A new Apple Cube on the horizon?

Every Apple fan knows that his Steveness is into cubes, even more than Picasso was. The original NeXTcube (1988-1993) was, you guessed it, a cube -- as were the G4 Cube (2000-2001), and the new Apple cubealicious store in New York City (2006-?). Earlier this year we wrote about the possibility of the new Apple Media Cube, the ultimate Mac Mini meets truely awesome DVR/media center box which hasn't (yet) come to fruition. Well, here's another one to add to the flurry of rumors and speculations about what Stevie J. will unveil at next week's special event: a new Apple Cube? A US Patent filed today by our friends in Cupertino explains: "A cubical computer housing assembly comprises first and second ends and four sides, which define an interior compartment for housing the various computer components." Of course, we're still waiting on those thousands of embedded cameras in an LCD and an iPod dock in a PowerBook MacBook Pro.

[Via Unwired View, thanks Staska]

[Nick @ Sep 7th 2006 11:40AM]

yeah this isnt gonna happen. they already have the mini, and i dont think they could make a cube computer any smaller than that.

[ken @ Sep 7th 2006 11:44AM]

Does anyone know, I am not a mac person, if tv tuner cards would be affected by connecting to a unix OS? I am curious as I have been using a media center box for awhile and love it, but their could be improvements. Maybe a good mac person can throw somethingout?

[Fuzz @ Sep 7th 2006 11:54AM]

Uhmm . .this looks like a box inside a box, with a handle on the second box to facilitate removing it from the first box. Inside that go the comppeter parts, say keboard, mouse etc . . .So it looks like 2 cardboard boxes to me. But I'm not a fancy patenter guy, so what do I know.

[Ed @ Sep 7th 2006 11:59AM]

I don't want anything smaller than the Mini. However, I would gladly buy a mac that has an actual graphics card. That being said, I don't like the iMac form factor and the Mac Pro is way out of my price range.

Sure, it may canibalize a few sales from the mini and iMac, but Apple shouldn't care. It's getting sales from people who would otherwise be upgrading to a new $1k desktop running Windows.

[glacia00 @ Sep 7th 2006 12:00PM]

I can't quite figure out the novelty in this? There are hundreds of cube shaped computers. It could get by the people at the patent office since they're usually asleep at the wheel but even if it's granted it would be so easy to challenge with prior art. And if you even really cared about Apple suing you just don't put a "hinged door on which is mounted a printed circuit board can be moved to an open position.." and you're not infringing.

[Zach Wilt @ Sep 7th 2006 12:00PM]

Nope this will not happen, especially since Apple just upgraded the minis.I say new itunes, with movies and a 16:9 ipod for the movies.

[Wonderboy @ Sep 7th 2006 12:02PM]

Nick, you're missing the point... they wouldn't need to make the mini any smaller, they'd need to make it bigger. If the took the current mini footprint and instead of leaving it 2 inches tall made it 6.5 inches tall (a perfect cube) it'd give them the interior capacity to add the necessary hardware to turn the "mini" into a real powerhouse home theater pc. I would love it. It's the relatively weak video and poor audio support that has kept me from getting a mini for my own home theater setup so far.

[brian @ Sep 7th 2006 12:25PM]

isn't the mac mini already the new generation cube? this seems lame to me.

[trout-101 @ Sep 7th 2006 12:27PM]

Wow, now that's innovation, a cube-like computer case that you can pull the insides out of a case.

I used to have a HP kayak where you could pull out the system from behind. True it wasn't a cube and weighed a ton.

If the patent office is true to form, they'll grant this one and let the courts sort it out.

[DrThaddeusVenture @ Sep 7th 2006 12:38PM]

My father invented this same thing years ago... What was my point...? Oh yeah, pffft.

[Killerdeath @ Sep 7th 2006 12:41PM]

This is a just a continuation from the original cube patent, move along, nothing to see here.

"This application is a continuation of and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.120 to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/323,641, filed on Dec. 20, 2002, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/880,676, filed Jun. 13, 2001 which issued Apr. 8, 2003 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,545,874, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference."

