You have to give the nMP credit for one thing.

[wallysb01]

You just replace the external and quite easily accessible drive ...
In my recent experience every serious storage is kept external: you want internal fast drive for OS and applications, and external huge redundant drives for storage.

Not all folks want to operate like that. A small-medium sized internal array is pretty nice for the immediate stuff you’re working on now, then have the big external stuff for backup/archive. I’ve had that setup in a few places and enjoy it.

what was the last time an external enclosure failed at you ?
In my case ........ NEVER.

Then enclosure it self? never happened to me either. I also haven’t had a computer fail on me such that I had to move all the internal disks to another computer (not that it would actually be hard anyway, especially on nice cases that allow easy hot-swapping). But ya know what, I can’t tell you how many drives I’ve swapped out. Opening up stuff will stay the same internal or external in that case. It just changes which thing you have to open.

 

[996085]

Then enclosure it self? never happened to me either. I also haven’t had a computer fail on me such that I had to move all the internal disks to another computer (not that it would actually be hard anyway, especially on nice cases that allow easy hot-swapping). But ya know what, I can’t tell you how many drives I’ve swapped out. Opening up stuff will stay the same internal or external in that case. It just changes which thing you have to open.

This is the beauty of the nMP when it comes to Apple. By removing so much from it Apple has shifted everything onto other manufacturers. For example they can claim lower power consumption for the nMP because what was once internal is now external. Same goes for cooling. They can claim it operates cooler because some of the heat generating components are now external. The same goes for noise...what was once inside the system is now making noise outside of the system. I could go on but I think I've made my point

 

[thefredelement]

Not in the post you responded to. It's obvious the OP was referring to the form factor even if he used cMP instead of "cMP form factor".

The only thing he mentioned about the cMP was the oMP and that he had to plug cables into it.

 

[996085]

The only thing he mentioned about the cMP was the oMP and that he had to plug cables into it.

OP being the original poster your response was to (i.e. H2SO4). My apologies if this was not clear in my post.

 

[Max(IT)]

This is the beauty of the nMP when it comes to Apple. By removing so much from it Apple has shifted everything onto other manufacturers. For example they can claim lower power consumption for the nMP because what was once internal is now external. Same goes for cooling. They can claim it operates cooler because some of the heat generating components are now external. The same goes for noise...what was once inside the system is now making noise outside of the system. I could go on but I think I've made my point

Last time I checked, the Mac Pro still uses internal CPU, GPU, storage, memory......

 

[linuxcooldude]

Same goes for cooling. They can claim it operates cooler because some of the heat generating components are now external. The same goes for noise...what was once inside the system is now making noise outside of the system. I could go on but I think I've made my point

True, but the tubular design provides a straight airflow with little interference from cabling, cards, RAM ect. A typical box tower has a lot of air flow dead spots with a lot of interference from components. Air flow with 90 degree turns also slow down air flow. So a tower needs a lot more fans, where the nMP is much more efficient.

 

[fuchsdh]

True, but the tubular design provides a straight airflow with little interference from cabling, cards, RAM ect. A typical box tower has a lot of air flow dead spots with a lot of interference from components. Air flow with 90 degree turns also slow down air flow. So a tower needs a lot more fans, where the nMP is much more efficient.

I'm still surprised no one else has aped it since the strengths of the design are pretty well-proven by this point, but I'm guessing the main sticking point is that it'd be very hard to do with off-the-shelf parts, and the question of how you would array standard GPUs in PCIe slots on such a computer.

 

[996085]

Last time I checked, the Mac Pro still uses internal CPU, GPU, storage, memory......

It does...and?

 

[996085]

True, but the tubular design provides a straight airflow with little interference from cabling, cards, RAM ect. A typical box tower has a lot of air flow dead spots with a lot of interference from components. Air flow with 90 degree turns also slow down air flow. So a tower needs a lot more fans, where the nMP is much more efficient.

Given its size it also means a lot less to cool. As I said before...it's easy to make a compact, light, less power hunger, less heat generating, and less noisy system when you cut back on its ability to do things. You act as if this is some kind of engineering achievement when it's merely common sense.

 

[cerberusss]

Modulability. all I had to do was plug 6 cables into my oMP to get my set up back up (plus a data migration via Time Machine). Couldn't have been more simple or easy.

Nice

It actually sounds a bit like my workplace, where I hook up a MBP to a Thunderbolt Display. You made the nMP function almost exactly the same.

As an aside, I've started modularizing my OS X installation as well;
- documents is replaced by ownCloud (a syncing client like Dropbox)
- pictures is a sub folder in that synced folder
- mail is synced to GMail
- work projects are stored centrally on the company servers or on github or something
- notes are in SimpleNote

The same could be done with iCloud I guess. In any case, Macs nowadays are awesome because they're easy to replace

 

[linuxcooldude]

Given its size it also means a lot less to cool. As I said before...it's easy to make a compact, light, less power hunger, less heat generating, and less noisy system when you cut back on its ability to do things. You act as if this is some kind of engineering achievement when it's merely common sense.

Its so much common sense that no one thought of doing it. I see a lot of people like you saying that with products that Apple makes. Its really a failing argument when we could apply it to almost any situation.

 

[Zwhaler]

Had all the drives been internal in another cMP, it wouldn't have been as easy as plugging in 6 cables to get back up and running. I would have had to swap all the drives - along with other parts - into the temp machine. With the external expansion, it was just a drop in of a couple cables and I was back up and running.

