With an eye constantly on design, Apple had been pushing the boundaries of computer design ever since the Apple ]['s groundbreaking (for the time) all-in-one plastic case right through to the stunningly beautiful iMac machines. In 2000 though it pushed just that little bit further with the end result being a machine so elegantly crafted that it almost defied description: The Cube.

Measuring just 8 inches by 8 inches by 10 inches (so not technically a cube) the actual machine was encased in a clear perspex shell and it was a thing of beauty. After his work at NeXT Jobs' influence was blatantly apparent with the machine echoing not only the black NeXT cube but also Jobs' earlier demands of Apple engineers to eliminate fans wherever possible (specifically in the ill fated Apple ///). To this end the Cube was fanless and relied on convection to cool the mighy G4 processor.

Elsewhere there were clever design and stylistic touches with the power 'switch' actually being proximity sensitive (as opposed to requiring any sort of physical contact), all of the connections and sockets being hidden away on the base of the machine, and the DVD drive being a simple thin slot on the top of the machine.

Away from the aesthetics, the Cube was essentially a PowerMac G4. Unlike it's desktop cousins though, the Cube lacked any sort of expansion (the single AGP slot was taken up by the graphics card and the only drive bay was filled with the DVD drive), the arguement being that with Firewire and USB fitted, any expansion could be handled externally. All of this would be excellent for buyers save for one problem: Price.

Weighing in at nearly $1800 for the slower 450MHz machine, the Cube certainly wasn't cheap and when lined up alongside the more 'traditional' tower machine (with it's far greater expansion possibilitites) it looked downright exhorbitant. Price wasn't the only problem though as the push towards artistic 'statement' caused major problems. The convection cooling proved 'poor' for some users (overheating was a common problem), the clever proximity power switch had a tendancy to develop a mind of its own (the Cube would happily turn itself on and off) and these problems (along with others) meant that many users had to spend months sending machines back to Apple for repair. Given this Apple finally pulled the plug less than a year later having shipped less than 150,000 units.

Artistically brilliant, the Cube has carved a niche for itself in not only Apple history but with Apple enthusiasts the world over. Demanding a market price far in excess of the equivalent PowerMac G4, the Cube is a machine that still has the 'wow factor'.

It was many years ago in a department store far, far away when I first spotted a Cube and I pretty much instantly fell in love with it. Skip forward seven years, 70 odd Macs and a whole load of grey hairs and I was re-united with the object of my desire. Yes, I landed a Cube.

To look at the machine is just as awesome now as it was when it was released and it truly is a thing of beauty with every curve and feature beautifully crafted and designed to fit inside that clear perspex. To actually own a Cube though? Well that's a tale in itself.

My Cube cost me a very reasonable £135 for which I landed the 450MHz version with DVD drive and 768Mb of RAM. Altogether a very nice price for a machine that regularly still sells for over £300 on eBay UK. When it arrived though I was in for surprise number one as my machine has a slight distortion of the clear perspex case right next to the slot for the DVD drive. Nothing major and nothing that affects performance but a slight niggle. More worrying was the fact that the machine kept turning itself on and off all on its own. After mucho biggo investigation it turned out that this was all down to the fancy proximity power switch misbehaving. So out came the Cube (the actual bit with the electronic doo-hickeys in), the switch sensor was re-aligned and evrything up and running nicely.

Actually using a Cube is a somewhat disappointing experience. Not that it's bad but it just runs the same OS X that any other G4 machine can run and, although I have no idea what I actually was expecting, the Cube doesn't do anything 'wow'. Yes it looks pretty sat on the desk but I feel, like many reviewers at the time, the Cube is all show and glitz but with nothing to really back it up. Would I recommend one? If the price was right then a resounding yes but don't let it's stunning looks blind you.