Hardware idea

[Sabenth]

Hi guys dont know if this should be here or what but thought id post it anyways ...


Ive been thinking lattly about upgrading hardware to systems that are hard to up grade namely the new i macs seeming i am buying one of them and well one day id like to up date it but i know that this is not really feesible due to its complex design and limited space.. so heres what ive been thinking..


what if there was a hot box a device thats not much bigger than the i mac base and more rounded than a square to give it a bit more of a look like it belongs to the i mac..


the idea of the box is so that it can take more memory a better video card an option to add an extra drive here and there depends on how big the box is in height ..

like i said ive been thinking its only an idea

the conection methord i had in mind would be firewire i am not to sure really its somthing thats been bugging me for a while the reason why iam buying an i mac instead of a power mac is because of space and also cost plus i just couldnt refeuse the screen moving .... dont get me wrong the power mac is a fantastic option if you have the money but in this day and age i have little of it left following my accident with a pc company that shall remain namless...



/..


So basicly any futher ideas of what the hot box should have how it could work with the i mac and maybe even the power mac ..

there are 3 rules to this before i forget ..


1 it must be user freindly
2 easy acess
3 easy to install components into it nothing worse than somthing that is stubben to add bits too ..


OH AND A SIZE ANYONE GOT A ROUGH IDEA HOW BIG THEY WOULD HAVE A ROUND BOX TO FIT NEW BITS..


REMBER THIS IS AN IDEA I HAD IT BUT I DONT OWN IT AND IF IT POPS UP IN REAL LIFE WELL best of luck with it........


Sabenth


P.S its got to be nice looking i am sick of beige...........

 

[Sabenth]

Ok guys i gather this wasnt such a good idea since no one has replyed not one comment on it .. is this just somthing that isnt feesible or somthing or is no one really intrested in the idea of having a option to easily update there computer..



Its a concept that i think would work it might not be everyones ideal soloution but i thought that there would be some reaction to it ..


Thanks anyways for viewing

SABENTH..

 

[tuxnduke]

this won't work

As far as I know, graphics and RAM communicate
with the cpu via bus.

So, the only way to connect such a box would be
using a pci-slot (or the like) and i guess there is no (free)
pci-slot in the imac.

Correct me, if I'm wrong.

 

[Sabenth]

seeming i am new to macs i wasnt sure about the whole setup of it but thanks for pointing me in the right direction ..

oh well there gose my idea ..

 

[Wardofsky]

Originally posted by Sabenth
Ok guys i gather this wasnt such a good idea since no one has replyed not one comment on it .. is this just somthing that isnt feesible or somthing or is no one really intrested in the idea of having a option to easily update there computer..



Its a concept that i think would work it might not be everyones ideal soloution but i thought that there would be some reaction to it ..


Thanks anyways for viewing

SABENTH..

You have to give a thread more than 2 days...

Another Melbournian, nice to meet you...

 

[Thom_Edwards]

it's been covered

probably the lack of responses is due to the fact that this topic has been beat to death.
most people's argument is that if you really gotta upgrade, get a powermac (tower). the imac is mainly for the people that really don't want to or don't really know how to upgrade. this all plays out in the price--the ability to upgrade is gonna cost you. definitely a con for apple and a pro for the x86 hardware.
and if how i interpret what you are saying is correct, the whole concept of the imac is an all-in-one design and not a whole bunch of things hanging out all over your desk. (however, they already make external firewire drives! so maybe part of your idea is already there.)
i think the idea you mention is a great one, and i would be interested in getting one if it ever comes into existence. but, in apple products' current state, i stick with the i/emacs mainly due to cost. i'm not one that needs a lot of horsepower for video or 3 day photoshop rendering, so the all-in-ones (read non-upgradeable) macs do me just fine.

 

[Sabenth]

g day wardo yep melbourne..

thom thanks for pointing out the fact that its been coverd i am new to most of this i bought the i mac becasuse of budget limitations sure id like the power mac but at twice the amount and i dont get a screen with it well theres the pic the idea is simple enought though just curios as to why no one has

tried it..

and pardon my ignarance towards the lack of responses i really thought i was on to somthing here with this but futher research has proven me wrong in some areas...

oh well start saving up for he power mac.. lol

sabenth

 

[sturm375]

Originally posted by Sabenth
g day wardo yep melbourne..

thom thanks for pointing out the fact that its been coverd i am new to most of this i bought the i mac becasuse of budget limitations sure id like the power mac but at twice the amount and i dont get a screen with it well theres the pic the idea is simple enought though just curios as to why no one has

tried it..

and pardon my ignarance towards the lack of responses i really thought i was on to somthing here with this but futher research has proven me wrong in some areas...

oh well start saving up for he power mac.. lol

sabenth

Don't give up quite yet. I have thought of a possible solution, albeit exotic.