Again, nothing is preventing users from basing their cMP setup on external storage, either. I have over 30TB hooked up to mine via external chassis and one 4TB + 1TB drive... plus over 12TB internal. The nMP just takes away that option. USB 3.0 and eSATA cards are easy to come by. I would need another external multi bay enclosure to convert my 4 internal drives to external connectivity, but anybody who needs access to over 20TB on the cMP would be probably doing that anyway given the data management logistics. I am excited for the next 2 generations of nMP though.

 

[996085]

Its so much common sense that no one thought of doing it. I see a lot of people like you saying that with products that Apple makes. Its really a failing argument when we could apply it to almost any situation.

No one "thought of doing it" because they, at least in the workstation arena, put function over form.

 

[linuxcooldude]

No one "thought of doing it" because they, at least in the workstation arena, put function over form.

Because they never thought past putting all the parts in a box. Or as some people like to say "Thinking outside the box" Cooling fans are not square, they are round, common sense, but not forward thinking enough to make the casing round as well.

 

[wallysb01]

Because they never thought past putting all the parts in a box. Or as some people like to say "Thinking outside the box" Cooling fans are not square, they are round, common sense, but not forward thinking enough to make the casing round as well.

And designing things around fans is “thinking out of the box?” Your car has at least one fan used for cooling too, do you want a cylindrical car?

Anyway, I don’t see why changing the case shape is “forward thinking” no matter what the shape would be. The shape of the case doesn’t get work done.

 

[linuxcooldude]

And designing things around fans is “thinking out of the box?” Your car has at least one fan used for cooling too, do you want a cylindrical car?

Only if I'm in a hurry or setting a land speed record.

Anyway, I don’t see why changing the case shape is “forward thinking” no matter what the shape would be. The shape of the case doesn’t get work done.

Maybe not for you, but I get work done every day on my tubular computer. Use the right tool for the right job. Just as I would not use my tubular car in stop and go traffic.

 

[Zwhaler]

No one "thought of doing it" because they, at least in the workstation arena, put function over form.

Seriously, the best Mac out there would probably like an HP Z chassis with 8 bays, dual Xeons, etc. with Apple reliability.

 

[AidenShaw]

Its so much common sense that no one thought of doing it. I see a lot of people like you saying that with products that Apple makes. Its really a failing argument when we could apply it to almost any situation.

Perhaps you should look at the SFF systems of the last 10 or 20 years. Not hard to make small, quiet, power-miserly - and weak.

 

[linuxcooldude]

Perhaps you should look at the SFF systems of the last 10 or 20 years. Not hard to make small, quiet, power-miserly - and weak.

With the same power to size ratio? Not likely.

 

[tuxon86]

Its so much common sense that no one thought of doing it. I see a lot of people like you saying that with products that Apple makes. Its really a failing argument when we could apply it to almost any situation.

Maybe because other manufacturer are building computer that can be serviced by their owner and not disposable fashion statement...

 

[tuxon86]

With the same power to size ratio? Not likely.

We're using laptop workstations with Xeon and Quadro GPUs...

 

[wallysb01]

View attachment 606196

Only if I'm in a hurry or setting a land speed record.

Sigh.. I see a lot of flat edges on that cylinder.

Maybe not for you, but I get work done every day on my tubular computer. Use the right tool for the right job. Just as I would not use my tubular car in stop and go traffic.

Good for you. I get work done every day in my rectangular beast. And please stop with the car-speed analogy. Your cylinder is not setting any speed records relative to the big boxes, not even close.

 

[wallysb01]

With the same power to size ratio? Not likely.

Actually, in multithreaded CPU software, I’d bet a big box computer kills you in power/size. Power/dollar, power to just about everything. Except maybe power/(vertical edges)....

 

[linuxcooldude]

Sigh.. I see a lot of flat edges on that cylinder.

Darn those moving goal posts!

Good for you. I get work done every day in my rectangular beast. And please stop with the car-speed analogy. Your cylinder is not setting any speed records relative to the big boxes, not even close.

No car analogies here. You wanted a cylindrical car, you got one. With multiple fan stages inside.

Maybe because other manufacturer are building computer that can be serviced by their owner and not disposable fashion statement...

If someone is spending a minimum of 3K on a workstation, is not likely using it as a fashion statement.

 

[wallysb01]

Darn those moving goal posts!

Yeah, ok, congrats. Jet engines (and planes and helicopters in general) are designed “around” fans (in that the engine is basically a big fan), but they aren’t cylindrical, those fans aren’t cooling anything (at least not the primary job, but ya know), and making them cylindrical isn’t “forward thinking” either, in fact recently they have been getting more angular. You know, you’ve certainly seen the F-22 or F-35 right? But honestly what does this nonsense have to do with anything?

Somehow designing computers around fans is new? No, cooling has always been an issue, but its easily handled, and silently if you want it, without making cylinders. Apple made a cylinder for just one reason, its different. It stands out. It doesn’t perform better, it doesn’t cool better, it does nothing better just because its a cylinder.

No car analogies here. You wanted a cylindrical car, you got one. With multiple fan stages inside.

Umm, I see 4 sides on that thing. The engine has a tube-like intake, but a cylinder that is not. I’ll give you the fact that the corners are rounded. Whoops did I say corners, cylinders don’t have corners...