that were ever produced, the Cube has become a very highly prized and very collectible piece of Apple memorabilia.

This Cube is in very good condition with a few surface scratches – considering its age, it’s in really amazing condition. It has no dings and no broken parts.  The unit does exhibit a couple of the typical hairline "spiderwebs" that affect all Cubes – which according to Apple are caused by the molding process and a couple of light surface scratches on the back.

This Cube comes complete with the Cube and its power brick, a 17" (Lucite) Apple Studio Display, the black Pro keyboard and the black Pro mouse. Also includes a USB sound card for driving external speakers. Two very nice sounding, ball-shaped speakers, similar in shape to the Apple Pro speakers are also included.

This Cube has been disassembled, dusted and cleaned. The clock battery has been replaced with a fresh battery and the DVD-ROM drive has been disassembled, cleaned and serviced. The two typical issues with this drive have been addressed: namely, the slipping loading/eject roller and the stretched eject belt (replaced). It loads, reads and ejects disks perfectly - like when it was new.

The 17” Studio display is in great condition – no chips, no major scratches, no cracks and no dings to its Lucite case. The monitor was designed to be connected to the Cube with a single cable (for power, video and USB).  Unlike many units of this model, on which the screen stand is broken, this unit’s Lucite stand is in great shape and holds the monitor perfectly.  

The Cube’s power brick is in great cosmetic and functional condition. It includes the original translucent power cord.

The included Apple Pro keyboard and Apple Pro mouse are in great cosmetic and functional condition. The keyboard has been completely disassembled and cleaned. It has been fully tested and looks great. The included keyboard is a French (Canada) layout keyboard, however, I can substitute it with the same model with a US English layout.

The whole system has been thoroughly tested and works perfectly. Mac OS 10.4.11 is currently installed on the hard disk with a few software titles.

This uniquely designed, and very rare, piece of computer nostalgia is every collector’s dream.

Finding a Cube in any condition is already quite challenging – almost all Cubes listed on eBay are damaged, badly scratched, cracked, incomplete, missing power supply, don’t include the Apple monitor, etc.... Finding a fully restored and fully functional Cube is even more difficult. Finding a COMPLETE, collectible, Cube-based SYSTEM in such great condition is almost impossible…. But this is what is being offered here!

This Cube is a wonderful example of superb, modern engineering and industrial design pushed to the limit. It’s a great, functioning, rare and collectible show piece in amazing condition.

Despite this system having been extensively tested and found to be fully functional, it IS over 20 years old technology and as such, there is no guarantee offered, or implied, for continued functioning. This lot is being sold as-is with no returns accepted.