Jony Ive by Leander Kahney

Author:Leander Kahney
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group, USA
Published: 2013-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

Power Mac Cube

In 2000, having filled all four of the 2×2 quadrants, Jony and the design group attempted their most ambitious product to date: the Power Mac Cube.

The Cube was the team’s first shot at the ultimate computer, an attempt to cram the power of a desktop computer into a much smaller case. Jony saw putting a lot of components into a tower design as lazy: Why give the consumer a big ugly tower just because it’s the easiest option for the engineers and designers? They aimed to make the new machine by combining untested plastic casting with advanced miniaturization. Like many of Apple’s products, it was an exercise in simplification, removing everything that could be removed. It represented a major breakthrough in miniaturization, innovative design thinking and manufacturing.

The Cube was actually a rectangle formed from a single piece of crystal-clear plastic that was translucent at the base, giving the impression that the eight-inch Cube was suspended in air. It had a vertical slot-load DVD drive on the top, which popped up the DVD like a piece of toast. Some compared the Cube to a box of Kleenex. The analogy greatly amused Jony and the designers, and they took to using empty Cubes in the design studio as tissue dispensers.

The Cube used air convection for cooling instead of a noisy fan. Air entered through vents in the bottom and cooled the chips inside, exiting through vents in the top. It operated in virtual silence.

Like the Power Mac G4 tower before it, access was a key consideration. The guts of the G4 Cube were designed to be easily removed for access to internal components; its entire core could be pulled out through the bottom with a beautifully made pop-up handle. To turn the Cube on, there was a touch-sensitive button that appeared to be printed on the surface of the transparent case. It seemed magical, as though the button floated in air, detached from the computer with no visible means of operation. It was an early use of capacitive touch (the technology that would eventually make the iPhone possible). Customers loved it.

The new machine would be configured with a 450 MHz G4 chip, 64 MB memory and 20 GB storage. Priced at $1,799, the basic model included an optical mouse, pro keyboard and Apple-designed Harman Kardon stereo speakers, but no monitor. Also available exclusively on the Apple online store was a higher-spec model G4 Cube with a more powerful processor and additional memory and storage, which went for $2,299.

“The Power Mac G4 Cube was a breakthrough product,” said Satzger. “It contained a lot of interesting new technology and beautiful mechanics. It was really exciting.”

Some customers went crazy for the Cube. The Cube looked “sophisticated and expensive,” said the Ars Technica Web site.23 “Holy s**t, they’ve done it again,” said Lee Clow, chief creative officer of TBWA/Chiat/Day.24 But the public reaction to the new machines was cooler than Jony and Jobs had hoped.

Consumers viewed the Cube as basically a mid-range Power Mac G4 tower at a higher price.

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