25 years later, Apple’s most infamous Mac can teach some valuable lessons

Apple is famous for its design sense, having produced a confusing range of magnificent gadgets over the years. But perhaps no device has embodied this meaning as really as the Power Mac G4 cube, an elegant block of aluminum and plastic that turned the heads and seduced the spectators when it was launched in July 2000.

Unfortunately, it was also a commercial flop, which lasts only a year until it was interrupted forever. Steve Jobs later admitted that he was overwhelmed and too expensive, and although it may be the purest expression of Apple’s design sensitivity, it is also a edifying story of what can go wrong in the world of computer design.

Now, 25 years for the day since its release, we can look back and realize that there are a lot of lessons that we can learn from this superb division machine.

Looks are not enough

If you launch a high -end device to demanding power users, you should make sure it is very powerful. It may seem obvious, but it may be the largest stumbling block of the Mac G4 Power cube: it did not offer enough bang.

At the price of $ 1,799 (around $ 3,350 today) for the basic model, the Power Mac G4 cube landed squarely at the upper end of the market. However, despite this, he had to make sacrifices to prevent the price of unleashing even more. You cannot extend its storage or capacity, for example, something that many pros considered essential.

But at the same time, the device has also proven that professional computers could be elegant. With the iMac, the traditional PC design game book had been torn, but the end of the spectrum power user was relatively intact by this idea until the Power Mac G4 Cube arrives. With its tiny frame and innovative use of materials, it was a miniature work for your office and shown that you did not need a huge machine to obtain efficient components.

This is a concept that you can see today in the Mac Mini and the Mac Studio, the latter which is particularly like the spiritual successor of the Power Mac G4 cube. This is a lesson that Apple learned.

Quick storage account

These days, Mac are delivered with some of the fastest storage training on the market, but it was not always so. For too long, the entry -level Macs were equipped with painfully slow hard drives (hard drives) which were particularly slower than the improved versions that you could get if you pay more.

Christopher Phin / Foundry

This is exactly what happened with the Power Mac G4 cube, where the entry -level models wrapped in a punctual 5400 rpm. It was immediately obvious that it was much lower than the 7200 rpm discs which were available at the time, but Apple continued to use the slower discs, despite the high price of the Mac.

Although it helped reduce costs, it was a bad introduction to Mac for anyone who had no money to upgrade. Since most people are not power users, it’s a lot of users to get bogged down with slow storage.

Fortunately, the age of the SSDs fascinated by the outbreak means that all Apple Macs are now delivered with storage that is properly at speed.

The risks are good

When launched, many public members saw the Power Mac G4 Cube as a beauty thing, a sculpture in equal parts and a computer. But they were not the only ones to have strong opinions on his conception.

Willis Lai / Foundry

At the same time as he received this effusive praise, the device was the target of jokes among many bettors for his usual design, some saying that he was strangely like a bathtub for a tissue box. Even Jony Ive and his team could see the funny side, and they started using the old G4 cube chassis as a silk box.

But Apple has never been agitated by this kind of thing. He has long pushed the limits of what computers should look like and the features they should have. Just look at the Mac Pro “Canrah CAN” (which could be argued is derived from the cube) and the touchbar of the MacBook Pro to see the evidence of this.

Apple is still adopting this approach today – look at the hidden power button on the M4 Mac Mini. A division design is talking about people, and as they say, there is no bad press.

Complexity has a cost

Speaking of the M4 Mac Mini, there is another lesson in Power Mac G4 cube: it should be easy to use your device.

You had to switch the Power Mac G4 cube to reach essential components – in this case, its ports. Not only has it risked that people scratch or do not run on the device, but it has created friction for users who have to perform an annoying task to be able to do something common and routine.

Forcing this in the name of beauty is not something that most people will particularly like, no matter how good the device is. In the case of the Power Mac G4 cube, it was obviously a sacrifice that Apple felt the trouble to be done. With the Mac Mini, Apple provides two USB-C ports at the front, which facilitates the branch of the devices. Lesson learned.

The future can wait

One of my first smartphones was a glided Samsung device that was delivered with touch buttons. At first, my young brain thought it was the coolest thing in the world. But I quickly realized that it was incredible pain. I would continue to accidentally brush the buttons with my fingers, which would delete texts that I wrote or suddenly send me back to the home screen. It was a nuisance implemented in the name of cool.

The Power Mac G4 cube suffered from a similar problem with its touch -up button. It could be activated with the touch of the slightest glance, sending your Mac in halfway of your work. I have no doubt that Jony Ive and his friends thought it was incredibly cool, but the collision of Power Mac G4 Cube with reality has proven the opposite. Fortunately, this is a lesson that Apple learned.

Apple

Stay focused on what users want

Upon his return to Apple, Steve Jobs implemented his famous product quadrant, who said that the company should produce four types of Mac: office computers and laptops for consumers and professionals.

The Power Mac G4 cube does not integrate into any of these categories. It costs the same thing as a Mac Power but lacked its extensibility. At the same time, it was much more expensive than an improved iMac. In other words, consumers and professionals have lost compared to other Apple devices.

The question on everyone’s lips was to know who was going to buy the Power Mac G4 cube. In the end, the answer could be found in its sales figures.

In the years that followed Steve Jobs’ death, Apple has moved more and more from the quadrant. While laptops have remained tight and concentrated (Apple only sells the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro, at least), Apple’s office list has been constantly expanding. You can now choose from the iMac, the Mac Mini, the Mac Studio and the Mac Pro. And there are rumors that the iMac pro could even make a return too.

The quadrant was an attempt to concentrate the apple again, and it is not a strict necessity these days – Apple is in a very different place now and can afford a little bloating. But the Power Mac G4 cube shows the risks you take when this quadrant is not at least consideration. Without a basic audience, no product can hope to sell well.