Is your Mac Pro unsafe?

As much as like to make fun of over protective legislation, but the Mac Pro doesn't have any exposed/none covered fans.

No, my Mac Pro is unlikely ever to cause me distress or harm.

But that's not the issue here. If a globally-oriented company wishes to do business in a country (or community of countries) then it needs to comply with the requirements of said countries. This is not a matter of opinion. It's just the way that the world works.

It is more than likely that the next iteration of high performance workstations from Apple have been designed to meet or exceed these requirements and, given that the introduction of these new, compliant workstations is mere months away, it is extremely unlikely to be financially viable to retool an existing production line to meet those requirements for the remainder of the current Mac Pro's life cycle.

Does not surprise me, as the legal principle of most European countries are based on civil law (which differs greatly from the common law approach in Anglo-American countries). Look it up if you think I'm pulling your leg.

Whereas we have a laws for protecting people, you have TORT-lawsuits and precedents. The difference is only on the face of things.

RGDS,

I just saw the articles talking about the fans on the main page. Surely that can't be true because all desktops have exposed fans when you open them up!

The only way I can see a Mac Pro causing bodily injury is if it is perched on a desk or shelf and somehow falls on someone's head. It's sheer weight would most likely invoke a head injury.

I once strained my back moving my Mac Pro.





Luckily Apple seems to be addressing this danger by miniturizing their products.

Those 'handles' are sharp. Ligament damage imminent.

Steel-toed boots only! Dropping one on your foot: disastrous!

jas

slughead said:

Question: When in the vicinity of the Mac Pro, do you often fear for your safety and the safety of those around you in light of the lack of fan guards?

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Nothing is completely safe. It makes me wonder if there wasn't another motive for this legislation.

slughead said:

Question2: Are you satisfied European governments are protecting customers from this product by making it illegal to sell it there? Should they introduce those requirements here in the US?

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You're being sarcastic but the US is heading for nanny-statedom itself.

Doesnt it shut off or not turn on when the side is open?? o.o

You know, my car engine doesn't shut off when I open the hood.

Quite a bit more dangerous moving parts/fan belts in there....

I wonder if they own cars in Europe?

Freaking pansie socialists....

lucasfer899 said:

Doesnt it shut off or not turn on when the side is open?? o.o

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Nope. Which is useful for diagnosing some problems.

Only unsafe to my cat, but not because of the fans. She occasionally has a lapse of judgement and tries to stretch on the front of the Mac Pro case, getting a claw stuck in the holes. Other than that, all good.

He he, some funny posts here, I love the one asking do we have cars in Europe, and I can confirm we do, and guess what? Most of them can handle corners at speed!

I'm gonna put something in the mix here, I work from home, and use Mac Pros, I also have 3 boys under 7 years of age. Its entirely possible for my 3 yo to open the side of the Mac Pro case and put his fingers in the fan. I believe thats the thinking behind the regulation. Its not fair to assume all Mac Pros are in commercial spaces away from homes.

But honestly, I do think the world is going mental locking down on some safety regs, I wonder will we be able to fill our cars with petrol by ourselves in the distant future?

slughead said:

Recently several countries introduced a requirement that even internal fans need to have grills on them to prevent you from hurting your wittle fingers.

...

For the Lulz.

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There is something weird happening here. A month ago we heard an interesting documentary on the differences between safety standards for children's playgrounds in the US vs the UK (which for the most part abides by the EU standards).

Basically - and this is the short version - US playgrounds are now being designed to prevent or minimize any possible injuries to the tykes. Including scrapes and bumps. Makes for a rather boring and non-challenging playground experience. Meanwhile, the UK standard is that a playground should not cause the permanent loss of a body part or ability.

So in the UK, if a playground design causes the occasional broken arm that is just part of growing up. They draw the line at the loss of finger, or an eye, etc.

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And I gotta say, I've had my Mac Pro open... and I have not had any fears for my safety. Heck, I'm the guy who purposely sticks my finger into the fans just to see what happens. It doesn't hurt. Perhaps it's a power thing after all?

To be fair to the EU however, presumably other computer makers have either complied with these standards or pulled their products. I'm in the camp that Apple is about to announce a decision on the new direction of the Mac Pros, and so this is just a temporary suspension because it made no sense to retrofit a product that is going to be available for only a few more months.

Note that resellers can sell whatever inventory is already in the EU, it is just the importation of new inventory that is blocked. Apple's EU resellers may have stocked up and have sufficient stock on hand for the rest of the year. Now that would be an interesting story to see? What kind of inventory are sitting in the Apple warehouses?

spacedesign911 said:

Its entirely possible for my 3 yo to open the side of the Mac Pro case and put his fingers in the fan.

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And that's what we would call: a learning experience.

jas

jasonvp said:

And that's what we would call: a learning experience.

jas

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your point is?

spacedesign911 said:

your point is?

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My point is the fan isn't made of metal and it won't slice your 3 year old's fingers off. It'll sting. Might even mark the little one's digit up. And it'll teach him or her not to do that again.

No need for the nanny-state government to do that for you.

jas

jasonvp said:

My point is the fan isn't made of metal and it won't slice your 3 year old's fingers off. It'll sting. Might even mark the little one's digit up. And it'll teach him or her not to do that again.

No need for the nanny-state government to do that for you.

jas

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Understand you now, I happened to put my finger in my old G5 Mac Pro, and it stopped the fan, but I wasnt sure if thats the case now, no pun intended.

There are some hot areas in there and no doubt the exposure to a shock is possible, based on the report. I agree with you the world is going nuts telling us you cant do this, do that.

I believe this will bring on a new Mac Pro sooner rather than later. So I see light at the end of the tunnel.

quick, ban all open-top ranges... someone could burn their hand.

sigh.

That's crazy. I don't Think my MP is more dangerous than a standard PC.

One of my case fans is making a rubbing noise

In order to figure out which one, I opened the case with the power on. I then proceeded to stick my finger in each fan, to see which one would cause the noise to stop.

No fingers were lost in this experiment. I would say the Mac Pro fans are safe.

Of course, I only have the base model. Maybe you 12 core people have fan RPMs that are so high that I would have lost my entire arm, or even my torso.

ActionableMango said:

In order to figure out which one, I opened the case with the power on. I then proceeded to stick my finger in each fan, to see which one would cause the noise to stop.

No fingers were lost in this experiment. I would say the Mac Pro fans are safe.

Of course, I only have the base model. Maybe you 12 core people have fan RPMs that are so high that I would have lost my entire arm, or even my torso.

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So, you worked out which one was making the noise?
Which one? did you fix it?

I had a friend who lives down the road from me with a mac pro, he said it made a flapping noise when it was on, and he'd just got it from the surplus center, I was dreading it. Turns out it was just the STICKER on the x1900 GPU flapping in the wind -.-

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snberk103 said:

Nope. Which is useful for diagnosing some problems.

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awh cool, thanks!