ad info

 
CNN.com  technology > computing
    Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 
TECHNOLOGY
TOP STORIES

Consumer group: Online privacy protections fall short

Guide to a wired Super Bowl

Debate opens on making e-commerce law consistent

(MORE)

TOP STORIES

More than 11,000 killed in India quake

Mideast negotiators want to continue talks after Israeli elections

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

ENTERTAINMENT

HEALTH

TRAVEL

FOOD

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
*
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Lab report: Cube scores low compared to other Power Mac G4s

MacWorld Online

(IDG) -- Macworld Lab has finished its tests of Apple's Power Mac G4 Cube, and here are the results -- along with our testing notes. A full, mouse-rated review is forthcoming and will arrive on Macworld.com in a few days.

Perhaps most noticeable about our tests is that the Cube scored a surprisingly low 139 in our SpeedMark suite of real-world tests. This may be largely caused by the relatively slow 5400rpm Western Digital IDE drive included in the Cube. When we swapped out that drive and replaced it with a 7200rpm IBM drive, the SpeedMark score shot to 145 -- only one point less than a Power Mac G4 with a single 450MHz processor.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE
IDG.net   IDG.net home page
  MacWorld Online home page
  Duelling G4s: Dual processors heat up
  The first G4 Cubes hit store shelves
  Review: Apple Pro Mouse
  Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net
  E-BusinessWorld
  TechInformer
  Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you
  Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletters
  Search IDG.net in 12 languages
  News Radio
  * Fusion audio primers
  * Computerworld Minute

On Apple's site, there are QuickTime movies showing how to install items such as RAM and new hard drives. But we found that Apple's movie on replacing the hard drive to be misleading. It shows that only three "easily accessible" screws have to be loosened -- but in reality, only two of the screws are easily accessible. To get to the third, you need to remove a section of the Cube's metal frame. You might be able to loosen that third screw with an L-shaped torx wrench, but the movie doesn't show it that way.

Our first few days with the Cube pointed out some other quirks, too. Its power button -- which is located on top and is touch-sensitive, not a physical button to be pushed -- is very sensitive. Almost every visitor to our Lab has inadvertently put it to sleep, just by placing their hand on it. When the system was awake, we found that its DVD playback was quite disappointing, with visible artifacts and graininess.

Power Mac G4 Cube

Best results in bold. Reference systems in italics. Speedmark 2.1 scores are relative to an iMac 350MHz which is assigned a score of 100. Photoshop results are in seconds. Cinema 4D XL and SoundJam results are in minutes:seconds.

  Speedmark 2.1 Photoshop 5.5 Cinema 4D XL 6.1 SoundJam 2.1.1
    Gaussian Blur 10 Unsharp Mask 2.3 RGB to CMYK Lighting Effects Model Render 640x480 MP3 Encode
Power Macintosh G4 Cube 139 7.6 8.4 21.7 7.9 15:50 2:21
Power Macintosh G4 450 146 7.1 7.7 21.0 7.8 15:43 2:10
Power Macintosh G4 450 (Dual Processor) 158 4.7 5.1 20.5 5.0 7:54 1:14
Power Macintosh G4 500 159 6.5 7.4 18.9 6.8 13:46 1:38
Power Macintosh G4 500 (Dual Processor) 165 4.1 4.9 18.5 4.7 7:04 1:06
  bigger numbers are better smaller numbers are better

Behind Our Tests

We tested each system with Mac OS 9.04, 128MB of RAM (256MB for Photoshop), a default system disk cache, and Virtual Memory disabled for all applications tests. Displays were set to 1024 x 768 @ 24 bit color. Speedmark 2.1 is a suite of common tasks -- for more information, see Macworld's Speedmark page. We performed Speedmark testing with original memory configurations: 64MB for the Cube, 128MB RAM for the 450MHz systems, 256MB for the 500MHz systems. Photoshop testing used 256MB in all systems. Photoshop tasks used a 50MB file. Photoshop's memory partition was set to 150MB and History was set to minumum. Cinema 4D XL and SoundJam testing used 128MB of RAM. 80MB of memory was allocated to Cinema 4D XL. We rendered a model at 680 x 480 with oversampling set to 4 x 4. A 9:25 minute track from an audio CD was used for our MP3 encoding test. It was converted using default settings of 128kbps in SoundJam 2.1.1




RELATED STORIES:
Analysis: The evolution of the Mac interface
August 8, 2000
Analysis: Java 2 for the Mac almost ready
August 8, 2000
Apple's G4 Cube: The audio story
July 24, 2000
Macintosh unveils a powerful little cube
July 20, 2000
Review: G3 Upgrades
July 3, 2000

RELATED IDG.net STORIES:
Duelling G4s: Dual processors heat up
(Macworld)
The first G4 Cubes hit store shelves
(Macworld)
Review: Apple Pro Mouse
(Macworld)
Jobs unveils Power Mac G4 Cube
(IDG.net)
What happened at Macworld Expo
(IDG.net)
Macworld Expo: Audience loves new hardware
(Macworld)
Apple models its iMac fall colors
(Macworld)
Microsoft hacks IE 5.5 for Mac
(Macworld)

RELATED SITES:
Apple
MacBuy.com

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

 Search   

Back to the top   © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.