Apple Power Mac G4 Cube vs Apple Power Mac G5 (2003)

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Power Mac G4 Cube compared with Power Mac G5 (2003)

	ApplePower Mac G4 Cube	ApplePower Mac G5 (2003)
Overview
Released
Released	August 2000	August 2003
Performance
Processor
Processor	PowerPC G4 450 MHz (Power Mac G4 Cube)	PowerPC G5 1600 MHz (Power Mac 2003), PowerPC G5 1800 MHz (Power Mac 2003), 2 × PowerPC G5 2000 MHz (Power Mac 2003) or 2 × PowerPC G5 1800 MHz (Power Mac 2003)
CPU cores
CPU cores	1	1 or 2
Graphics
Graphics	ATI RAGE 128 Pro (16 MB)	NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (64 MB) or ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (64 MB)
Memory
Memory	64 MB, 128 MB or 1.5 GB	256 MB, 512 MB, 4 GB or 8 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	20 GB	80 GB to 160 GB (better)
CPU
CPU	450 MHz PowerPC G4 with Velocity Engine, 100 MHz system bus and 1 MB backside L2 cache running at 225 MHz. Apple offered a 500 MHz processor option; its complete launch memory/storage configuration is not established by the pages used, so it is described here rather than assigned an assumed configuration.	Single 1.6 or 1.8 GHz, or dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5 processors; Apple identifies IBM fabrication. Each physical processor has 512 KB L2 cache. Front-side bus per processor is 800 MHz, 900 MHz or 1 GHz respectively. A dual 1.8 GHz configuration was added on 18 November 2003, available immediately; it remains part of this generation.
GPU
GPU	ATI RAGE 128 Pro with 16 MB SDRAM in a dedicated AGP 2x slot. The retained maker sheet also lists optional NVIDIA GeForce2 MX with 32 MB SDRAM and ATI Radeon with 32 MB DDR; these later options are not presented as launch stock.	Stock 1.6 and 1.8 GHz: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 64 MB DDR. Stock dual 2 GHz: ATI Radeon 9600 Pro with 64 MB DDR. November dual 1.8 GHz: GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 64 MB. Optional ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB.
Memory type
Memory type	Original launch base: 64 MB PC100 SDRAM. February 2001 CD-RW base: 128 MB. Three DIMM slots support up to 1.5 GB, using low-profile DIMMs up to 1.38 inches (35 mm). Retained maker options: 128, 256, 384, 512 and 768 MB, 1 GB and 1.5 GB.	Single 1.6 GHz: 256 MB DDR333, four DIMM slots, maximum 4 GB. Single 1.8 GHz and dual 2 GHz: 512 MB DDR400, eight slots, maximum 8 GB. November dual 1.8 GHz also has 512 MB DDR400 and an 8 GB maximum. DIMMs are installed in matched pairs. Each configuration retains its stock drive and graphics at base and maximum memory.
Storage type
Storage type	Original 20 GB Ultra ATA/66 hard drive and top slot-loading DVD-ROM. The 22 February 2001 available-now base has 20 GB and CD-RW. Retained options include 20/40 GB at 5400 rpm or 60 GB at 7200 rpm, CD-RW or DVD-ROM; independent processor/drive/GPU options are not expanded into unsupported combinations. One internal hard drive; external USB and FireWire storage supported.	Stock 80 GB on the single 1.6 GHz; 160 GB on the single 1.8 GHz, dual 2 GHz and November dual 1.8 GHz. 7200 rpm Serial ATA drives; two internal bays with 150 MB/s interfaces. One optical bay with 4x DVD-R SuperDrive; optional Combo drive and 80, 160 or 250 GB drives.
Expansion slots
Expansion slots	Dedicated AGP 2x graphics slot; no PCI slots. Lift-out electronics core provides access to DIMMs and optional AirPort card.	AGP 8x Pro graphics slot. Single 1.6 GHz has three 64-bit 33 MHz PCI slots; faster original models and the November dual 1.8 GHz have PCI-X slots, two at 100 MHz and one at 133 MHz.
Display
Screen
Screen	None built in	None built in
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Ethernet
Ethernet	0.1 Gb/s	1 Gb/s (better)
External displays
External displays	–	Up to 2
Front ports
Front ports	–	USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and headphone minijack.
Back ports
Back ports	Underside: two 12 Mbps USB ports, two 400 Mbps FireWire ports (12 W total), 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, 56K V.90 modem, ADC and VGA. Optional 11 Mbps IEEE 802.11b AirPort card; no standard wireless networking. The headphone minijack is on the separate USB amplifier, not on the Cube chassis.	Two USB 2.0, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, Gigabit Ethernet, V.92 modem, optical Toslink audio input/output and analogue line-in/out. Optional 54 Mbps AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 1.1 with external antennas. Three chassis USB ports in total; keyboard ports are separate.
External displays
External displays	ADC carries video, USB and power; 15-pin VGA output. Maker graphics support reaches 1920 × 1200 at millions of colours. A display is sold separately; the source does not establish simultaneous dual-display operation.	ADC and DVI connectors with DVI-to-VGA adapter; two displays in extended desktop or mirrored modes. A second ADC display needs an optional adapter.
Speakers
Speakers	Bundled digital USB amplifier and Harman Kardon speakers: total 20 W, stated 80 Hz–20 kHz response. One USB cable carries power and audio; amplifier includes headphone minijack.	Built-in speaker; external audio can use analogue or optical connections.
Keyboard and mouse
Keyboard and mouse	Apple Pro Keyboard with two additional USB ports, optical Apple Pro Mouse, USB digital amplifier and speakers.	Apple Keyboard, Apple Mouse, USB extension cable, DVI-to-VGA adapter and modem cable.
Design and power
Type
Type	Compact	Tower
Weight
Weight	6.4 kg (better)	17.8 kg
Width × depth × height
Width × depth × height	195 × 195 × 248 mm	206 × 475 × 511 mm
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Size and weight detail
Size and weight detail	Maker reference weight approximately 6.4 kg varies by configuration and manufacturing process. Published height 24.8 cm, width/depth 19.5 cm. Separate external power adapter.	Published height 51.1 cm, width 20.6 cm, depth 47.5 cm; 17.8 kg reference weight varies with configuration.
Materials
Materials	–	Aluminium enclosure with separate thermal zones.
Power supply
Power supply	External power supply; maker maximum continuous power 205 W. 115 V AC (90–132 V) or 230 V AC (180–264 V), 47–63 Hz.	–
Noise
Noise	Fanless vertical cooling channel; no fan added to this original factory specification.	–
In the box
In the box	Original launch includes iMovie 2. Maker July 2000 announcement promised early August availability; Macworld’s later history confirms shipping a month after the July launch, so first sale uses August 2000 with no claimed first day. February 2001 CD-RW configuration is labelled in the storage and memory details.	Original models shipped with Mac OS X Jaguar; the November dual 1.8 GHz announcement includes Panther. Apple’s 18 August 2003 shipping release confirms immediate availability of the single-processor models; the original dual 2 GHz was due later that month.