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Apple Developing Narrower, Rackmountable Mac Pro Prototypes?

GoodWatch said:
And how do you operate it? A server can be accessed from a workstation but a Mac Pro IS a workstation, it's not a server. It's not a logical step. I have a professional photographer in the family, with a Mac Pro. He needs to load his RAWs onto his Mac for post processing. How to do this if that Mac is in another room, in a rack :confused: Very inconvenient if you ask me.
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Sounds like Lion provides OSX server no extra charge. Wait and see.
 
This would be an excellent move for enterprise. I've already been told I'm not getting Mac Pros into our data center. At best I can hope for a couple of Mac minis, but that's a pretty big compromise on both my end and our data center manager's.

It would also be a great move for desktop users, especially if it eliminates the laser-cut, hand-slicing "carry" handles. Ever tried to move one of those things between rooms, floors or buildings? I can't help wondering what TV forensics would make of the resulting lacerations.
 
Unless they can do it at a very low cost, I cant see them doing it at all. The rackmount market for the mac was minuscule with pretty much just specialist research and university/college networks using them. It would probably cost a lot in R&D to redesign the Pro, when it doesn't really need it. Its a functional design which is in keeping with the rest of the range.

As a Pro user, I'd LOVE to see new updates, but they should really be advances that you would expect from the Pro range:
- Better support for graphics cards
- Advancements to processor usage (4x CPU's for example)
- RAID card support
- Thunderbolt
- Fiber
you get the point.

Generally there is little NEED to use Macs in a server environment as its pretty much always possible to do it with Linux, and some cases Windows. I'm not denying that it has its uses, but the size of this market has made it impractical.
 
GoodWatch said:
And how do you operate it? A server can be accessed from a workstation but a Mac Pro IS a workstation, it's not a server. It's not a logical step. I have a professional photographer in the family, with a Mac Pro. He needs to load his RAWs onto his Mac for post processing. How to do this if that Mac is in another room, in a rack :confused: Very inconvenient if you ask me.
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Who said in another room? Sure if you want to operate it as a remote server, but workstations can very much benefit from being rack mountable.

I have a friend that shoots stills while being tethered to his Mac Pro. It is on a rolling standard rackmount cart but takes up a huge amount of space on it because it is too tall to lay on its side.

When he's done he rolls the cart into his edit room.

I know of other people who use Mac Pro on film shoots to offload video files from cameras and make backups, on the set. They arrive with carts and roll them around as needed. They say the same thing, "I wish it was rackmountable".
 
I said this back when the Xserve was killed. Apple should make the MacPro rack mountable with optional rack ears. Server users would love it. Music studios and video production people would love it. Why not?
 
rpenzinger said:
Funny to see you are basing a $4000 computer purchase on a $79 piece of crap-KEA furniture - LOL. I'm with you on Yea Apple!
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Nothing wrong with a good ol' bit of Ikea furniture...as long as you stick with the higher quality (I.E non particle board) stuff they are decent...minus the assembly instructions...they should be burnt!
 
rmwebs said:
Nothing wrong with a good ol' bit of Ikea furniture...as long as you stick with the higher quality (I.E non particle board) stuff they are decent...minus the assembly instructions...they should be burnt!
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Those are instructions!? ;)
 
rmwebs said:
Generally there is little NEED to use Macs in a server environment as its pretty much always possible to do it with Linux, and some cases Windows. I'm not denying that it has its uses, but the size of this market has made it impractical.
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How is the so-called "Pro" market larger or more worthy than the IT/enterprise market? "Pro" users didn't sustain the Xserve sales any more than enterprise. Xserve was not just a server box.

I manage 600+ Mac workstations, and I can do so from 2 or 3 Mac OS X Servers, using services which are either not available or impractical to build and maintain on Linux and Windows, such as NetBoot, MCX and Apple SUS. Our "Pro" users would be single digits.
 
As an MP owner it of course sounds great to me. I really get sick hearing about iToys, some of which I own and love. If Apple would produce both the traditional Mac Pro and a rack mount version each configured to their specific duties that would be the best. As a mat screen user it's either Mac Pro, Mac mini or Windows for me. In spite of the fact that Windows 7 is pretty great to use I'd MUCH, MUCH rather stay with Mac.
 
NY Guitarist said:
Who said in another room? Sure if you want to operate it as a remote server, but workstations can very much benefit from being rack mountable.

I have a friend that shoots stills while being tethered to his Mac Pro. It is on a rolling standard rackmount cart but takes up a huge amount of space on it because it is too tall to lay on its side.

When he's done he rolls the cart into his edit room.

I know of other people who use Mac Pro on film shoots to offload video files from cameras and make backups, on the set. They arrive with carts and roll them around as needed. They say the same thing, "I wish it was rackmountable".
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You are right, I fold. I know nothing about 19" racks (1.80 meters tall and 150 kg. in weight), and nothing about conditioned server rooms with dual power feeds at all. Flight cases with equipment I also know nothing about. I'm sorry I'm doubting your knowledge and insight.
 
Good bye expandability, hello cooling issues!

Seriously, why not just keep the xserve and leave the MP alone? Where are we supposed to stuff our upgrades into such a small form factor? Sounds really stupid.
 
