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he most eye grabbing (some would say gaudy) new product At the recent Tokyo Macworld was, without a doubt, the new iMacs. With less fanfare, Apple also revealed the latest revision to the Cube line. The speed remains unchanged, 450MHz and 500MHz, with the latter available only through Apple, but there are other significant changes worth noting.

Apple admitted that they "missed the boat" by not including CD-RW drives in their machines. Like the new iMacs, both of the new Cubes sport slot loading CD-RW drives. The original G4/450, which is still available, but will probably be phased out, has a DVD-ROM drive. The cube stands less than 10" high and under 8" wide and deep but still manages to pack most (but not all) of the features found in its tall Graphite brother.

Features - What's New, What's Not: The widely available G4/450 continues to make use of ATI's RAGE 128 Pro graphics card with 16MB SDRAM residing on a 2x AGP slot. The G4/500 reflects Apple's growing relationship with nVIDIA with a GeForce2 MX which has 32MB SDRAM. ATI's RADEON is a BTO option for both of the CD-RW Cubes, but not the older DVD-ROM Cube.

In spite of the compact design, the Apple engineers have managed once again to make use of convection cooling and do away with the cooling fan. This helps the cube run with a minimum of noise. Apple has once again teamed up with Harman/Kardon to deliver the system's sound. Harman/Kardon developed a pairs of round speakers with a design that compliments the cube quite nicely. The 20 watt speakers (10 per channel) have a range of 80Hz to 20KHz and, like the iSub, connect via USB. The speakers also draw all necessary power from the USB bus, eliminating the need for an external power supply.

Continuing its commitment to wireless technology, Apple has made both cubes AirPort ready. Instead of the wire antenna found on Apple's other AirPort ready machines, the cubes use a less obtrusive ceramic patch antenna. Ground based connections are covered as well with the built in 56k, V.90 modem and 10/100BaseT Ethernet connections.

Below we provide you with a quick comparison of the two cubes features along with links to reviews and other information available around the web. Feel free to post your thoughts on the cube below on our discussion board. If you are thinking of picking a cube up, be sure to visit MacReviewZone's G4 Cube Buyers' Guide which is updated every Tuesday with low price and bundle information.