Sonnet Announces Mac Pro 4U Rackmount Enclosure and Expansion Chassis

You have to love and respect Sonnet. No matter how much Apple redesign their computers to make them as un-rackmount friendly as possible, Sonnet always come back a few months later with a big middle finger to Apple by SOMEHOW making them rackmountable. Kudos We're still running XServes happily in our media centre, and one day we may just be looking at some of these

rrm74001 said:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

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Brilliant. Well played

I do not see the point in this design but where in my car can put this?

A solution in search of a problem

scoobydoo99 said:

A solution in search of a problem

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It's a really bad solution as well... 4U for a single server wth.

If they do it right you'll have to push down and turn to lock it into position. And when you pull the Mac Pro out. You'll hear a a sound like a airlock being released.

4U and 1 Mac Pro? Pfbtt! I'm making an 8U one that can hold 9 Mac Pros. I don't have time to photoshop it, but yeah...lol

The third-party companies keep trying to make Apple computers actually useful!

KindredMAC said:

Great design! Can't wait to see one with two MacPros interconnected in the same enclosure some day.

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I think you might have to wait a LONG time before that happens.

But I thought Apple should have offered a rack mountable unit. At least a certain number of users would prefer this type of enclosure. It's great to see at least one company stepping up. I'm sure it's probably in the $2000 range, which would make sense.

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Mr-Stabby said:

You have to love and respect Sonnet. No matter how much Apple redesign their computers to make them as un-rackmount friendly as possible, Sonnet always come back a few months later with a big middle finger to Apple by SOMEHOW making them rackmountable. Kudos We're still running XServes happily in our media centre, and one day we may just be looking at some of these

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I don't think Sonnet is giving Apple the middle finger, they are giving them those open arms to selling product based on Apple's products, which is how and why 3rd party companies exist.

Apple probably figured out that they wouldn't sell enough rack mountable units to make it worthwhile because they do have R&D costs, mfg costs, marketing costs, support costs, additional SKUs, etc. etc. and if the sales in units/dollars isn't enough to make it worthwhile, they sometimes have to shelve certain ideas. I think the way they did the cooling system was why the design changed as drastically as it did and Apple wouldn't put something like this product on the market with their name on it, so it's one of those products that a 3rd party would do instead.

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ateslik said:

4U and 1 Mac Pro? Pfbtt! I'm making an 8U one that can hold 9 Mac Pros. I don't have time to photoshop it, but yeah...lol

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It only holds one because the rest of it has other things that can be added to the MacPro like slots (which take lots of room), etc. etc. Laying the MacPro on it's side takes up 4Us, and it only leaves so much more for additional slots, etc. It's a clever design, for sure.

bedifferent said:

Darn it, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for but gave up hope and grabbed a Promise Pegasus2 R4 via B&H. I wonder if I could return/exchange it? The optical drive capability is perfect, I still need a Blu-Ray burner for work projects and the USB external drive pales in comparison to the LG SATA optical burner w/ Lightscribe.

Worst case, are there Thunderbolt containers for internal SATA Blu-Ray drives?

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I thought you couldn't even get Blu Ray media with Lightscribe. Where do you get yours?

Couldn't they at least tried and made something more beautifull, like this:



There you go, store cylinders on top of others AND possibility of taking one off, if you want without them all falling apart AND space saving AND can be beautifull

Frazzle said:

But did they have to make it this ugly? Really, what a shame.

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Your post is a good example why Apple no longer makes servers. Apple fanatics don't really know or understand what a server does - nor do they care. They just want an "elegant, magical, and delicious" case that "Jony" designs for them!

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Parasprite said:

I would probably pass this one and assume it ran XP.

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Yeah, YOU probably would.

Squirrel said:

Sonnet, How about shipping the Echo 15 Thunderbolt Dock that you announced a year ago.

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I gave up. I really wanted one, but I just couldn't hold out for another year ... or two.

If they do deliver this, I could see it being popular with certain companies that installed racks of the old Mac Pros, linked together. This would save a lot of space and also have a lot more processing power.

So, since these work perfectly fine on their sides, and in a rectangular box, can somebody please explain to me why they needed to be cylinders again and sacrifice usability?

Oh, yeah, right. So they'd look pretty.

If I ever win the lottery, the nMP and this would be on my "because I can" list*

*For the record I will never use my own money to buy lottery tickets. My bday is in 3 months if you guys are feeling generous.

mrxak said:

So, since these work perfectly fine on their sides, and in a rectangular box, can somebody please explain to me why they needed to be cylinders again and sacrifice usability?

Oh, yeah, right. So they'd look pretty.

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I'm sorry but what usability was sacrificed here?

Bibbler said:

Your post is a good example why Apple no longer makes servers. Apple fanatics don't really know or understand what a server does - nor do they care. They just want an "elegant, magical, and delicious" case that "Jony" designs for them!

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Many people who post here think they are "pros" because they use a computer for work. They really don't have a clue what a workstation level computer is and what real computer professionals want or need.

Uh.

Six Thunderbolt 2 ports on the MacPro and these guys couldn't even expose one on this monstrosity?

That's failure, right there.

scoobydoo99 said:

A solution in search of a problem

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AtomicGrog said:

It's a really bad solution as well... 4U for a single server wth.

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scottsjack said:

The third-party companies keep trying to make Apple computers actually useful!

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I agree all around, but I really think this is a solution that only fits customers that want to shoehorn a Mac Pro workstation into a server rack when the machine just isn't cut out to be rack mounted or mounted in any way.

It's a great workstation, it's a great workhorse heavy iron system, but it was designed to sit pretty on a desk. By the time you spend the cash for the Mac Pro and the box and the cards you may need for the application you'd be better off with a 1U HP Proliant or Dell blade server that at the very least has server components in it.

Racking it into an edit station would be nice, but even in that application 4U is taking away a LOT of space.

jeff1977 said:

I thought you couldn't even get Blu Ray media with Lightscribe. Where do you get yours?

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Ah sorry, should have been more clear. I use Lightscribe for a lot of my DVD DL discs. Some dismiss it as novelty, but I use it a lot on client discs (Verbatim has multi-colored Lightscribe discs that I've found better than Memorex). I use Disc Cover 3 RE, create my own graphics, and print em out. Unfortunately, it seems HP isn't pushing it with Blu-Ray media (from what I read). I have an LG Blu-Ray burner w/ Lightscribe in my Mac Pro5,1 I'm throwing on eBay and Craigslist this week, just wish I could use it with my nMP.

Now if they can cram a second processor into this tin can it may become a viable option for me.

Frazzle said:

But did they have to make it this ugly? Really, what a shame.

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Looks a whole lot better than the crap load mess of cables surrounding every Mac Pro in the real world.

I have absolutely no use for it... yet... i want it...

kwikdeth said:

{snip}

iStar, whilst not having the best quality reputation for their power supplies, makes a whole series of designer rackmount cases for workstations and recording studio use.

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This sounds like your recommendation would be form over function. Rackmount enclosures are utilitarian. Users are typically more concerned with functionality not pretty light and shiny bits.

sigmadog said:

Can't help but wonder what effect the horizontal configuration of the nMP will have on thermal control. It seems to me optimal cooling comes in the vertical position. I wonder if buyers of this rack will have heating issues.

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Exactly what I came to comment about. The whole thermal design depends on using the physics ot "hot air rises" when the fan isn't running fast. So will the fan be running harder when it shouldn't otherwise be?

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eoblaed said:

Uh.

Six Thunderbolt 2 ports on the MacPro and these guys couldn't even expose one on this monstrosity?

That's failure, right there.

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I noticed that as well, right off the bat.