Power Mac G4 Cube vs. Cobalt Qube

John Rizzo writes: "The Power Mac G4 Cube is not exactly the 'revolutionary new class of computer' that Steve Jobs claimed in the Macworld Expo keynote. In particular, squeezing a computer into an 8-inch cube has been done before. The Cobalt Qube is a Linux-based Internet server of nearly the same size. Cobalt was founded by ex-Apple people. My sources say Apple tore apart the Cobalt Qube in an effort to create a similar Mac. Also, the reason there no fan is needed in the Cube is the same reason there is no fan needed in a PowerBook: there is no internal power supply. The G4 Cube uses an external 'brick.'" Update: A MacFixIt reader replies: "First, the PowerBook does have a fan yet has an external power supply (it's on the left side of the PowerBook and only activates when the CPU hits a certain temperature). Also, the iMacs don't have fans, yet they have an internal power supply. I'm sure the reason the power supply was left out was to keep the cube as small as possible. Second, when comparing the specs of both models, the two aren't comparable: Unlike Apple's Cube, Cobalt's does not have a keyboard, mouse, FireWire, USB, wireless networking, or a CD/DVD ROM drive. Cobalt's Qube is a nice piece of hardware meant for a specific purpose - basic Web serving. It's a weak argument to compare Cobalt's Qube to Apple's G4 Cube. Its like comparing Apples to Oranges."