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New Mac Pro Case Design: Speculation
- Thread starter Blue Velvet
- Start date
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I think "if it aint broke, don't fix it". The Mac Pro isn't about getting smaller and smaller. It's about being a beast of a Pro machine.
Apple have a winner with this case. It's simple, convenient (the handles really are!) and it works.
I'd be interested to see what they change if they change anything. Perhaps a bit lighter?
Apple have a winner with this case. It's simple, convenient (the handles really are!) and it works.
I'd be interested to see what they change if they change anything. Perhaps a bit lighter?
haha - yup. Air Raid Siren comes to mind. arrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRGGGGGRRRRRRAAAAAARRRRRRRRR
i wouldnt really call it a beast, you cant exactly beef it out with high end GPUs, 96GB of RAM, and 10 hdds like you can with some PC servers/cases.. but yeh its "beefy" for the low end consumer/"prosumer"
xMAC!
?
Maybe like this? 8 drives and some more pcie. Yes please
make the attachment work please.
Maybe like this? 8 drives and some more pcie. Yes please.
I'm sure it could be re-arranged to be kept not so tall if desired.
Hey, I'm all for more drives, but 8 might be overkill. I think it would be great if we just got some dedicated 2.5" slots for SSDs in addition to the 4 3.5" bays.
so same footprint just a bit taller. 8 hdds along with 6 pcie slots that works.
https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=273734&d=1298983974
Lighter, perhaps. Slightly smaller, yes please. Perhaps in gun metal grey with recessed handles like the iPod Hifi.
Lighter, perhaps. Slightly smaller, yes please. Perhaps in gun metal grey with recessed handles like the iPod Hifi.
Not for the Mac Pro but some sort of desktop Mac with recharging docks on top for iPhone and iPod would be a great product. My family is always charging things in different outlets and can never remember where they left them plugged in.
Taller Mac mini with a little more room inside and docks on top? But then that would be thought of as "the Mac that shall not be named".
Can't we get rid of the optical drives? I say for those that really need optical drives... get an external.
Also, given that Intel only provides 6 SATA connectors on the chipset, I suspect that's the maximum you would see. Similarly due to the PCIe lanes on the chipset, the current slot arrangement is about the max you might expect without adding additional PCIe switching silicon.
So, Intel could get rid of the optical bays, provide 6 HD bays, and probably reduce the size of the case.
Also, given that Intel only provides 6 SATA connectors on the chipset, I suspect that's the maximum you would see. Similarly due to the PCIe lanes on the chipset, the current slot arrangement is about the max you might expect without adding additional PCIe switching silicon.
So, Intel could get rid of the optical bays, provide 6 HD bays, and probably reduce the size of the case.
PCI-E lanes, sata connections, memory slots will all increase with LGA 2011 based chipsets over LGA 1366 chipsets. You can't get rid of optical drives because the majority of professional software is distributed on DVD.
who cares. Ditch the optical
Agreed. There's no excuse for it anymore. Downloads or USB sticks FTW!
Can't we get rid of the extra internal hard drives? I say for those that really need more than one hard drive... get an external.
Sounds like you just made a case for the mythical xMac. Just need interior room for RAM and processors.
I always sent my requests to Apple rather than post them randomly in forums, seems if anyone should hear this feedback is Apple. But since I sent them this already. I figure I should share!
Here is a list of things that would make me sell my current Mac Pro in order to get the newest version:
Things it should not have:
Things it should have:
And I figure they would still have the space in the current Mac Pro to apply these changes and have some room for a little extra, either a PCIE slot internal drives or some other stuff, whatever it is, I would take it.
Now picture this, the Mac Pro is the same size, probably a little heavier, BUT you can put in TWO double-height graphics cards powered internally and have another three PCIE slots. These 3 slots could be used for:
This would implicitly solve all the whining of Mac Pro users that we never have the latest video cards, be it professional or consumer. With this configuration, you put in an Apple branded card to boot (and it could even be a double-height one) and can have either any of the professional Quadro card powered internally to boot in Windows or boot with a single-height non-powered Apple branded card to boot in Mac OS X and have two double-height consumer cards powered internally in SLI or X-Fire!
I would imagine that throughout the year or later, Apple would put in thunderbolt in the mac mini and when they do, maybe they also release a thunderbolt DVD drive? You could use this to install software on the Mac Pro. Do it once and forget about it for months on end. Even better, get a blu-ray thunderbolt drive and install software, watch a movie occasionally or disconnect and share this drive on your laptop or another mac you have, like I said a mini.
2 extra memory slots per processor would allow to have proper speed on them when all are occupied. Not that it matters, but it would be nice to put in 96GBs or 192 GBs of RAM in 12 slots.