I'm sure that if they make it rack mountable it will still be able to be used and look right as a desktop/workstation.

If they leave the only expansion card the video card and add thunderbolt ports for other IO I could see them going this route. Though seeing as though thunderbolt carries the monitor signal and has to be built on the motherboard, they may have to come up with some new type of GPU card that just supplies the raw power and sends the video signal to the motherboard and out the thunderbolt port. I don't know if that's in the realm of possibilities of what PCIE video cards can do now.
 
Michaelgtrusa said:
This is good news and very much needed.
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Some of us professionals need the upgrade potential of the Mac Pro where we can upgrade our video card and other cards but we sure don't need all the raid card slots and I/O ports on the front and back.

I'd love to see them go with a smaller form factor and less slots for storage and I/O to bring the price down some while keeping the processor options the same. Memory slots...well if the new final cut is using the 16bit architecture, the more the merrier.

Allowing the processor options is the big thing to me in any version of it.
 
Could the thinner profile be a result to full integration of "Light Peak" fiber optics? I know some state that "Light Peak" is only beneficial to external devices and limited to a mini-DisplayPort connection. However, Intel has tested "Light Peak" as a replacement for internal components, replacing the need for multiple controllers such as built-in USB/FireWire/Display connections. It's been mentioned that "ThunderBolt" will handle USB 3.0 with the new Sandy Bridge logic board/chips due out. SATA drives currently offer 3/Gbps but with the advent of SSD's, slimming down the guts with a full "Light Peak" system that runs most components would make sense no?

(and AMEN to Apple getting slightly back on track with their Professional line, now just focus on a dedicated ACD line instead of a stripped down 27" iMac LED LCD panel and for god's sake extend the cables for the current display to reach Mac Pro's!)
 
I would say make it even smaller.

Mac Pro should be based on Mac mini, but with a choice of i7 or Xeon CPU, 6 user-serviceable memory slots, 2-3 expansion slots, and choice of 256 or 512 GB SSD. Complemented by multiple Thunderbolt port, external Superdrive, and Apple's own 5-bay DAS.
 
Form over function?

That comment about two-drive sleds makes me nervous. Apple seems to sometimes sacrifice function for form. Hense the tendency for the smaller notebooks to get REALLY HOT. This is a problem for gamers, because most 3G games just use 100% CPU all of the time, and some Macs (mine for instance) have been known to develop faults as a result of prolongued exposure to heat.

So, here they're going to pack the hard drives in more tightly? Fine for SSDs, but mechanical hard drives are unreliable beasts. Packing them closer is just going to make it harder to cool them properly. And in fact, it appears that most PC makers (Apple is no exception) pay very little attention to hard drive cooling. Why do you think there were so many Time Capsule failures? Apple III all over again. No fans, no airflow, component failure.
 
Maybe they will move to at least 2x 2.5" drive slots for SSDs(or laptop hard disk drives if you want) with another 2x 3.5" for traditional storage.
In any event, I'd expect to see 2.5" drive slots somewhere in a new designed mac pro.
 
GoodWatch said:
You are right, I fold. I know nothing about 19" racks (1.80 meters tall and 150 kg. in weight), and nothing about conditioned server rooms with dual power feeds at all. Flight cases with equipment I also know nothing about. I'm sorry I'm doubting your knowledge and insight.
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I'm not trying to win here, or get anyone to fold. It's not my knowledge or insight, but just observation from those people who want to use their Mac Pros in racks for other than server applications.

It has been this way for a long time. Remember Marathon G-Rack?
 
It's not going to happen. If Apple was still interested in offering a rack mountable system they would have redesigned the X-Serve instead of the Mac Pro.

Where is the logic in dropping a perfectly fine rack-mountable system, because apparently it wasn't sold enough, and then convert the Mac Pro workstation to... a rack-mountable system?! They could've dropped the Mac Pro and rebrand X-Serve to Mac Pro instead. Same result.
 
MacRumors said:
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Image

Inside Apple's current Mac Pro
According to 9 to 5 Mac, Apple is "toying with" a redesigned prototype for its Mac Pro line, narrowing the design from its current 8.1-inch width to something slightly over 5 inches wide. Combined with a slight reduction in height to around 19 inches, the redesign would apparently allow the Mac Pro to be rackmountable in server cabinets as a 3U component.Apple of course used to offer its dedicated Xserve product line offering a thinner 1U component for rackmountable use, but the company discontinued the line as of January 31st of this year. The company has since introduced a new "server" configuration of the Mac Pro, but a redesign to accommodate both standard upright orientation and a sideways rackmounted one would likely be a welcome move for server fans despite the significant increase in rack space required.

The report claims that Apple has developed a "stacked" drive configuration utilizing sleds capable of handling two conventional or solid state hard drives apiece, increasing the density of drives in an attempt to squeeze all of the existing components into the smaller form factor while still preserving space for expandability.

Apple's Mac Pro was last updated in late July, meaning that the line could be due for an update, although the company has been stretching out its Mac Pro product cycles over the past few years.

Article Link: Apple Developing Narrower, Rackmountable Mac Pro Prototypes?
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So rude - server "Fans" - there are server users too - not just a fanclub like your base of readers, but actual people who use the stuff.
 
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