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But the technology does.

Actually, it doesn't. You just have to know how. All it takes is the skill to pull it off, and the cojones to laugh at the EULA/Warranty warnings.

Some of us have been modifying Apples in ways they definitely weren't built for, and have been doing so for a very long time... (In this instance, the Cube was definitely not built to take on a Radeon 8500, or the horde of other modifications I made to it.)

Seriously - bumping a HDD or RAM on a shiny new MacBook Pro is nothing that a decent soldering iron and top-grade solder can't help you accomplish. Much easier than, say, swapping out a car engine.

Actually, it's kinda funny that they're surprised the Mac Pro was repairable.

I've done wild-arsed modifications on the original Mac Cube before - while a bit tricky, even that was doable. ...maybe PC repair tech really has gone downhill over the past decade or so?

Add this with the debacle of the Power Mac G4 Cube which had over a 33% D.O.A. rate that Apple was denying and their success can't be explained by anything short of Jobs making a deal with the devil.

Really? My Cube held up just fine in spite of my worst efforts.

CPU upgrades of that sort defeat the purpose because they require adding a fan. There are lots of ways to have a 1-fan machine, but I'm trying for a 0-fan one.

As far as I can figure, Tiger only lets you remap all the keys of a given type. I've got 4 modifier keys to play with but they are only 2 different types (2 control, 2 alt). Since you need 3 types of modifier keys to use OS X comfortably, Tiger's remapping doesn't help.

I'd like to make the left alt be command and the right alt be option, but I cannot find a way to do it. If you know how to make that happen, or some other way to work comfortably in OS X with a keyboard like mine, I would love to hear about it.

Have a look at the Mac G4 Cube here:
http://www.cubeowner.com/photopost/showphoto.php/p hoto/674/sort/2/cat/501/page/1

If you stuff an upgrade card into one of these, you'll have a neat looking machine with plenty of power. This site is the place to go to learn about about the G4 Cube.

Have a look at the Mac G4 Cube here:
http://www.cubeowner.com/photopost/showphoto.php/p hoto/674/sort/2/cat/501/page/1

If you stuff an upgrade card into one of these, you'll have a neat looking machine with plenty of power. This site is the place to go to learn about about the G4 Cube.

The Mini looks looks like another homerun, their first small form factor PC

Don't forget the Cube. The difference between the Mini and the Cube is that the Cube used expensive parts while the Mini probably uses compenents from the iBook line. Oh, and the Cube went for $1300 more than the Mini, IIRC, and also did not come with a monitor.

Actually, they did. Remember the cube? Way ahead of it's time.

I thought this was going to be some kind of Cube case mod, but no, it's just a guy with a weird sense of humor.

Okay, okay, I admit it. It's funny.

But somebody should still wrap it good.

Here are other sites offering Small Form Factor listings:

SSF at HardwareCentral.

Shuttle PCs at PCs For Everyone.

And just in case you don't know, here this guy explains what a Small Form Factor PC is.

Since Final Cut Pro 4 requires AGP, something my 550 MHz G4-equipped B&W G3 doesn't have, I'm looking to make my 450 MHz G4 Cube my video editing station. But with RT Extreme wanting at least 500 MHz, Shake 3 requiring at least 800 MHz, and who knows what DVD Studio Pro 2 will require, I've been looking at upgrading my Cube.

However, I still have worries. PowerLogix upgrades don't work well in conjunction with sleep mode (won't wake up unless booted from CD) and Sonnet 1.2 GHz upgrades have been reported as blowing the VRM (DC-DC board) and no comments on where replacements are available. (Also usual fate of systems with unapproved dual processor upgrades.) Though at least one such report for the PowerLogix as well.

So, either risk my G4 Cube for around $500 (how much will the replacement True Cube 10" case cost?), or get either a dual 1.25 GHz G4 or a 1.6 GHz G5 with the rest of the optional features more-or-less equal for $1970 (no modems). Sure, the G4 only has 4X AGP and no S/PDIF I/O (tasty), and if I go faster on the G5 I get PCI-X, but the G4 does have twice as many drive bays (4 and 2 optical) compared to the G5 (2 and 1). That just may be my deciding factor, seeing as I've modded my B&W G3's interior with a PC's cage for more drive space (externalizing the power switch module) and want to bring over the video on its drives.

Have the G4s dropped in price since the G5 release?

From the FAQ at cubeowner.com. Click on "Miscellaneous FAQs and Figures".

They [Apple] sold a total of 148,000 Cubes during the entire lifetime of Cube.

It sold 12,000 units in the quarter ended in March, 2001.

The Cube was introduced at a price of $1,799 in July 2000; the price was cut to $1,499 in January 2001.

I got my Cube (original version) for $899 when the CD-RW equipped appeared to displace it. If Apple could have hit that price point profitably, they would have sold a whole lot more. Despite its limitations, it is a very nice machine (and still my main home computer).

All these guys are doing is taking an existing Cube, upgrading it with Sonnet and/or PowerLogix upgrades, which can be purchased by anyone already, and selling the pre-upgraded unit to anyone who wants to save themselves the effort of upgrading it themselves.

I own a few Cubes, all of which are upgraded with CPUs from PowerLogix and Sonnet, ranging from 800Mhz to 1.2Ghz. One has an internal SuperDrive from MCE. One has a Combo Drive from MCE. The other is a stock DVD-ROM. They all have upgraded video cards (GeForce 2MX, GeForce 3 and ATI Radeon 7500 for dual display). They all have 120GB Seagate HDDs.

Point is, I could sell any one of them at any time (and have sold quite a few in the past), with all these upgrades already installed, much like Kemplar is doing. They're selling existing parts and labor, that's all.

All that aside, taking a look at cubeowner.com, I'd say those aluminum after-market 10x10 Cube replacement enclosures are a much hotter ticket. Looks like it will enable me to put a Dual 1.2 (or better!) in there without a fan! Now that's the Cube I've been waiting for! There's no mention of who is making them, but the pictures of the alleged prototype look pretty cool. I'm not a huge fan of the dark metal shown in the picture, but a clear plastic one or a snow-white one (ala iMac G4) would rock my world, for sure.

Perhaps more creative if anything... You obviously didn't take any of your precious time to do a little research and realize that Mac users have been 'modding' since long before the whole 'PC mod' trend/craze started. Look here, here, here, here, and the list could go on. Try googling 'mac case mods' and you'll get plenty of links. Not to mention that slashdot has had (numerous?) stories on Mac case mods before...

Good Idea. We could call it the cube.