2 2.5 inch extra slots would allow to have two OS systems to boot per device, more if you partition them and have the capacity, and have 4 extra drive bays of 5.25 inches to RAID AND have thunderbolt for Timemachine back ups and everything else you can think of down the road.
That would be a Mac Pro I would like!
Here is a list of things that would make me sell my current Mac Pro in order to get the newest version:
Things it should not have:
- Anything plastic, like a black plastic Apple logo or black plastic motifs of any kind like in the mini or iMac
- No optical drives, but gaining at least two independent thunderbolt ports
Things it should have:
- TWO additional PCIE slots, full length @ 16x speed ( I could live with only an extra one...)
- A power Supply of 1.5 Kwatts
- TWO additional 2.5 inch internal drives
- TWO additional memory slots PER processor, to a total of 6 per processor or 12 total in a dual processor mac pro. I want RAM damn it!
And I figure they would still have the space in the current Mac Pro to apply these changes and have some room for a little extra, either a PCIE slot internal drives or some other stuff, whatever it is, I would take it.
Now picture this, the Mac Pro is the same size, probably a little heavier, BUT you can put in TWO double-height graphics cards powered internally and have another three PCIE slots. These 3 slots could be used for:
- Yet another double-height graphics card (with an external power supply or so) or
- A bundle of A RAID card, a professional video capture card and an extra processor card (like the RED rocket or a TESTLA card or some random card that doesn't have to do anything with graphics).
This would implicitly solve all the whining of Mac Pro users that we never have the latest video cards, be it professional or consumer. With this configuration, you put in an Apple branded card to boot (and it could even be a double-height one) and can have either any of the professional Quadro card powered internally to boot in Windows or boot with a single-height non-powered Apple branded card to boot in Mac OS X and have two double-height consumer cards powered internally in SLI or X-Fire!
I would imagine that throughout the year or later, Apple would put in thunderbolt in the mac mini and when they do, maybe they also release a thunderbolt DVD drive? You could use this to install software on the Mac Pro. Do it once and forget about it for months on end. Even better, get a blu-ray thunderbolt drive and install software, watch a movie occasionally or disconnect and share this drive on your laptop or another mac you have, like I said a mini.
2 extra memory slots per processor would allow to have proper speed on them when all are occupied. Not that it matters, but it would be nice to put in 96GBs or 192 GBs of RAM in 12 slots.
2 2.5 inch extra slots would allow to have two OS systems to boot per device, more if you partition them and have the capacity, and have 4 extra drive bays of 5.25 inches to RAID AND have thunderbolt for Timemachine back ups and everything else you can think of down the road.
That would be a Mac Pro I would like!
What a strange combo. I don't think having optical drives or thunderbolt ports are mutually exclusive.
In any case, I find optical drive immensely useful on a desktop and I don't like all these external drives with rats nest of power and data cables for the enclosures. I want my optical drive and I want it internal. Just yesterday I burned two 90 min videos onto 50 cent DVDs for old high school friends to watch on TV. Next up are some wedding videos. How would I do that without an optical drive? Make video podcasts on iTunes and demand everyone get AppleTVs?
DVD may be on its last legs, but it has a ways to go yet. I can see removing them from laptops, but not desktops. Not yet.
Provide at least one 5.25 bay in the Mac Pro for years to come please.
Our company gives out USB sticks at events now with our info on it. I'm sure in bulk you can get them for a couple bucks a piece.
Personally, there's nothing I hate more than optical drives. They take up a ridiculous amount of space, sound like a jet aircraft at take off, and are as slow as molasses in January. They really need to go the way of the parallel and serial port!
Personally, there's nothing I hate more than optical drives. They take up a ridiculous amount of space, sound like a jet aircraft at take off, and are as slow as molasses in January. They really need to go the way of the parallel and serial port!
Even if I find USB stick for a couple of bucks, then what? Ask them to throw it at their TV? Everyone has a DVD player. Very few people have USB media players hooked up to their TV.
You send a family video via USB to grandma and she'll wonder why you mailed her a plastic brick. You send a DVD to anyone and they'll know exactly what to do with it.
Currently, nothing beats DVD for delivery of video to a TV. I recognize that this can and will change, but the masses are not there yet.
You send a family video via USB to grandma and she'll wonder why you mailed her a plastic brick. You send a DVD to anyone and they'll know exactly what to do with it.
Currently, nothing beats DVD for delivery of video to a TV. I recognize that this can and will change, but the masses are not there yet.
I see... Good point. I guess it's fortunate for you, I'm not the Mac Pro product manager