[Lee Gibson @ Sep 7th 2006 12:59PM]

"They need to make it just big enough to have a full blown computer in there. Not like a Mini."

Yeah, because a mini is a half-blown computer. If you blow it some more, it turns into a full-blown computer.

I've got to wonder what's going through somebody's head when they say things like that...

[David @ Sep 7th 2006 1:06PM]

Apple Cube.... Borg Cube... Hmmm where's Steve going with this?

[Chocolate Starfish @ Sep 7th 2006 1:23PM]

Actually, I think its a patent for the cube shape - not just a cube shaped computer. They'll also be trademarking the term "box" and suing UPS, FedEx, and the adult entertainment industry.

[Thataboy @ Sep 7th 2006 1:24PM]

I have been saying this for a while now. If Apple actually ever does come out with a headless, mid-range Mac, it will surely be a cube, and I'd bet money that its name would be Mac Cube (need to have "Mac" in the title now).

Mac Cube, starting at $1099, going up to $1699. It's a no-brainer.

[flymolo @ Sep 7th 2006 3:12PM]

Could this be the huge game console news they're talking about on joystiq?

[JD @ Sep 7th 2006 3:21PM]

I sure hope it's true, Thataboy. With the latest iMac/mini revision, they just lost me as a potential customer. I already have a decent LCD monitor. I want a small form factor computer with a decent (hopefully upgradable) video card. Is that too much to ask?

With the new easier-to-self-modify Mac Pro, I'm hoping they'll come out with something similar for the mid range. A little cube that you can just lift out and drop in a faster pin-compatible CPU sounds too good to be true (for Apple, anyway).

[Black MacBook @ Sep 7th 2006 3:26PM]

Don't bet on it, very unlikely that this will ever come out.

[diulei @ Sep 7th 2006 3:43PM]

I hope Apple does release a new Cube.

Something needs to fill the gap between Mac Mini and Mac Pro. It's just too big.

I, for one, would buy it.

[PDubNYC @ Sep 7th 2006 3:45PM]

@Wonderboy
"it's the relatively weak video and poor audio support that has kept me from getting a mini for my own home theater setup"

What is the problem with the audio setup? As far as I now it is digital sound out with an adapter, or am I mistaken?

[PDubNYC @ Sep 7th 2006 3:45PM]

Yes, this is what I thought:

Combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack)
Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack)

What is your beef with that, Wonderboy? I am honestly asking, as I don't know, it seems good to me.

[z @ Sep 7th 2006 3:47PM]

This just looks like the original cube design, with the extengin handle bar to take the computer out in order to upgrade it. This is the prettiest way to open a computer that has the wisest volumic dimensions. If you want to make the biggest computer with the smallest footprint, the cube shape is perfect.

[Matt E. @ Sep 7th 2006 4:33PM]

@Ken:
Look into these:
ivtv - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivtv
mythtv - http://www.mythtv.org/

[Michael @ Sep 7th 2006 4:47PM]

This is exactly how the original cube worked and somebody above mentioned that this was a continuation of the patent. So it sounds to me like Apple is just keeping the patent around. And even if there were to design a new cube (I hope they do) if this were a new patent filed recently I'm sure it won't be something you would nsee by next tuesday. Unless of course it really is just a continuation, then we'll see.

[Johnny @ Sep 7th 2006 7:01PM]

This patent appears to describe the housing of the original G4 Cube.

[tnkgrl @ Sep 7th 2006 7:39PM]

I own a heavily upgraded Power Mac G4 cube (PowerLogix dual 1.2 GHz G4, Radeon AGP video card, 8x DL Superdrive, 120 GB HD, 1.5 GB RAM. Airport), so I've disassembled it many times...

And I can tell you that all these patents drawings apply to the exuisting Power Mac G4 cube - for more information, visit http://www.cubeowner.com/

[Scooter @ Sep 8th 2006 12:47AM]

Sept. 12 announcement: renaming HQ to 'Cubertino'