Photos: What should be crowned the king of Apple cool?

8: The Cube

The eight by eight-inch Cube hung above the desktop in a clear Perspex stand. The Mac was almost certainly inspired by a similar black cube computer developed by Steve Jobs at his previous company NeXT - notably the computer used by Tim Berners-Lee to develop the world's first web browser. Perhaps more than any other Mac, the Cube was a product sold on Apple's aesthetic terms and while its design won plaudits its rather idiosyncratic feature set did not. It was expensive, not very expandable and called out to be accessorised with a matching display.

Cracks soon began to appear in the clear Perspex supporting the Cube and soon after in its commercial viability. The end came for the Cube in July 2001 when Apple announced that the computer was being put on ice. They still command a healthy price on eBay and are an enduring symbol of Apple's genius and lunacy. It was never officially discontinued, so it may return one day.

See what Apple's got up its sleeve for 2008 at this year's Macworld