Power Mac G4 Cube versus Mac mini shootout
Fellow WIN blogger Glenn Fleishman charted a comparison between the Cube and the new Mac mini on his personal blog,
GlennLog. As I am known to do, I pounced on it and
added a column to his chart to better demonstrate the additional benefits of the Cube, plus added a
price point comparison to be fair.
Although I am the self-appointed leader of the Cult of Cube, I can objectively see how someone who is not so devoted to their Cube might simply replace it with a Mac mini. That fact alone demonstrates the differences in market appeal. The mini is not aimed at People Like Us. The mini is a Switcher's dream come true.
The mini has sex appeal, much like the Cube, but it leaves you wanting more. In all fairness, the Cube left you wanting more soon after its release as well (more money left in your pocket, at the very least... lol). But now the Cube can have more.. and more... and more.
Glenn told me via email that upgrading a Power Mac G4 tower made much more sense to him than upgrading a Cube. If you don't mind the noise and the bulk and the not-as-attractive form factor, that's true. But again, Cube owners are a different breed. We've only recently come to terms with the fact that running fan-less isn't a god-given right and any upgrade that doesn't make us sweat just a little bit probably isn't worth doing. The Cube offers the thrill of the chase and the glow of the morning after. You can't say that about a G4 tower, which is rather generic in comparison. If you need the most powerful hulking machine money can buy, upgrade your existing G4 to the hilt, slide the silver tower under your desk where you can forget about it and be happy. Or buy a shiny new G5 and enjoy it. If you fall into either of those camps, the Mac mini is still not aimed at you, but the Cube at least comes a little closer. Plus, a not-so-surprising number of us loyal Cube owners have already upgraded our Cubes and have been keeping up with the Joneses quite well. The fact that after all this time there are still new upgrades made specifically for us speaks volumes. Companies like OWC and
PowerLogix and Sonnet and
Giga and MCE and
FastMac keep pumping out Cube-compatible and Cube-specific accelerators and optical drives and even new enclosures. There are sellers on eBay who specialize in nothing but Cube-compatible video cards and make a brisk living doing so. Will the Mac mini sold today have as many options available to it 4 years from now? I'm inclined to think not.
The mini is a good value if it suits your needs and it will suit the needs of many many people. It will look nice next to my Cube and it will make a nice home server, but my Cube will continue overpower it (subject to change when/if the mini sees Rev 2) and continue to bring me greater degrees of personal computer satisfaction.
There you have it, folks. The Cube vs Mac mini argument is the new Mac vs PC argument :)