This would no doubt require a re-design, internally, of the current G4 iMac. The key is to be able to put optional connection(s) to the local bus on the bottom of the base. You could then design a cylinder to be placed underneath the standard iMac base. Connect it directly to the bus through those, fictional at the moment, ports. This would give you the bus speed necessary to add RAM. This could also be set up to disable the video output on the iMac, and route the video to the video card in the add-on cylinder.

Probably will never happen, mainly do to the necessity of Apple to redesign the iMac.

 

[strider42]

Re: Hardware idea

Originally posted by Sabenth

Ive been thinking lattly about upgrading hardware to systems that are hard to up grade namely the new i macs seeming i am buying one of them and well one day id like to up date it but i know that this is not really feesible due to its complex design and limited space.. so heres what ive been thinking..

you know, by the time you want to upgrade it, it won't be worth it probably. If it were possible to upgrade the grahpics card, by the time you get around to doing so, technology would probably have moved on to the point where you'd be getting a card that meets the bare minimum or game requirements, and that even if it were upgradeable, the new cards would probably use a faster connection standard, thereby negating much of the gain you would have gotten. anyway. If you think you'd want to upgrade the graphics pretty soon, the iMac is not the computer for you.

I think this is true of a lot of upgrades. Ram and hard drives and the like are nice upgrade, but graphics cards and processor upgrades are often not worth it when compared to newer machines with better overall technology, unless you are just really hardcore about it all and do it often enough and don't mind spending the money.

 

[Sabenth]

The idea of upgrading a system that might be out dated with in a year dosnt matter to me the idea that you could upgrade it to add a bit more meormy alone and the posibleity of a faster video card the idea was and is to add a box that adds a better everything in the sense as
sturm has said bypasing most of the internal stuff in the i mac this way you keep the i mac and just upgrade the video card and hdrive rather than buy a new system ... to be honest
sturm might be onto somthing.. re designing the i mac might be apples department but whats stoping us from maybe modfiing our own systems ....



Not to sure about the legal issues here on this but just a thought..


Sabenth


dam proud to have a mac

 

[springscansing]

It's just not physically possible man. Cute idea though.

 

[Sabenth]

and they said that apple would be dead years ago and has that happend no so i see the answer ...


????


apple design a new I mac that can be updated please....

 

[sturm375]

Originally posted by Sabenth
The idea of upgrading a system that might be out dated with in a year dosnt matter to me the idea that you could upgrade it to add a bit more meormy alone and the posibleity of a faster video card the idea was and is to add a box that adds a better everything in the sense as
sturm has said bypasing most of the internal stuff in the i mac this way you keep the i mac and just upgrade the video card and hdrive rather than buy a new system ... to be honest
sturm might be onto somthing.. re designing the i mac might be apples department but whats stoping us from maybe modfiing our own systems ....



Not to sure about the legal issues here on this but just a thought..


Sabenth


dam proud to have a mac

The problem with "moding" it ourselves is that there has to be a fast connection, like a PCI slot and maybe faster, directly on the logic (mother) board. Probably need more than one. Next, it has to be positioned close enought to an accessable section of the external shell. It's possible to do video with a PCI style connection, but in order to upgrade the RAM, you'd need an extremely fast, wide connection real close to the CPU. This is why Apple has to be involved.

 

[Sabenth]

I get the idea that its all based around speed and been close its like a net conection if your far away from your accesspoint the signel is awfull even with cable ..


so now i just have to think of how to get everything close enough to work .. hmmm


if anyone is intrested in doing this let me know iam seriously thinking about doing this maybe not for a current i mac but how about an older version...


Sabenth

 

[G5orbust]

PCI express is actually going to be created for a function like connecting two computers via a super high speed connection. At its full potential, PCI-X runs at 10GBps. So, one day, you could theoretically do this. But, unfortunately, PCI-X has yet to barely scratch PC's and will probably slowly meander its way to the mac platform.